All Things 2025 Playoffs and Bowl Thread

The guys you cite, including Cuban! (was), are professional owners.

That's the perfect model. You get to officially be part of the team. You get to hoist the trophy at the end of the season. You own it. The profit the team generates as a profitable business, is yours. And then you get the ROI when you sell your ownership.

None of that exists for NIL donors.

NIL donation is not viable as a long term scheme to get rich dudes involved in CFB, in any way similar to owning a professional franchise.


Also from your example:
- he'd have to pay capital gains taxes on that $90M ... NIL is not, and it G-D better well never be, some tax haven
- I'm quite certain all of his money is already currently invested, same with all billionaires
i agree i'd rather be a professional owner. Campbell is not a professional owner. Cuban made money, reportedly, in 2/23 years as owner (and reportedly lost hundreds of millions). He purposely tried to keep costs for fans down and sold when it was pretty clear the state and other people in ownership wanted to go a very different direction (gambling, make money, casino nearby stadium, etc.). Only bringing it up as its not just about making money for many of these people when you've already "made it".

I'm just bringing up the dollar amount these guys have as its literally insane. They obviously are making much more than 3% on their investments/holdings so that figure is vastly higher what they could "throw away" and still be just fine.

As far as what they're doing now, I think some of them (Campbell particularly) are doing this right now because you have the freedom to potentially win and you can entirely change the narrative of your program going forward if you dump money in to change the schools' status amongst teams (think of it like the NCAA football game team "prestige" rating). Dump money now to change the perception and you automatically attract more talent in coming years.

Indiana will be a fascinating watch in the years to come with the influx of NIL. Their recruiting classes have upticked some, but its not like they're landing 5 stars (recruiting classes right next to us both in terms of ranking as well as in terms of 4 stars).

Think Cuban will be just fine seeing Indiana do something they've never done in their history. Don't think any of these guys have ever walked in thinking its guaranteed but some have thrown a lot of money at it a hell of a lot longer trying to do it because again, you can't take it with ya when you're dead
 


Rooting for Nike/Phil Knight money over Cuban dough is an interesting choice.


Even if they lose, I think Indiana winning the Big 10 for the first time since 1967, beating Ohio St for the first time since 1988 and winning their 1st Rose Bowl ever to make it to the CFP Semifinals seems like that there is plenty to show for his return of investment.
Not in a financial or tangible sense.

I'll admit that I don't have much energy to get into your typical semantics games where you'll try to twist and contort some way for it to appear to be tangible. We can agree to disagree
 

i agree i'd rather be a professional owner. Campbell is not a professional owner. Cuban made money, reportedly, in 2/23 years as owner (and reportedly lost hundreds of millions). He purposely tried to keep costs for fans down and sold when it was pretty clear the state and other people in ownership wanted to go a very different direction (gambling, make money, casino nearby stadium, etc.). Only bringing it up as its not just about making money for many of these people when you've already "made it".

I'm just bringing up the dollar amount these guys have as its literally insane. They obviously are making much more than 3% on their investments/holdings so that figure is vastly higher what they could "throw away" and still be just fine.

As far as what they're doing now, I think some of them (Campbell particularly) are doing this right now because you have the freedom to potentially win and you can entirely change the narrative of your program going forward if you dump money in to change the schools' status amongst teams (think of it like the NCAA football game team "prestige" rating). Dump money now to change the perception and you automatically attract more talent in coming years.

Indiana will be a fascinating watch in the years to come with the influx of NIL. Their recruiting classes have upticked some, but its not like they're landing 5 stars (recruiting classes right next to us both in terms of ranking as well as in terms of 4 stars).

Think Cuban will be just fine seeing Indiana do something they've never done in their history. Don't think any of these guys have ever walked in thinking its guaranteed but some have thrown a lot of money at it a hell of a lot longer trying to do it because again, you can't take it with ya when you're dead
Very good post and points. I was wrong on Campbell, thinking of someone else.

Especially if IU wins the natty this year .... mission accomplished. The novelty instantly wears off.

Why should Cuban continue setting millions of his personal wealth on fire? They did it already. It won't feel nearly the same as the first time.
 

Watching the Indiana beat-down of Alabama, I found myself wondering what Indiana will be like over the course of the next 3-5 seasons.

Cignetti was very impressive, no question about that. His team plays hard and with tremendous discipline.

The reaction shot of Cignetti's intense stare when DeBoer decided to go for it on fourth down early in the game was fantastic.
 


I'll say again for posterity:

without Mendoza, IU is 9-3 regular season with losses to Iowa, Oregon, and Penn State. A great season compared to the history of IU football, but nothing special, no Big Ten title, and not in the CFP
ok? Georgia wouldn't have made the playoff without Stockton (late comeback vs Tenn, 9 pt comeback vs Ole Miss, late TD vs Florida), same with A&M without Reed (27 pt comeback vs SCar, , Miami without Beck (3pt win vs ND), Oklahoma without Mateer (late score vs Auburn, got crushed in games he played while hurt), or Oregon without Moore (double OT win over PSU, walk off FG vs Iowa). Bama probably doesn't make it without Simpson (their backup looked pretty good), ditto on TTU. OSU probably is ok with their backup and gets as far. Also a huge component of why some teams were not very good despite having huge NIL banks is that they missed on their "star" QB (or overrated him) or their QB wasn't ready for prime time (Michigan, PSU,

All of those teams are pretty damn good all over the ball, but if you don't have a QB you're going to lose games.
 

