SI: Gophers' PJ Fleck: Without NIL money, we can't keep team intact

[disco]

Any explanation in here in why MN is in a worse position than say NW, Purdue, IL, and maybe two dozen other P5 schools that aren’t Ohio St and Texas etc?

Maybe MN is uniquely poor when it comes to donors and donations. I don’t know enough about NIL though.

Schools like tOSU and Texas have rabid boosters for football who are willing to spend a lot of money to help the program win. For whatever reason, we do not. I don't believe it's because we have every major professional league in town.

Northwestern has the Ryan family who paid to upgrade the arena and (if it's still happening) for much of the new stadium.

I don't know much re: Purdue and Illinois. I do know Illinois has one REALLY wealthy alumnus, and that's Shad Khan - worth 10 to 12 billion. We know he likes sports - he owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fulham FC, and AEW Wrestling (not a real sport, but a pseudo sport anyway). No idea if he's given any money to the athletic dept. at UIUC.

 

[GopherEnEspaña]

What a bunch of crap. Who are all these "best players" we lost other than Bucky. And, we replaced him just fine last year and this year until injuries. No one in the West, where we currently are, has a huge NIL. What a stupid excuse.

Will we need NIL in the future, sure. But this has nothing to do with getting blown out by Purdue, who had a decimated offensive line and no NIL lineman to step in.

None of what you said negates PJ's points. With all of the problems we've had this year, PJ is 100% on point when talking about NIL. Also, to your comment - we did in fact lose depth (particularly at LB and secondary) that has clearly hurt us this year.

 

[GopherEnEspaña]

Any explanation in here in why MN is in a worse position than say NW, Purdue, IL, and maybe two dozen other P5 schools that aren’t Ohio St and Texas etc?

Maybe MN is uniquely poor when it comes to donors and donations. I don’t know enough about NIL though.

The only explanation/rule is that the U doesn't have specific, deep-pocketed alumni that are football crazy and willing to throw cash at 17 year olds. Schools that have these type of alumni networks are going to be the winners in this NIL era. Just because you have a big university in a big metro area does not promise NIL success, as we will see over the next few years.

 

[GopherEnEspaña]

PJ's 1000% correct here and it's such a petty Minnesota fandom thing to complain about the timing of his comments instead of the substance. Without NIL money, building roster depth and brining in the high 3/low 4 star guys and getting them to stay and develop will be nearly impossible. This is happening across the board to all mid-tier programs, if they have a decent kid at backup LB, he will get swiped up in the offseason almost immediately. It's insanity.

 

[Torres9]

The only explanation/rule is that the U doesn't have specific, deep-pocketed alumni that are football crazy and willing to throw cash at 17 year olds. Schools that have these type of alumni networks are going to be the winners in this NIL era. Just because you have a big university in a big metro area does not promise NIL success, as we will see over the next few years.

The only explanation/rule is that the U doesn't have specific, deep-pocketed alumni that are football crazy and willing to throw cash at 17 year olds. Schools that have these type of alumni networks are going to be the winners in this NIL era. Just because you have a big university in a big metro area does not promise NIL success, as we will see over the next few years.

Thanks

Schools like tOSU and Texas have rabid boosters for football who are willing to spend a lot of money to help the program win. For whatever reason, we do not. I don't believe it's because we have every major professional league in town.

Northwestern has the Ryan family who paid to upgrade the arena and (if it's still happening) for much of the new stadium.

I don't know much re: Purdue and Illinois. I do know Illinois has one REALLY wealthy alumnus, and that's Shad Khan - worth 10 to 12 billion. We know he likes sports - he owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fulham FC, and AEW Wrestling (not a real sport, but a pseudo sport anyway). No idea if he's given any money to the athletic dept. at UIUC.

Well we weren’t really competing with oh state and Texas pre NIL so no change there.

We have tons of rich alumi they just aren’t willing to give money to the program. That’s partially the fault of inept U Admin and coaches over the history but it’s also something Pj can start to overcome with more success.

NW, Iowa, Purdue have all been more (at least equally) successful over the B10 era and we’re not at a disadvantage to those schools.

