Reusse Gopher Basketball Insights - Transfer Gossip, NIL Money, Facilities, Dutcher, Musselman ETC

[Gophers_4life]

This is some commentary on the latest guidance I could find from the NCAA on NIL: https://www.bricker.com/industries-...f-nil-guidance-aimed-at-institutional-support

Lot of stuff about athletic departments and their representatives working with NIL organizations, so long as they aren't advocating directly on behalf of a specific player (or even a particular sport).


But don't see anything in there about a staff at a school not being able to use their personal salary to donate to a NIL organization.

 

[CPTMidnight]

If we are losing players due to NIL and there are no dollars in the current NIL budget - this makes me optimistic for the future of the program.

The business community will come around and the Twin Cities "punches above its weight" when it comes to business. Just need to get organized. The only real issue with it is the U's focus on all the woke BS that nobody cares about in the real world.

 

[Gophers_4life]

If you're a business, you're never going to donate to a NIL collective. There, your money just gets dumped into a big vat and all association with those dollars evaporates as soon as they stir all the dollars around. Unless you're a small business owner and you're just doing it because you personally love the Gophers. Not sure if it counts for tax purposes.

 

[Gopheritnow]

If we are losing players due to NIL and there are no dollars in the current NIL budget - this makes me optimistic for the future of the program.

The business community will come around and the Twin Cities "punches above its weight" when it comes to business. Just need to get organized. The only real issue with it is the U's focus on all the woke BS that nobody cares about in the real world.

Still waiting for a good definition of "woke"? Only one I heard so far was "woke" was simply something the speaker didn’t personally like. Any other attempt to define it included the words duh, huh, hmmm, and like maybe, all delivered with a stuttering voice and a deer in the headlights facial expression.

 

[CPTMidnight]

Still waiting for a good definition of "woke"? Only one I heard so far was "woke" was simply something the speaker didn’t personally like. Any other attempt to define it included the words duh, huh, hmmm, and like maybe, all delivered with a stuttering voice and a deer in the headlights facial expression.

Happy to take a deep discussion of that into an off topic thread.

I will leave it here by paraphrasing an old poker saying: "If you can't see who the Woke person at the table... it's you."

 

[CPTMidnight]

If you're a business, you're never going to donate to a NIL collective. There, your money just gets dumped into a big vat and all association with those dollars evaporates as soon as they stir all the dollars around. Unless you're a small business owner and you're just doing it because you personally love the Gophers. Not sure if it counts for tax purposes.

It does count for tax purposes from a business - NIL would be a advertising and marketing expense for a business. A private party might need to get more creative to write it off.

Benefits for a company are not like narrowly focused donation nor a true marketing expense but there are soft benefits to having a strong business environment and state university and successful sports teams help make the overall university successful via free PR. There is a way to get the community involved.

The money involved for the basketball team might seem big to you but is really pretty small amount in the grand scheme. The city of Minnetonka alone has the 3rd largest private company in the world and the 5th largest public company in the US. There is plenty of money here in the cities from companies, business leaders, and supporters. It does need to be organized and the there may be creative ways to package it with other real benefits but this is all a little ways off yet. Just saying it makes me optimistic that the new paradigm might just play well for the future of the program.

 

[stocker08]

Still waiting for a good definition of "woke"? Only one I heard so far was "woke" was simply something the speaker didn’t personally like. Any other attempt to define it included the words duh, huh, hmmm, and like maybe, all delivered with a stuttering voice and a deer in the headlights facial expression.

"Woke" is basically a blanket term for anything that could be considered social liberalism. In other words.....it's mostly meaningless.

 

[disco]

Still waiting for a good definition of "woke"? Only one I heard so far was "woke" was simply something the speaker didn’t personally like. Any other attempt to define it included the words duh, huh, hmmm, and like maybe, all delivered with a stuttering voice and a deer in the headlights facial expression.

Since the poster has a snide anti-vax comment in his sig line, that's about all I need to know about their level of intelligence on any topic.

As for the poster's comment about the business community "stepping up," that's simply not going to happen. That's geezer talk from the Sid and Harvey Mackay generations. It doesn't work that way. Businesses are there to provide return to shareholders - not prop up local college sports teams. The era of the family (The Daytons, the Pillsburys etc.) as the business leaders and pillars of the community are long, long, long gone.

 

[Gophers_4life]

It does count for tax purposes from a business - NIL would be a advertising and marketing expense for a business. A private party might need to get more creative to write it off.

Benefits for a company are not like narrowly focused donation nor a true marketing expense but there are soft benefits to having a strong business environment and state university and successful sports teams help make the overall university successful via free PR. There is a way to get the community involved.

