STrib: Gophers chase their NIL version of FedEx's $25 million gift to Memphis

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Per Marcus:

Imagine a day when Gophers athletes are receiving millions of dollars in name, image and likeness (NIL) payments from Minnesota's big businesses, putting them on par with peers across major college sports.

The Gophers are hoping for their own version of what the University of Memphis landed in April with a $25 million NIL contribution from FedEx.

Why not dream big on getting an NIL supercharge from among the state's 15 Fortune 500 companies?

"FedEx is a game-changer," Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle said. "There's no doubt."

Brett Schreiner is the new point person trying to help Coyle and the Gophers attract a big-business NIL investment like the one Tigers athletics scored from the Memphis-based shipping giant.

www.startribune.com

Gophers chase their NIL version of FedEx's $25 million gift to Memphis

Minnesota has a new point person working with the state's Fortune 500 companies, educating them about NIL, all in search of the next 'game changer.'
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 

Well duh. They should be courting some of the giant companies in the state.
 


LesBolstad said:
Honestly, if you're a shareholder of FedEx this is bullshit. How does this serve the owners of the company?
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Kind of reminds me of the Excel energy center. Excel wanted to raise our rates more as the investors wanted more profits.
 

LesBolstad said:
Honestly, if you're a shareholder of FedEx this is bullshit. How does this serve the owners of the company?
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Maybe the PR value of the donation offsets the dollars? Personally as a consumer I don’t see a company giving money to buy college football and basketball players as something that moves the needle for me. Now if they use money to build playgrounds or schools, that gets my attention. But everyone is different.
 


LesBolstad said:
Honestly, if you're a shareholder of FedEx this is bullshit. How does this serve the owners of the company?
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The only way it's not bullshit is if FedEx takes an equity stake in Memphis athletics, either the profits or the valuation of the whole shebang. Marketing or goodwill value would not cover the $25M for shareholders.

Which is where we start getting into the whole "private equity money in college sports" coming trend. Gophers need an entity to somehow buy the football team.
 

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General Mills Golden Gophers
 

Honestly, our best bet for this is probably US Bank, IMO.

Their current Chairman and CEO, Andrew Cecere, is an alumni; having got his MBA at the U. He also serves on the board of advisors for the Carlson School of Management, so he's actively involved with the University.

Also, I believe he goes to Gopher Football games (maybe even has season tickets?), because I believe I've been introduced to him at a tailgate before (at least, I think it was him).

Perhaps he can be convinced of the benefit of US Bank being a corporate NIL partner for the U. If not, perhaps he can convinced to make some large personal donations to NIL (if he hasn't already).

I looked through all the other fortune 500 companies based in Minneapolis and unfortunately none of the others have CEOs who are alumni of the U at the moment. Not that that means they couldn't be convinced to donate to NIL, but having an alumni at the top helps a lot I think.
 

fmlizard said:
The only way it's not bullshit is if FedEx takes an equity stake in Memphis athletics, either the profits or the valuation of the whole shebang. Marketing or goodwill value would not cover the $25M for shareholders.

Which is where we start getting into the whole "private equity money in college sports" coming trend. Gophers need an entity to somehow buy the football team.
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Any AD or president even considering this should be fired on the spot.


.
 





Pompous Elitist said:
Any AD or president even considering this should be fired on the spot.


.
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Should they? There was a time when paying the players would have brought this reaction.

People have ridiculed the idea of an entry draft in the future too, because "how can you force kids to go to a college" but once it's a billion dollar professional industry the players lose some freedoms, too. I think we will see some type of draft in college football in the next 10 years.

Don't write off the idea of investors in Gopher football that expect more of a return than goodwill or vague "marketing". It might be our only hope of staying with the big boys.
 

We need this if we want our team to continue to be successful in the mid tier of the conference alone.
 



fmlizard said:
Should they? There was a time when paying the players would have brought this reaction.

People have ridiculed the idea of an entry draft in the future too, because "how can you force kids to go to a college" but once it's a billion dollar professional industry the players lose some freedoms, too. I think we will see some type of draft in college football in the next 10 years.

