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richmond.com

VCU hosts town hall to navigate 'wild west' of NIL opportunities for athletes

VCU administrators, coaches, student-athletes and stakeholders convened Monday night in a virtual town hall in conjunction with the HAVOC Unlimited Collective regarding the ever-changing landscape of Name, Image and Likeness.
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Not surprising that the Rams have mustered and organized resources into what appears to be an impressive and attractive NLI program.

Zach Joachim of the Times-Dispatch provides the details in his story introducing the HAVOC Unlimited Collective. It appears the Collective has pulled together resources from the University, AD, athletes, stakeholders (fans) etc. They have publicly stated goals they hope to achieve. You can achieve a lot when you have a proactive group of leaders willing to tackle a major challenge like winning Championships in the NIL world. The Rams have this leadership.

Obviously the group behind HUC hopes to give the coaches at VCU another tool with which to bolster their recruiting and rosters.

I've read a lot of vague, general things about a UR NIL program, but if it was anything like what Joachim describes at VCU, I've missed it. It looks like UR has fallen behind again, I wonder how our coaches feel trying to win Championships without the tools they battle against. Who could blame them for raising Cain? I wonder if anyone has?

Some days it tough to be a Spiders fan.
 
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Why is it tough? I love being a Spider fan and am proud of the school I graduated from. We have maybe 4,000 students. VCU has about 30,000. Are you really that surprised that a much bigger school might have a better chance to start something like this?
 
VCU is adapting to and pro actively confronting the changing college basketball landscape. Spiders appear to be barely peaking out the web. One school dedicated to winning, the other....well we all know. Sad.. Just sad.
 
VT4700 said:
Why is it tough? I love being a Spider fan and am proud of the school I graduated from. We have maybe 4,000 students. VCU has about 30,000. Are you really that surprised that a much bigger school might have a better chance to start something like this?
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poor little old Richmond, how could we ever hope to compete with big brother?
 
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"There is tremendous enthusiasm surrounding our basketball program. We have regular sellout crowds and continue to exceed attendance records. Our Spider Giving Day broke all time records this Spring."

Given all the energy our program is creating, we should have no problem funding robust NIL opportunities.
 
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Spider B said:
Loser mentality.
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Nope. Just realistic number crunching. If VCU gets 1% of their every 30,000 to help with NIL, that is 300 people. If we get 1% of our every 4,000, that is 40 people. It is what it is. I'm not complaining at all. Like I said, I love the school I graduated from, and I would never complain about a lack of NIL from our fans. To those that are, put up or shut up.

Speaking of VCU, I feel like all I do on here is go back and forth defending our program against what seems like a bunch of VCU fans attacking it. If you guys hate our school and program so much, go find someone else to follow.
 
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VT4700 said:
Nope. Just realistic number crunching. If VCU gets 1% of their every 30,000 to help with NIL, that is 300 people. If we get 1% of our every 4,000, that is 40 people. It is what it is. I'm not complaining at all. Like I said, I love the school I graduated from, and I would never complain about a lack of NIL from our fans. To those that are, put up or shut up.

Speaking of VCU, I feel like all I do on here is go back and forth defending our program against what seems like a bunch of VCU fans attacking it. If you guys hate our school and program so much, go find someone else to follow.
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We are the ones that want and expect more from the program, you are the one satisfied with being a doormat.
 
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VT4700 said:
Nope. Just realistic number crunching. If VCU gets 1% of their every 30,000 to help with NIL, that is 300 people. If we get 1% of our every 4,000, that is 40 people. It is what it is. I'm not complaining at all. Like I said, I love the school I graduated from, and I would never complain about a lack of NIL from our fans. To those that are, put up or shut up.

Speaking of VCU, I feel like all I do on here is go back and forth defending our program against what seems like a bunch of VCU fans attacking it. If you guys hate our school and program so much, go find someone else to follow.
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while we have a smaller base to draw from, that doesn't mean we shouldn't organize something. we've been slow to react to the NIL world.
 
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VT4700 said:
Why is it tough? I love being a Spider fan and am proud of the school I graduated from. We have maybe 4,000 students. VCU has about 30,000. Are you really that surprised that a much bigger school might have a better chance to start something like this?
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I hate that argument. We have less kids. Yet - we all boast on here, the kids at our school go on to accomplish bigger and better things - especially in the world of business and finance (not saying that is a fact - but something that is widely spread).