The money involved for the basketball team might seem big to you but is really pretty small amount in the grand scheme. The city of Minnetonka alone has the 3rd largest private company in the world and the 5th largest public company in the US. There is plenty of money here in the cities from companies, business leaders, and supporters. It does need to be organized and the there may be creative ways to package it with other real benefits but this is all a little ways off yet. Just saying it makes me optimistic that the new paradigm might just play well for the future of the program.

My point is this: any large business, is going to want to see some kind of benefit out of spending.

They could do that if they made direct deals with particular (star) players and part of the deal included their NIL’s for advertising purposes.


Now, Cargill doesn’t need to advertise anything. They don’t sell things to consumers. Have you ever seen a commercial for Cargill? There’s no point.

To be honest, I think UHG/Optum is similar.

But Target, Best Buy, 3M are obvious ones where it could make sense.


It doesn’t make sense for any of them to donate to a collective. They won’t get anything out of it. No association of their donation to the start player.

 

[CPTMidnight]

Since the poster has a snide anti-vax comment in his sig line, that's about all I need to know about their level of intelligence on any topic.

As for the poster's comment about the business community "stepping up," that's simply not going to happen. That's geezer talk from the Sid and Harvey Mackay generations. It doesn't work that way. Businesses are there to provide return to shareholders - not prop up local college sports teams. The era of the family (The Daytons, the Pillsburys etc.) as the business leaders and pillars of the community are long, long, long gone.

Look - we prefer to be called "people unconcerned about myocarditis" NOT anti-vax. Please get it right.

 

[disco]

My point is this: any large business, is going to want to see some kind of benefit out of spending.

They could do that if they made direct deals with particular (star) players and part of the deal included their NIL’s for advertising purposes.

Correct. Unless it's an example like Nike, where Phil Knight could say, "I'll pay you $500,000 personally. Wear Nike shoes every day, and you are considered a spokesperson for the company I founded, because I'm an Oregon superfan." None of the companies mentioned really have founders that think like this about Minnesota, nor does it benefit them in any way to have a good basketball team at the U.

Now, Cargill doesn’t need to advertise anything. They don’t sell things to consumers. Have you ever seen a commercial for Cargill? There’s no point.

Not entirely true - they do sell some consumer items, but not under the Cargill brand. Diamond Crystal Salt and Truvia come to mind as do a number of brands of animal and pet food. But as a private company, you can't invest in them, so yes, commercials at the corporate level make no sense.

To be honest, I think UHG/Optum is similar.

Xcel Energy as well, but at least as public companies, an individual can invest in them.

But Target, Best Buy, 3M are obvious ones where it could make sense.

Maybe, but still, what do they get out of it? Have the Gophers ever been able to attract the level of star power that having a player endorse a product would move the needle? College sports in this town aren't nearly as popular as pro sports. Thinking of Joe Mauer doing Kemps ads or Ryan Suter doing Kwik Trip ads (let's pick the two most boring guys on earth...) There are no Gophers with that kind of name recognition.

 

[CPTMidnight]

My point is this: any large business, is going to want to see some kind of benefit out of spending.

They could do that if they made direct deals with particular (star) players and part of the deal included their NIL’s for advertising purposes.


Now, Cargill doesn’t need to advertise anything. They don’t sell things to consumers. Have you ever seen a commercial for Cargill? There’s no point.

To be honest, I think UHG/Optum is similar.

But Target, Best Buy, 3M are obvious ones where it could make sense.


It doesn’t make sense for any of them to donate to a collective. They won’t get anything out of it. No association of their donation to the start player.

Which of the Cargill brands do not use advertising? There are 20 meat brands alone.

I have seen the UHG CEO spend millions on a tech project solely to release a single press release stock to lift a few percentage points - fully knowing it was a complete waste.

I have worked on a high level with all of the companies above (yes every one) and NONE will spend money if not getting a return and ALL cut similar checks everyday and get less return than they will from NIL. This is not much money.

It is a ways off but is possible. Go Gophers!

 

[cheeseheadgophfan]

Which of the Cargill brands do not use advertising? There are 20 meat brands alone.

I have seen the UHG CEO spend millions on a tech project solely to release a single press release stock to lift a few percentage points - fully knowing it was a complete waste.

I have worked on a high level with all of the companies above (yes every one) and NONE will spend money if not getting a return and ALL cut similar checks everyday and get less return than they will from NIL. This is not much money.

It is a ways off but is possible. Go Gophers!

That's why I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when Coyle said they are integrating a full-time NIL position at the U to work with Dinkytown Athletes. Shouldn't this person be working with these companies to use Gopher players for advertising? Meat brands? Can't you picture a commercial or billboard or print ads with the offensive line eating ribs or something with their jerseys on in exchange for donations to the NIL fund? Or am I wrong on how this should work???

