NIL

[Cornhogio]

Is there any sports related incentive tied to seating, etc., for donating to the NIL?  They have not answered the "What's in it for me" question for potential donors.  A sticker?  An invite to a lunch/golf tournament for even more money?  Just the satisfaction of helping get the program where it needs to be on NIL?  A newsletter from the AD to the contributors?  Just wtf? 

edit:  https://arkansasedgenil.com/pages/fan-memberships

Well, this adds some stuff, but the ROI is not that great.  $250/month gets you:

Quarterly newsletter
Exclusive apparel and swag giveaways
Exclusive student-athlete digital content
Invitations to watch parties & tailgates
Digital membership card
Koozie Set
Car decal
Member exclusive hat
Member exclusive tee
Member exclusive hoodie
Discounted pricing for member events
Member exclusive ticket giveaways
Meet and greet autograph sessions
Priority event access
Receive 10% off Wright's BBQ
Hogs+ Subscription

Man, I don't know.  $3,000/year for that?  Nah. 

[The Whyte Boar]

A problem at Arkansas and maybe other schools too, I don't know, is that the collective is in direct competition to the Razorback Foundation.  Donating to NIL doesn't get you tickets or anything like that. 

In all honesty, the Foundation is kind of obsolete.  We use it to pay coaches salaries because state law limits state employees to $300k or something like that.  What we should do is lobby for a law change so that we can directly tap that $175 million a year or whatever it is for coaches' salaries and phase out the foundation.  Of course, that isn't going to happen because like any organization the foundation will now lobby for itself even if that might not be in the best interest of the program as a whole.

[Third_down_draw]

Is there any sports related incentive tied to seating, etc., for donating to the NIL?  They have not answered the "What's in it for me" question for potential donors.  A sticker?  An invite to a lunch/golf tournament for even more money?  Just the satisfaction of helping get the program where it needs to be on NIL?  A newsletter from the AD to the contributors?  Just wtf? 

edit:  https://arkansasedgenil.com/pages/fan-memberships

Well, this adds some stuff, but the ROI is not that great.  $250/month gets you:

Quarterly newsletter
Exclusive apparel and swag giveaways
Exclusive student-athlete digital content
Invitations to watch parties & tailgates
Digital membership card
Koozie Set
Car decal
Member exclusive hat
Member exclusive tee
Member exclusive hoodie
Discounted pricing for member events
Member exclusive ticket giveaways
Meet and greet autograph sessions
Priority event access
Receive 10% off Wright's BBQ
Hogs+ Subscription

Man, I don't know.  $3,000/year for that?  Nah. 

I'm on the fence - are they real foam koozies or those floppy pieces of shit that the bud light crowd uses?

[Son of Spam]

It doesn't matter. Some other school will just come up with a bigger bag of money than we will ever have.

[DirkPiggler]

A problem at Arkansas and maybe other schools too, I don't know, is that the collective is in direct competition to the Razorback Foundation.  Donating to NIL doesn't get you tickets or anything like that. 

In all honesty, the Foundation is kind of obsolete.  We use it to pay coaches salaries because state law limits state employees to $300k or something like that.  What we should do is lobby for a law change so that we can directly tap that $175 million a year or whatever it is for coaches' salaries and phase out the foundation.  Of course, that isn't going to happen because like any organization the foundation will now lobby for itself even if that might not be in the best interest of the program as a whole.

My suggestion would be to transition the Razorback Foundation and all its funds into the NIL arm, complete with ticket priority, parking, and all the other perks, and put athletics back under the umbrella of the university.

It would require some structural changes and some safeguards. Of course as you mentioned the state legislation to remove salary limits from athletics personnel is the big one.  I'd also change the org chart so that the Vice-Chancellor for Athletics has full control of athletics budgets and reports directly to either the system president or the BOT, to prevent future John Whites from deemphasizing athletics and diverting excessive proportions of those funds to other areas. There is enough money coming in from media rights deals and ticket sales to fund athletic operations.  Use bond issues or private donations to fund facility upgrades. Allow the foundation to become the primary means of funding NIL or any other player payments. 

[The Whyte Boar]

My suggestion would be to transition the Razorback Foundation and all its funds into the NIL arm, complete with ticket priority, parking, and all the other perks, and put athletics back under the umbrella of the university.

It would require some structural changes and some safeguards. Of course as you mentioned the state legislation to remove salary limits from athletics personnel is the big one.  I'd also change the org chart so that the Vice-Chancellor for Athletics has full control of athletics budgets and reports directly to either the system president or the BOT, to prevent future John Whites from deemphasizing athletics and diverting excessive proportions of those funds to other areas. There is enough money coming in from media rights deals and ticket sales to fund athletic operations.  Use bond issues or private donations to fund facility upgrades. Allow the foundation to become the primary means of funding NIL or any other player payments. 