Its like the argument when we don't have a lot of fans show up for games because most of our students come from the Northeast - yet, when we play games in the Barclays center, Philadelphia, NY, etc - its not like Spider Fans are grabbing tickets and taking over the arena.

Our NIL program right now is you can pay Roche $50 and he will send you a birthday message, or give Quinn a few bucks and he might show up to a private event. Thats about it.
 
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VT4700 said:
Nope. Just realistic number crunching. If VCU gets 1% of their every 30,000 to help with NIL, that is 300 people. If we get 1% of our every 4,000, that is 40 people. It is what it is. I'm not complaining at all. Like I said, I love the school I graduated from, and I would never complain about a lack of NIL from our fans. To those that are, put up or shut up.

Speaking of VCU, I feel like all I do on here is go back and forth defending our program against what seems like a bunch of VCU fans attacking it. If you guys hate our school and program so much, go find someone else to follow.
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WE ARE IN THIS LEAGUE OF OUR OWN VOLITION!! Also: WE supported VCU coming into the league!!

Now you want to cry about the disadvantage we face? Come on. We controlled our own destiny, we chose to join the A-10 and have chosen to stay in it, and we chose to advocate for VCU's entrance into it. If we had said no, they probably wouldn't be here now.

I don't know why this is so difficult to understand: Either we do what is necessary to compete with EVERYONE ELSE in the league, or we move to a league that only consists of schools exactly like ours.
 
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Eight Legger said:
WE ARE IN THIS LEAGUE OF OUR OWN VOLITION!! Also: WE supported VCU coming into the league!!

Now you want to cry about the disadvantage we face? Come on. We controlled our own destiny, we chose to join the A-10 and have chosen to stay in it, and we chose to advocate for VCU's entrance into it. If we had said no, they probably wouldn't be here now.

I don't know why this is so difficult to understand: Either we do what is necessary to compete with EVERYONE ELSE in the league, or we move to a league that only consists of schools exactly like ours.
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Why did you copy my post and then say this? Who is crying here? Not me. Shoot, sounds like I'm one of the very rare ones on here who is happy with our program. I think we have shown we can compete (your word, not mine) with EVERYONE ELSE in the A-10 just fine. Who is the last A-10 team to get an NCAA tourney win? Who won 14 A-10 games in 2020 and again in 2022? I enjoyed our A 10 title and win over Iowa. I also enjoyed one of our best regular seasons ever in 2020. Sorry if you didn't. Now, we hear more whining about us not doing enough with NIL. Not me from, though. From you guys. Seems like you and others are the ones crying on here. Not me.
 
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KE Spider said:
VCU is adapting to and pro actively confronting the changing college basketball landscape. Spiders appear to be barely peaking out the web. One school dedicated to winning, the other....well we all know. Sad.. Just sad.
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Yep, how many times and how many ways does this our leadership have to tell and show us, we really are not serious at all about winning. From Hardt's "transitional year" to Queally telling us to "lower our expectations, to Mooney's recent interview where he seemingly is disconnected with whatever we may or may not be doing in response to the NIL.

They just don't care about winning, so much so, that they pretty much say it out loud. Until these 3 are gone from UR, we should not expect anything different. I for one hate, and yes hate is a strong word but it is appropriate here, what they have collectively done to what was once a proud, overachieving UR athletic department.

I reserve some respect for Queally cause at least he put up a lot of dough to enhance our facilities. Hardt and Mooney though, eff those guys. They are just collecting fact ass paychecks, their performances simply would not be tolerated at any big athletic department with a commitment to winning, yet here they are rewarded.

4700, yeah the thought to just abandon this toxic culture of our own creation has crossed my mind a thousand times, but then I know I am an alum and have true love for our basketball program. So, I am simply stuck with waiting out the Hardt and Mooney era, they will not be here forever, and maybe once they are both gone, we have a chance to returning to what Spider athletics truly deserves to be.
 
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It is becoming very easy to lower expectations in line with our major booster, admin, coach, and AD. I have added some other college hoops programs to follow, so that helps. Always hoping to wake up to a big changed with Richmond basketball, but it seems we are on a course to maintaining mediocrity.
 