 

[bga1]

The Davis brothers of Cambria, Sun Country may be one of our best shots?

 

[Gophers_4life]

Which of the Cargill brands do not use advertising? There are 20 meat brands alone.

I have seen the UHG CEO spend millions on a tech project solely to release a single press release stock to lift a few percentage points - fully knowing it was a complete waste.

I have worked on a high level with all of the companies above (yes every one) and NONE will spend money if not getting a return and ALL cut similar checks everyday and get less return than they will from NIL. This is not much money.

It is a ways off but is possible. Go Gophers!

Fully concede that Cargill does own brands that sell to consumers or at least sell to grocery stores with those brands on the product.

Optum, I think, just sells technology/services to hospitals and healthcare providers, not directly to consumers/patients. UH itself I’m not as sure if it makes its money going direct to consumers/patients.


Fair enough, I’m not saying anything is impossible. I’m just saying I have doubts that just because there is indeed big business money in this town, that that should translate into big NIL potential.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Correct. Unless it's an example like Nike, where Phil Knight could say, "I'll pay you $500,000 personally. Wear Nike shoes every day, and you are considered a spokesperson for the company I founded, because I'm an Oregon superfan." None of the companies mentioned really have founders that think like this about Minnesota, nor does it benefit them in any way to have a good basketball team at the U.



Not entirely true - they do sell some consumer items, but not under the Cargill brand. Diamond Crystal Salt and Truvia come to mind as do a number of brands of animal and pet food. But as a private company, you can't invest in them, so yes, commercials at the corporate level make no sense.


Xcel Energy as well, but at least as public companies, an individual can invest in them.



Maybe, but still, what do they get out of it? Have the Gophers ever been able to attract the level of star power that having a player endorse a product would move the needle? College sports in this town aren't nearly as popular as pro sports. Thinking of Joe Mauer doing Kemps ads or Ryan Suter doing Kwik Trip ads (let's pick the two most boring guys on earth...) There are no Gophers with that kind of name recognition.

Concede on the Cargill consumer brands.

Right and it would just be local ads anyway. You’d never advertise Target/Best Buy in Florida, Texas, California using a Gopher player, just because those companies are HQ’ed in the Twin Cities. No one would know what the hell it was.

 

[CPTMidnight]

Concede on the Cargill consumer brands.

Right and it would just be local ads anyway. You’d never advertise Target/Best Buy in Florida, Texas, California using a Gopher player, just because those companies are HQ’ed in the Twin Cities. No one would know what the hell it was.

I'm not saying the "play" is to put a players face on ads for a specific product. I am just saying that the money is there for a variety of reasons from a variety of sources. NIL might not be the negative for the Gophers that everyone thinks it is.

 

[PMWinSTP]

This is some commentary on the latest guidance I could find from the NCAA on NIL: https://www.bricker.com/industries-...f-nil-guidance-aimed-at-institutional-support

Lot of stuff about athletic departments and their representatives working with NIL organizations, so long as they aren't advocating directly on behalf of a specific player (or even a particular sport).


But don't see anything in there about a staff at a school not being able to use their personal salary to donate to a NIL organization.

"The board also clarified that school personnel (including coaches) can assist an NIL entity with fundraising through appearances or by providing autographed memorabilia but cannot donate cash directly to those entities. School staff members also cannot be employed by or have an ownership stake in an NIL entity.

Schools also can request donors provide funds to collectives and other NIL entities, provided the schools do not request that those funds be directed to a specific sport or student-athlete."

DI board approves clarifications for interim NIL policy - NCAA.org

The Division I Board of Directors has issued updated guidance to member schools about the interim name, image and likeness policy.

www.ncaa.org

 

[PMWinSTP]

Concede on the Cargill consumer brands.

Right and it would just be local ads anyway. You’d never advertise Target/Best Buy in Florida, Texas, California using a Gopher player, just because those companies are HQ’ed in the Twin Cities. No one would know what the hell it was.

Could decide to do something local here like personal store appearances or corporate function appearances for Target or Best Buy. That could be done directly or through a collective I suppose.

 

[Dave H]

"I don't like what you say, therefore, you're wrong" 1001, Spring 2023

Professor and pioneer in the field: Dave H.

"I make crap up, post it twenty times then ignore facts that disprove the terrible thing I posted that makes no sense".

Every version of Gophers_4life no matter the name they use.

But yes, I dont like that his post was a complete fabrication and not how NIL works in the least bit. If he wants to defend Ben that is fine, but do so with actual evidence and facts or at least speculation that parallels reality.

 

[Dave H]

My point is this: any large business, is going to want to see some kind of benefit out of spending.