Also huge money doesn’t necessarily equate to success - bumble fuck Ok St and Tx AM aren’t pulling up trees right now even with mega rich football donors

 

[Tucker32]

None of what you said negates PJ's points. With all of the problems we've had this year, PJ is 100% on point when talking about NIL. Also, to your comment - we did in fact lose depth (particularly at LB and secondary) that has clearly hurt us this year.

Everyone has had injuries. Purdue had significant injuries on their offensive line. NIL has nothing to do with our linebacker depth though.

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

I would honestly rather drop down if you could guarantee the following teams drop down to form a new G5 with us:

The big ten west conference
Illinois
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Iowa
Nebraska
Purdue
Indiana
Minnesota
Michigan state
Plus 0-3 of your favorite comparable teams

I'd love it if the non-paying teams got together and decided to form their own league.

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

.....
We need the Vikings to go all in with the U. That is literally the only solution, but I have no idea how that happens or how it would work without the U giving up some kind of institutional control and I don't know if that's either permissible or if the powers that be would even allow it.

I've said this before. If anything goes...paying the players...we should pay Vikings players to suit-up for the Gophers.

This would be good use of money for wins...and it keeps students as students. And if the NCAA or anyone doesn't like it...let them try to sue us. We could have any result overturned or injunctioned by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

 

[gopher7]

It would be hard to make a case for how NIL has improved CFB.

I agree. It's benefited the higher profile players, but it's going to hurt the sport as a whole. I don't even want to think about what the landscape becomes in 5 years once the big schools figure out how to maximize their NIL earnings. It's going to become impossible for second tier programs like ours sign any elite players, and the ones we develop on our own can just up and transfer without sitting out a year, and go cash in somewhere else. This applies not just to us, but probably at about 60% of FBS schools. Fans will become discouraged and attendance will drop, putting programs like ours at risk.

The silver lining here there will come a point in the not-too-distant future where teams like Indiana, Purdue and Minnesota are not going to just sit there and make nothing, and then they go and play PSU, Michigan and OSU whose players are all making tens or hundreds of thousands. They will be doing literally the same job and only one side is going to see the big payday. Hopefully that will be what fractures the currently broken system they have in place. Because OSU doesn't make hundreds of thousands of dollars if they don't have opponents. They need teams like us, so why should our guys make nothing and go take that beating? Either some type of arrangement will be put in place for more even revenue sharing, or FBS will fracture and new 32-team super division will emerge. Maybe this is why the NFL has 32 teams and not 130.

 

[MplsGopher]

If Fleck wanted to put some actual meat on the bone for his point:

who were some guys he targeted this past off-season to try to get to transfer here, but we lost out on them because we couldn't offer enough NIL?

That's really the only leg he has to stand on.


All the dept we lost, had nothing to do with NIL. Those guys just wanted a change of scenery and/or to play more.


I will say this though: now we will be fighting the "Minnesota battle" on two fronts. We still have the same old (slight) bias against us in convincing out of region kids to come all the way up here. But now we also have all that working against us for kids who came here, but aren't starting or playing much, in convincing them to stay and be quality depth.

The free transfer hurts. That's the actual thing.

 

[Maroon1992]

If the chief salesperson of the program acknowledges he cannot drum up NIL money he should step down

 

[JosephKaros33]

Per Joe:

"Things have completely changed and I think people have to put their head around them in college football of 2021 is not even close to where college football is in 2023. Especially in roster management, depth," Fleck said at his Monday press conference, 48 hours after his Gophers were crushed 49-30 by a Purdue team that had two wins and hadn't scored more than 14 points in a game in more than a month.

Fleck elaborated when he appeared as a guest on KFAN radio in the Twin Cities later Monday morning and was asked if Minnesota's NIL money is "non-existent."

"I wouldn't say non-existent. I think we have so many donors and boosters and friends of our program and alumni who care so much about us that have done a great job of donating to NIL. But in the new NIL world, if you're not the leader in NIL and not have the NIL funds, 1) you're not going to be able to keep your team intact and 2) you're not going to be able to bring anyone in. That's the facts of it. It's NFL free agency with no salary cap and no rules. That's the simple fact of it," Fleck said.