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spider23 said:
It is becoming very easy to lower expectations in line with our major booster, admin, coach, and AD. I have added some other college hoops programs to follow, so that helps. Always hoping to wake up to a big changed with Richmond basketball, but it seems we are on a course to maintaining mediocrity.
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Why shoot for exceptionality when we can bask in mediocrity? Certainly you can adapt to accept the 3 set of numbers that count? .55, 1 every 6 years, and 8-25. These are staples of the CM era. Learn to love them. All is good.
 
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Queally posted this on a Facebook group an hour ago, so I guess we do in fact have something that is tangible:

"Spider Fans - A Spider NIL (“The Spiders’ Collective”) was formed earlier this year and pre funded for next season by a small group of individuals. Coach Mooney has worked closely with The Spiders’s Collective to allocate dollars to both existing and new players. We are confident that our fully funded NIL pool is highly competitive within the A10, including VCU’s recent disclosure of its existing and aspirational pool.

Our plan all along has been to pre fund our NIL, focus on building next year’s team and then go out to the broader Spider community to build The Spiders’ Collective for future years. Spiders’ Collective donors will earn the opportunity to participate in a wide range of promotional activities ranging from unique team apparel, meet and greets with both players and coaches, selective pre game festivities and team travel.

The Spiders’ Collective has hired a firm to help draft player contracts to ensure that all parties are properly protected. The same firm will assist us to developing a broader marketing plan to approach other loyal Spider fans who would like to contribute. Stay tuned for more information. Go Spiders!"
 
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Eight Legger said:
Queally posted this on a Facebook group an hour ago, so I guess we do in fact have something that is tangible:

"Spider Fans - A Spider NIL (“The Spiders’ Collective”) was formed earlier this year and pre funded for next season by a small group of individuals. Coach Mooney has worked closely with The Spiders’s Collective to allocate dollars to both existing and new players. We are confident that our fully funded NIL pool is highly competitive within the A10, including VCU’s recent disclosure of its existing and aspirational pool.

Our plan all along has been to pre fund our NIL, focus on building next year’s team and then go out to the broader Spider community to build The Spiders’ Collective for future years. Spiders’ Collective donors will earn the opportunity to participate in a wide range of promotional activities ranging from unique team apparel, meet and greets with both players and coaches, selective pre game festivities and team travel.

The Spiders’ Collective has hired a firm to help draft player contracts to ensure that all parties are properly protected. The same firm will assist us to developing a broader marketing plan to approach other loyal Spider fans who would like to contribute. Stay tuned for more information. Go Spiders!"
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But it sure was fun seeing everyone get all bent out of shape for nothing for a day or so.
 
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Wood Hall said:
But it sure was fun seeing everyone get all bent out of shape for nothing for a day or so.
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Well, considering that we had nothing publicly available to go on until this, and Mooney acted unsure or disinterested in answering the question posed in that weird JOC Q&A piece, I don’t think it was overreacting to wonder what the heck we were doing. But it is good to see that something exists. I’m sure our PR department has been trying to get something out there for months but it’s stuck in the spellcheck machine.
 
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spiderman said:
exactly what we wanted to hear. nice job, PQ et al.
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Queally gets a lot of criticism from some on this board, justified or unjustified I really don't know. I don't personally know the man, he might be the biggest jerk or the best person in the world, but we all should greatly appreciate his monetary contributions to the University of Richmond.
 
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Long Time Spider Fan said:
Queally gets a lot of criticism from some on this board, justified or unjustified I really don't know. I don't personally know the man, he might be the biggest jerk or the best person in the world, but we all should greatly appreciate his monetary contributions to the University of Richmond.
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I agree, he may have had some influence that some don't like but he is a motivated Spider fan that definitely puts his money where his mouth is. I commend him on that even though I might not like the direction of some our sports.
 
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re the holier than thou posts - this is a fan message board. getting bent out of shape over small things is basically the reason these boards exist. glad you're on an even keel about everything, always.
 
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We have a terrific business school. Why doesn’t it have programs to help our athletic
programs? Are there rules against it? Is it one of the NCAA joke rules, that only get
enforced against small universities?
 