They could do that if they made direct deals with particular (star) players and part of the deal included their NIL’s for advertising purposes.


Now, Cargill doesn’t need to advertise anything. They don’t sell things to consumers. Have you ever seen a commercial for Cargill? There’s no point.

To be honest, I think UHG/Optum is similar.

But Target, Best Buy, 3M are obvious ones where it could make sense.


It doesn’t make sense for any of them to donate to a collective. They won’t get anything out of it. No association of their donation to the start player.

This is correct. Collectives are for people like us to give. Businesses will just pay players or teams directly as part of a contract for service. Target or 3M might start a collective in an effort to get things going but they likely would never give to one.

 

[Gophers_4life]

"The board also clarified that school personnel (including coaches) can assist an NIL entity with fundraising through appearances or by providing autographed memorabilia but cannot donate cash directly to those entities. School staff members also cannot be employed by or have an ownership stake in an NIL entity.

Schools also can request donors provide funds to collectives and other NIL entities, provided the schools do not request that those funds be directed to a specific sport or student-athlete."

DI board approves clarifications for interim NIL policy - NCAA.org

The Division I Board of Directors has issued updated guidance to member schools about the interim name, image and likeness policy.

www.ncaa.org

I missed it, thank you for clarifying!

 

[Gophers_4life]

So we’ve got that squared away: no employee at the University of Minnesota is allowed to contribute to a Gopher NIL organization (“collective”).

If a U janitor donates $10 because he loves the Gophers and has supported them since 1980, that was just a violation of NCAA guidelines.

 

[formerlybis]

Here's another situation where the U being a pro sports town hurts. In places like Iowa and Nebraska, the local companies are competing to have a star college athlete's NIL in their promotions. Here? They want Cousins or KAT and numerous others before dipping down to anyone at the U.

 

[CPTMidnight]

This is correct. Collectives are for people like us to give. Businesses will just pay players or teams directly as part of a contract for service. Target or 3M might start a collective in an effort to get things going but they likely would never give to one.

Not disagreeing with the spirit of your post but there may be creative ways to get players involved where the into existing programs. Like they could support a player and then ask the player to represent nonprofit programs/ministries that they already support - like for example an inner city education outreach. It would be a huge PR win to have a player representing the company on traditional local media as well as social media.

There are a ton of ways that players could add value.

 

[Gopheritnow]

Happy to take a deep discussion of that into an off topic thread.

I will leave it here by paraphrasing an old poker saying: "If you can't see who the Woke person at the table... it's you."

As long as we are paraphrasing: If you look in the mirror when you go to bed at night and see a @#$&*, and look in the mirror when you wake up in the morning and see the same @#$&*, maybe it’s you that’s the @#$&*?

 

[CPTMidnight]

As long as we are paraphrasing: If you look in the mirror when you go to bed at night and see a @#$&*, and look in the mirror when you wake up in the morning and see the same @#$&*, maybe it’s you that’s the @#$&*?

You can do better. Ill wait to respond

 

[CPTMidnight]

As long as we are paraphrasing: If you look in the mirror when you go to bed at night and see a @#$&*, and look in the mirror when you wake up in the morning and see the same @#$&*, maybe it’s you that’s the @#$&*?

Let me try to help you.

"Midnight I know three dumb guys here on the hole - and you are two of them"

How about that? At least I would have laughed.

EDIT: Here is another: "Midnight, you are not the stupidest person on the planet but you better hope nothing happens to WetBlanket"

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I still think that IF you are talking about big-money NIL - or the type of NIL where players are getting (alleged) 6-figure deals - then that is going to have to come from a wealthy booster or several wealthy boosters who agree to act as a group.

If the Gophers want to play in the big-money sandbox, then they need a local equivalent of John Ruiz, or someone in that neighborhood.

and right now, I am doubtful that there is anyone in that category who
A. has that kind of $$, and
B. is a die-hard Gopher booster

case in point - the fund-raising on Athletes Village is still roughly $30-million short of its goal. If there's no 'big money' in town for that, why should anyone think there will be big money in town for NIL?

 

[bga1]

I still think that IF you are talking about big-money NIL - or the type of NIL where players are getting (alleged) 6-figure deals - then that is going to have to come from a wealthy booster or several wealthy boosters who agree to act as a group.

If the Gophers want to play in the big-money sandbox, then they need a local equivalent of John Ruiz, or someone in that neighborhood.

and right now, I am doubtful that there is anyone in that category who
A. has that kind of $$, and
B. is a die-hard Gopher booster

case in point - the fund-raising on Athletes Village is still roughly $30-million short of its goal. If there's no 'big money' in town for that, why should anyone think there will be big money in town for NIL?

It is a lot harder to fundraise for a bunch a facilities you already built...