I agree with all that but it will be a tough sell.  Too many competing fiefdoms up there.

[Hogworth Ballington III]

I thought I read something at the start of the whole NIL that regulations stipulate that schools wouldn't be allowed to provide benefits for those that donate to NIL. Priority seating to athletic events were specifically mentioned as a no go. Has that changed?

[Show-Me Hog]

I thought I read something at the start of the whole NIL that regulations stipulate that schools wouldn't be allowed to provide benefits for those that donate to NIL. Priority seating to athletic events were specifically mentioned as a no go. Has that changed?

Give us money but you will get little to nothing out of it.

Interesting business model. I wonder if I could co-opt it for myself.

[buff2.0]

I'm sure everyone has the #Integrity to follow that.

[vegashog]

Give us money but you will get little to nothing out of it.

Interesting business model. I wonder if I could co-opt it for myself.

you get a better football team. nowadays, you get the football team you pay for.

folks can lament about the good old days or sit and bitch, but it won't change no matter who the coach is until this mess gets sorted out, if it ever does. the next guy is damn sure going to look at the state of the nil fund before taking the job.

if less than 900 people nationwide are the only ones that can afford $25 a month, then i don't see how the expectations can be that high.

[The Whyte Boar]

I think if Arkansas had made a new hire, we'd have that 5,000 no problem.  But people are done with Sam.  If not for the hiring of Petrino, there would be zero reason for watching this season.  If the experiment works and/or we make a new somewhat exciting hire, things will improve.  I don't know how much, but it will get better.

[Lurk]

Hire somebody that makes a splash(cue the "NOBODY can beat our coach in a cannonball competition" jokes) like Kiffin did, or Calipari. You've got to get the big money on board first. Missippi is about to be good and it will turn out they've broken every rule to get this done. It won't matter if they get established as a winning(popular) program. Penalties mean nothing nowadays. Set up a bitcoin account and launder drug money if you have to. 

But first, we need to hire Cornrows for next year.

[wendellgee]

I've seen people gripe about donating $25 per month on social media and I get it. Not every family in Arkansas can do that.

But it will take some grassroots help too. They need an option to donate $20 per quarter. Make it easy. Sign up for auto pay and let the donor choose the first of the month or middle if that helps. Surely, they could get 100,000 Hog fans to sign up for that.

[Show-Me Hog]

you get a better football team.

Do you though?

What's the guaranteed success rate on that?

Versus spending $25 on, say, a couple of cases of Coke or a large pizza. ROI much more guaranteed.

[Third_down_draw]

I've seen people gripe about donating $25 per month on social media and I get it. Not every family in Arkansas can do that.

But it will take some grassroots help too. They need an option to donate $20 per quarter. Make it easy. Sign up for auto pay and let the donor choose the first of the month or middle if that helps. Surely, they could get 100,000 Hog fans to sign up for that.

Afford's got nothing to do with it.

[HogOfWar]

I think if Arkansas had made a new hire, we'd have that 5,000 no problem.  But people are done with Sam.  If not for the hiring of Petrino, there would be zero reason for watching this season.  If the experiment works and/or we make a new somewhat exciting hire, things will improve.  I don't know how much, but it will get better.

Agreed. It is just like with merchandise. Why buy stuff for a crappy team. Before Petrino was hired in 2008. I would just buy vintage stuff on ebay, mostly because the 200 hog sucked.

When we were winning, I didn't care anymore.

I am back to buying stuff on ebay, so I won't support Heresyourcheck and Lasso Tits.

[Natty_Ice]

So if this passes, not only will the players be getting free schollies, room & board, meals, support and any other NIL deals on the side, but they would also be getting a flat salary of around $176K from the university. Make it make sense.

https://sports.yahoo.com/a-250m-price-tag-how-sec-coaches-will-pay-their-football-players-142513338.html

[Keyser Soooie]

Apparently, we don't want free money for NIL now. I'm seeing this on Twitter: https://x.com/carltontsaffa/status/1822078498174886310?s=46&t=kyWBME90McQQ-6xFuh6P5w

[jdcatty]

https://x.com/bestofarsports/status/1822212845095784916?



This is all very confusing to me.

[Pig Benis]

That's the most Arkansas shit ever.

"Here's a great idea that gives you free money."

"No thanks"

Why the fuck would anyone donate if they're saying they don't need it and are turning away free money?