Don't write off the idea of investors in Gopher football that expect more of a return than goodwill or vague "marketing". It might be our only hope of staying with the big boys.
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Yes. The analogy while not perfect is someone funding their lifestyle using credit cards. The hangover eventually shows up, and you’ve ultimately solved nothing, created new mouths to feed, and hurt future revenue. I’d like to see any new or updated governance entity ban this type of involvement. College sports isn’t the NFL, where increasing valuations have left owners with few people to sell to (uh, maybe involve the fans/public…?)

ADs, I assume, are looking at this as a way to avoid having to make tough decisions now. There are better ways to level the playing field, if that’s the goal.
 

more likely billionaire alums rather than corporations. Arkansas as an example, members of the Tyson family are providing $s for NIL (along with Jerry Jones) - not Tyson Foods the company.

For the U, perhaps one of the Cargill family who is also a gopher

the FedEX Memphis deal is $5M per year over 5 years. Per their press release, to sponsor local future leaders.
 

WoodburyTim said:
Maybe the PR value of the donation offsets the dollars? Personally as a consumer I don’t see a company giving money to buy college football and basketball players as something that moves the needle for me. Now if they use money to build playgrounds or schools, that gets my attention. But everyone is different.
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I'm sure it's a marketing expense. At the peak of NASCAR popularity, in the late 90's - early 2000's, General Mills, to name one, had an entire marketing department dedicated to NASCAR sponsorship. I knew someone who worked there at the time, and the budget was a LOT more than you'd think. Best Buy had a car sponsorship as well, and Target always sponsored an Indy car.

This is kind of the same thing.
 

GopherOhana said:
more likely billionaire alums rather than corporations. Arkansas as an example, members of the Tyson family are providing $s for NIL (along with Jerry Jones) - not Tyson Foods the company.

For the U, perhaps one of the Cargill family who is also a gopher

the FedEX Memphis deal is $5M per year over 5 years. Per their press release, to sponsor local future leaders.
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Correct. While Nike outfits Oregon athletics, like they do many other schools including MN, it's Phil Knight's money that is bankrolling the Ducks and has been for decades.
 

GopherOhana said:
more likely billionaire alums rather than corporations. Arkansas as an example, members of the Tyson family are providing $s for NIL (along with Jerry Jones) - not Tyson Foods the company.

For the U, perhaps one of the Cargill family who is also a gopher

the FedEX Memphis deal is $5M per year over 5 years. Per their press release, to sponsor local future leaders.
Click to expand...
If we're waiting around for a billionaire alum to shower millions of dollars a year on the Gopher football team just for love of the M&G we'll be waiting forever. Before the end of the decade it will require $50-100M annually to pay for a college football payroll that can compete at the top level.

The only way out financially is investor ownership in the program. Groups that think they can squeeze 3x the amount of media dollars from the "brand" and will put up money to pay the team so they can essentially own a franchise in a top 15 media market.

The U licenses operations of lots of things to 3rd party companies. The bookstores, the dining halls, the concessions at games, and perhaps soon the football program.

I don't like it either, but I think it's quickly going to become reality. Or we join a second tier league and go on the way things sorta-used-to-be. But even the 2nd tier league will have $$$ flying around it.
 

LesBolstad said:
Honestly, if you're a shareholder of FedEx this is bullshit. How does this serve the owners of the company?
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FedEx employs lots of people in Memphis at their World Hub air sorting facility, many of those employees are college kids. FedEx also has their Global HQ in Memphis and establishing a talent pipeline for those white-collar jobs from the University is beneficial.

The NIL donation is $5 million per year for 5 years. I'm betting they believe it's a good opportunity to attract talent and continue to promote goodwill for the company within the city of Memphis.
 

fmlizard said:
If we're waiting around for a billionaire alum to shower millions of dollars a year on the Gopher football team just for love of the M&G we'll be waiting forever. Before the end of the decade it will require $50-100M annually to pay for a college football payroll that can compete at the top level.

The only way out financially is investor ownership in the program. Groups that think they can squeeze 3x the amount of media dollars from the "brand" and will put up money to pay the team so they can essentially own a franchise in a top 15 media market.

The U licenses operations of lots of things to 3rd party companies. The bookstores, the dining halls, the concessions at games, and perhaps soon the football program.