Watching the Indiana beat-down of Alabama, I found myself wondering what Indiana will be like over the course of the next 3-5 seasons.

Cignetti was very impressive, no question about that. His team plays hard and with tremendous discipline.

The reaction shot of Cignetti's intense stare when DeBoer decided to go for it on fourth down early in the game was fantastic.
I think Indiana will continue to be very good.
But I think they better win this year.
You can be very good and go 9-3
You can be very good and get your QB hurt in the first round
You can be very good and get beat by another very good team in the playoff



The number one thing Indiana makes me wish is that Mn beat Iowa in 2019
Lions coach said after they lost NFC title game “that may have been our only shot”
And that’s always true.
 

Very good post and points. I was wrong on Campbell, thinking of someone else.

Especially if IU wins the natty this year .... mission accomplished. The novelty instantly wears off.

Why should Cuban continue setting millions of his personal wealth on fire? They did it already. It won't feel nearly the same as the first time.
yeah this would be very interesting. think what would get offset if they won is you'd see (and are likely already seeing; don't know for sure as obviously its not public) by a massive influx in donations from others if they did win or are seen as a winner.
 

ok? Georgia wouldn't have made the playoff without Stockton (late comeback vs Tenn, 9 pt comeback vs Ole Miss, late TD vs Florida), same with A&M without Reed (27 pt comeback vs SCar, , Miami without Beck (3pt win vs ND), Oklahoma without Mateer (late score vs Auburn, got crushed in games he played while hurt), or Oregon without Moore (double OT win over PSU, walk off FG vs Iowa). Bama probably doesn't make it without Simpson (their backup looked pretty good), ditto on TTU. OSU probably is ok with their backup and gets as far. Also a huge component of why some teams were not very good despite having huge NIL banks is that they missed on their "star" QB (or overrated him) or their QB wasn't ready for prime time (Michigan, PSU,

All of those teams are pretty damn good all over the ball, but if you don't have a QB you're going to lose games.
Yes.

Hence why Cuban buying the Heisman winner for IU was so critical. Their magical season could not have happened without it.
 



yeah this would be very interesting. think what would get offset if they won is you'd see (and are likely already seeing; don't know for sure as obviously its not public) by a massive influx in donations from others if they did win or are seen as a winner.
You are right about that, on paper. They have donors who have spent money on athletics.

And now they'd have a proven winner who, again on paper, just needs the gravy train to keep rolling.
 

Not in a financial or tangible sense.

I'll admit that I don't have much energy to get into your typical semantics games where you'll try to twist and contort some way for it to appear to be tangible. We can agree to disagree

Sounds good, but I will add this:

If Indiana loses to Oregon, my thoughts are given what the Hoosiers have already accomplished, I think it would spur Cuban to chip off even more funds to his Alma Mater. We got so close and I have a ton more of where that came from, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

He no longer is the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks. What he's putting into IU is just fun money for the rest of us.
 

I never watch ESPN morning shows anymore but, oh my, it's golden watching guys like Finebaum, Ryan Clark, and Cam Newton piss and moan about the relative state of SEC football royalty.
 

Wild thought coming to my head:

what if Cig is the same thing as Bob Knight? What if that's how he gets performance out of players: screaming and verbally abusing them?

How wild would that be that it was IU in both cases?


I have absolutely no proof of this, at all, nor have I read anything like this. It's just a wild thought that came to my head, and based off his constant dour, angry expression that's always on TV.
 



I was watching the Georgia vs Ole Miss game. I thought it was against the rules in college football to make a field goal over 40 yards?
 


I was watching the Georgia vs Ole Miss game. I thought it was against the rules in college football to make a field goal over 40 yards?
C+ joke

Conceptually A
Execution D
The gopher kicker has a 46 yard make this year
 




Georgia has a win against every opponent they played this year, but finishes 12-2.
 



I'm all-in on Mississippi. They are fun to watch, but the my urge to witness Kiffin's schadenfreude would be priceless. I don't think Kiffin has ever been confused with someone with an ounce of class, but bolting from the Rebels is really crappy (and I don't give a screw how much LSU is paying him and how the LSU job is a dream of a lifetime).
 
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The win-loss record for B1G vs SEC in the history of the 12-team playoffs is now:
  • B1G = 9-4
  • SEC = 4-6 (with 2 of those wins coming against other SEC teams).
  • In head-to-head games, the SEC has never beaten a B1G team, we're 3-0.
  • B1G has won every national championship (okay, there's only been one, but we won it)
 

The win-loss record for B1G vs SEC in the history of the 12-team playoffs is now:
  • B1G = 9-4
  • SEC = 4-6 (with 2 of those wins coming against other SEC teams).
  • In head-to-head games, the SEC has never beaten a B1G team, we're 3-0.
  • B1G has won every national championship (okay, there's only been one, but we won it)

To be fair, one of the Big 10 Wins also was against another Big 10 team (Ohio St over Oregon).

The Big 10 is also guaranteed to go 10-5 heading into the Title game.
 

Nike makes massive ROI using the U of Oregon athletic dept as their front porch marketing.

Not at all comparable
Do you think Nike makes massive ROI on their investment into Oregon? If yes, it would seem strange why they wouldn't do this with 8-10 more teams.
 


They should reseed after each round. The #1 seed has the hardest opponent of the 3 other teams left.
 






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