FYI, the NIL program is run by alumni and not the athletic department, so Mooney and the Athletic Department were not allowed to comment on it.

The Alumni running it have done a lot of work putting everything together. The also wanted to start off contacting large donors to the athletic department first, before they had the infrastructure to handle mass inquiries.

Obviously, Paul is involved and we are all very lucky he continues to support our program.
 
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spider23 said:
Seems like a little rift forming:

NIL for pigskin

https://nilclub.com/richmond/football?_branch_match_id=1121264789521658754&utm_medium=supporter-referrals-instagram&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXz8nMy9bLy8xJzilN0kvOz9VPDglzCSws8jN0TAIA6%2FErfCQAAAA%3D
richmond.forums.rivals.com richmond.forums.rivals.com
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What happened to playing a sport because you love it and being able to get a quality education for a discount while doing it? Most FCS programs lose money, so I don’t think the argument stands that Universities are taking advantage of these athletes.
 
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I got a feeling this NIL at UR will not last very long. Simply because do you expect big donors, and even smaller donors in mass - to continue to provide money to the Collective if results are not being met?

Example - I think everyone agrees we will not be very good next year. I think expectations for next season might be .500 at best. Now lets assume we get better - but we have typical UR results - we win 19-22 games, no NCAA appearance, maybe an NIT here and there - do people keep supporting? At that point - your supporting out of the goodness of your heart to just give money to the kids on the team. Your not getting a return on investment. And the NIL collective is separate from the University and administration, so they really have little to no say with administration and possible coaching changes - if needed, or asking for more leeway in recruiting.

And UR administration to date, in Athletics, does not seem to care too much about outside noise from fans. Point being - if in 3-4 years, we have not made an NCAA tourney again, but have won 20 games each year and finished 5-6th in the A10 each year - if the NIL collective says we will no longer support until a change is made, then I think UR administration would say "no problem, don't support anymore, we are fine with that" and then - NIL collective disappears.
 
no matter who is coaching, we won't be very competitive without providing NIL money unless you think it's going away everywhere.
 
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Data from over 30 NIL collectives and over 1000 athletes actually contacted for both FB & BB. In other words, real #'s rather than rumors & promises made by collectives/agents to garner interest.

For hoops:
- P6: Top 3 players on a team average $75k; Top 6 = $50k & Top 9 = $15k
- G5's+WCC/MW/A10: Top 3 players on a team average $35k; top 6 = $15k; top 9 = $5k
- Top 10 guys overall in the portal average $500k; Top 25 = $350k; Top 50 = $250k; Top 100 = $100k; Top 150 = $50k
 
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SpiderTrap said:
I got a feeling this NIL at UR will not last very long. Simply because do you expect big donors, and even smaller donors in mass - to continue to provide money to the Collective if results are not being met?

Example - I think everyone agrees we will not be very good next year. I think expectations for next season might be .500 at best. Now lets assume we get better - but we have typical UR results - we win 19-22 games, no NCAA appearance, maybe an NIT here and there - do people keep supporting? At that point - your supporting out of the goodness of your heart to just give money to the kids on the team. Your not getting a return on investment. And the NIL collective is separate from the University and administration, so they really have little to no say with administration and possible coaching changes - if needed, or asking for more leeway in recruiting.

And UR administration to date, in Athletics, does not seem to care too much about outside noise from fans. Point being - if in 3-4 years, we have not made an NCAA tourney again, but have won 20 games each year and finished 5-6th in the A10 each year - if the NIL collective says we will no longer support until a change is made, then I think UR administration would say "no problem, don't support anymore, we are fine with that" and then - NIL collective disappears.
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I actually think the same people who give big money currently (Queally and a couple others) will just transition it to the NIL fund. They seem less concerned with on-court performance anyway since they've kept giving through all these down years. The NIL thing will just replace the Spider Club.
 
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For someone who knows more about this than me - is there currently any kind of reporting requirement? Just wondering if there are private payments being made that we may be unaware of, whether here or at other schools. In other words, could a big donor just go to a player, separate of any official NIL fund and stroke a check as a means of retaining or recruiting a player, and no one ever even knows about it except for those involved (and maybe Uncle Sam).
 
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