I don't like it either, but I think it's quickly going to become reality. Or we join a second tier league and go on the way things sorta-used-to-be. But even the 2nd tier league will have $$$ flying around it.
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I don’t mean this disrespectfully in any way but I’m genuinely interested how selling off future revenue is going to solve funding problems. Illustrate how this would work over the next 10-15 years.

If CFB wants a unified contract they can certainly organize, arrange that on their own without involving private capital. These guys are not experts in that arena, or really any arena except sales and legal jujitsu. The art is making the sale on the front and back end. Fans, athletes, subscribers, staff lose.
 

LesBolstad said:
Honestly, if you're a shareholder of FedEx this is bullshit. How does this serve the owners of the company?
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It does not and it is bullshit. The deal with FEDX includes all athletes at Memphis. No one athlete gets more than another is my guess. Nobody here in the twin cities is going to match this deal. We live in a state where everyone gets what everyone else has and the legislature will be all over a donation to athletes that are already getting a great deal. St Thomas will get a deal though, way before us.
 

fmlizard said:
If we're waiting around for a billionaire alum to shower millions of dollars a year on the Gopher football team just for love of the M&G we'll be waiting forever. Before the end of the decade it will require $50-100M annually to pay for a college football payroll that can compete at the top level.

The only way out financially is investor ownership in the program. Groups that think they can squeeze 3x the amount of media dollars from the "brand" and will put up money to pay the team so they can essentially own a franchise in a top 15 media market.

The U licenses operations of lots of things to 3rd party companies. The bookstores, the dining halls, the concessions at games, and perhaps soon the football program.

I don't like it either, but I think it's quickly going to become reality. Or we join a second tier league and go on the way things sorta-used-to-be. But even the 2nd tier league will have $$$ flying around it.
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I mean, I'm okay with getting showered with enough money to make the Badger and Hawkeye games extremely competitive and that's it. I don't personally need us to be Ohio State, I just don't want a return to the late aughts ever again. We cannot become a doormat program in the premier conference.
 

What if we hired a director-level executive to run the department? This person could, in addition to their other duties, be responsible for overseeing the public relations efforts of the department and cultivating relationships with potential partners? That sounds like an idea that might be more productive than waiting around for someone to show up, ask "where do I send the check?", and then being disappointed when money doesn't just materialize out of thin air.

Bonus points if this person could hold a press conference with confidence, eloquence, and persuasiveness.
 

Watch the FedEx and other corporate logos, in addition to Nike and UnderArmor, plaster the college unis. If Im giving that kind of dough, that’s what I’d want.
 


Just for reference, FedEx had revenue of $90.2 billion in 2023. The $25 million is 0.02 percent of that. If the gift is $5 million per year, as noted above, that's 0.006 percent of revenue.
 

DEGopherfan said:
Watch the FedEx and other corporate logos, in addition to Nike and UnderArmor, plaster the college unis. If Im giving that kind of dough, that’s what I’d want.
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That's the thing. We already have that in the NBA on jerseys, what's a couple of corporate sponsor tags if it means fielding a competitive team? We're really getting into the weeds with this stuff but there's been so much corporate soul selling in the background of different sports, why not just own it and be up front about it?
 

LesBolstad said:
Honestly, if you're a shareholder of FedEx this is bullshit. How does this serve the owners of the company?
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If you think that then you must believe no form of marketing works. Which is impossible to argue unless you’re an American that lives in the hills without any type of electronic communication device.
 

watertown 1987 guy n said:
If you think that then you must believe no form of marketing works. Which is impossible to argue unless you’re an American that lives in the hills without any type of electronic communication device.
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I can understand the marketing value of having a corporate name on a stadium or if it's on a jersey, etc. Do they get their logo on the Memphis jerseys? If it's just helping out funding sort of in the background, it may help with the Memphis market but I don't know how that helps them as much nationally.
 

Word said:
I can understand the marketing value of having a corporate name on a stadium or if it's on a jersey, etc. Do they get their logo on the Memphis jerseys? If it's just helping out funding sort of in the background, it may help with the Memphis market but I don't know how that helps them as much nationally.
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Its a rounding error, they don't need to really gain anything except "Official Booster of Memphis Athletics".

Do you think Washburn-McCreavy is making a killing off Gopher Athletics? ;)
 

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