"You can look around the country and some of our best players that were here are best players somewhere else. And not only that, guys that are on our team right now, I hope we can hang on to. And we're going to do everything we can to do that. But the new world, like college football in 2023 and 2024 coming up with the new Big Ten, it's not even close to where college football was in 2021. It's a completely different era, and that's what matters. Whether you like it or don't like, you disagree or agree with it, that is what is driving college football right now.

"And people are stacking up and loading up on their rosters with massive NIL. I think [athletics director Mark Coyle], our athletic department, have done a great job of making people aware of it. This year was definitely better than last year in what we've been able to raise with NIL, our collective is doing a great job. That's the No. 1 most important thing right now in holding onto your roster and creating a roster right now as this whole new era of college football shapes into the future."

https://www.si.com/fannation/bringmethesports/gophers/gophers-pj-fleck-without-nil-money-we-cant-keep-team-intact

Go Gophers!!

Poor timing for his comments after bad losses, BUT I do believe we all have to step up for our program and get some NIL going!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

PJ's 1000% correct here and it's such a petty Minnesota fandom thing to complain about the timing of his comments instead of the substance. Without NIL money, building roster depth and brining in the high 3/low 4 star guys and getting them to stay and develop will be nearly impossible. This is happening across the board to all mid-tier programs, if they have a decent kid at backup LB, he will get swiped up in the offseason almost immediately. It's insanity.

You think any other fanbase wouldn’t have absolutely roasted PJ for the timing? We just blew choked against Illinois and got dominated by Purdue - two games that have absolutely nothing to do with NIL - and he brings it up now?

The timing was terrible. Our fanbase was actually much easier on him than most college football fanbases.

 

[GopherEnEspaña]

If the chief salesperson of the program acknowledges he cannot drum up NIL money he should step down

This isn't how NIL works. Other schools have dedicated networking entities whose job it is to actually schmooze with the cash-ready alumnis. You think Jimbo fisher is the reason TAMU is getting unholy amounts of NIL money? The successful NIL schools have an entire backroom machinery of NIL marketing that is running 24/7. The coaches aren't driving the train (or, in PJ's case, rowing the boat) on this one

 

[disco]

This isn't how NIL works. Other schools have dedicated networking entities whose job it is to actually schmooze with the cash-ready alumnis. You think Jimbo fisher is the reason TAMU is getting unholy amounts of NIL money? The successful NIL schools have an entire backroom machinery of NIL marketing that is running 24/7. The coaches aren't driving the train (or, in PJ's case, rowing the boat) on this one

Or they're just tapping into the network of big money boosters that were paying players before NIL.

 

[disco]

I'd love it if the non-paying teams got together and decided to form their own league.

And you know for a fact what teams are and are not paying players?

 

[The prez sez]

And you know for a fact what teams are and are not paying players?

Everyone pays players now, it's just a question of how much. And what fleck is saying that without NIL, we are going to lose players. I would bet my NIL contribution right now that darius Taylor transfers after the season, and maybe our top defensive backs. And for the record, my NIL contribution is zero-zilch-nada because I think some of the TV money should be used to pay the players, and that NIL needs to be highly regulated to prevent pay-to-play scenarios

 

[GopherTheJugular]

And for the record, my NIL contribution is zero-zilch-nada because I think some of the TV money should be used to pay the players,

How do you do that without making them employees? And have you considered ALL of the ramifications of that?

 

[GopherTheJugular]

BUT I do believe we all have to step up for our program and get some NIL going!

I think the biggest issue with this is that your NIL money doesn't have a lasting impact like other things do. What I mean is, if some random fan contributes a few thousand dollars to something like facilities, etc. that fan can still feel good about making the donation 10, 20 years down the road, as the impact will still be there. People can kinda get behind that.

On the other hand, if someone coughs up a few grand to dinkytown athletes, or even targets a specific player, it's 1) not enough to get an impact transfer and 2) it's not going to have much of an impact beyond buying groceries for some player(s) for one athletic season. Then you're right back where you were.

Hope I expressed that well enough.

 

[disco]

How do you do that without making them employees? And have you considered ALL of the ramifications of that?

I would be shocked if some schools aren't laundering TV money through boosters and then back to players.