NIL Website

[UR80sfan]

I thought this should have it own thread. The NIL collective is extremely important to our men's Basketball program and anything we can do to help it is good for the team. Here is a link to the current website: https://spidersnil.com/. I am not sure how much flexibility there is in enhancing the website, but what ideas do you have to make it better? Please be very specific on additional tabs and other information you would like to see added. Also, do any of you have expertise in web design?

 

[VT4700]

I don't see anything wrong with the site. Then again, I don't complain about the temperature outside being 72 instead of 73 degrees. I would think most people, if not all, away from this board would think it is good.

 

[spiderstudent17]

Thanks 80s Fan for posting this. I am glad to hear we have a strong NIL collective program as evident by the level of recruits we have been signing to our program in recent years. Here are a couple suggestions I have as a way to enhance the website.

1. Membership Levels - I think this is the biggest thing to getting more participation. Right now, I'm sure there are several very rich donors donating 10K+ to NIL and that's how we get the majority of the money. I think to reach a wider audience to participate, there has to be more incentive for someone to donate $100, $500, or $1000. Look at Cincinnati's website for example. They have different levels of contribution and awards that come with it. For example $50 gets you a car decal, $150 gets you newsletters and other times. The higher in amount goes, you get more access to exclusive opportunities to meet with the team or memorabilia. I think this will go a long way in getting a lot more of the smaller donations (<10K).

Cincinnati: https://cincyreigns.org/

2. NIL Store - The ability to purchase NIL merchandise to get something in return while also contributing to NIL I think is very nice. Look at Dayton's or Duquesne's website: They have a store where you can buy jerseys or other apparel.

Dayton: https://shop.udayton.edu/category/dayton-flyers-athletics/player-nil

Duquesne: https://nil.store/pages/duquesne

3. Program specific donations - As far as I'm aware, our NIL is only for men's basketball. What if someone wanted to donate to women's basketball, field hockey, or baseball? Having it all in one website can make it easier for the user. Not sure if Wake Forest has this option, but I like how they have all their sports under one place

4. Website interface - I know this might be nitpicky and that you acknowledge it on your initial post, but I think our website appears kind of bland and doesn't have the same flair as perhaps other websites, which can entice people more. Again, this is my own opinion and likely trivial, but these small details can make a different and perhaps a more enhanced website design could be helpful in attracting new donors. Unfortunately, I am not good with graphic design otherwise I would've helped!

Our website: https://spidersnil.com/

 

[Eight Legger]

All great points and ideas, 17. Especially as it relates to lower levels of membership and merchandise, that stuff is important. I think you could even set a minimum donation level of $250 a year or something and give everyone a few decals and an annual meet and greet with the team and coaching staff or something relatively easy like that. Individual player merch seems to be a thing at other schools, not sure how much money it nets the NIL but it's something at least.

 

[SpiderTrap]

I think the membership levels is a common theme among other NIL collectives. I have a co-worker who is part of the NIL collective at St. Bonaventure. He said depending on how much money you give, you get invited to different events. Low amounts might get to listen in to a call to all donors from players/coaches - whereas the more you give, you might get invited to in person events, dinners, pre-game events, etc. I think that would be very easy to implement and worth while to get lower donors involved in mass.

 

[Anachnid]

Sounds like a high giving level of the old athletic department dissed Spider Club. How is the school going to react at money being funneled elsewhere? If alums begin funding the NIL grift to the detriment of the school and rankings, then what?

 

[spiderstudent17]

Thanks 80s Fan for posting this. I am glad to hear we have a strong NIL collective program as evident by the level of recruits we have been signing to our program in recent years. Here are a couple suggestions I have as a way to enhance the website.

1. Membership Levels - I think this is the biggest thing to getting more participation. Right now, I'm sure there are several very rich donors donating 10K+ to NIL and that's how we get the majority of the money. I think to reach a wider audience to participate, there has to be more incentive for someone to donate $100, $500, or $1000. Look at Cincinnati's website for example. They have different levels of contribution and awards that come with it. For example $50 gets you a car decal, $150 gets you newsletters and other times. The higher in amount goes, you get more access to exclusive opportunities to meet with the team or memorabilia. I think this will go a long way in getting a lot more of the smaller donations (<10K).

Cincinnati: https://cincyreigns.org/

2. NIL Store - The ability to purchase NIL merchandise to get something in return while also contributing to NIL I think is very nice. Look at Dayton's or Duquesne's website: They have a store where you can buy jerseys or other apparel.

Dayton: https://shop.udayton.edu/category/dayton-flyers-athletics/player-nil

Duquesne: https://nil.store/pages/duquesne

3. Program specific donations - As far as I'm aware, our NIL is only for men's basketball. What if someone wanted to donate to women's basketball, field hockey, or baseball? Having it all in one website can make it easier for the user. Not sure if Wake Forest has this option, but I like how they have all their sports under one place

4. Website interface - I know this might be nitpicky and that you acknowledge it on your initial post, but I think our website appears kind of bland and doesn't have the same flair as perhaps other websites, which can entice people more. Again, this is my own opinion and likely trivial, but these small details can make a different and perhaps a more enhanced website design could be helpful in attracting new donors. Unfortunately, I am not good with graphic design otherwise I would've helped!

Our website: https://spidersnil.com/

I'd like to add 2 more ideas to enhance NIL at UR, which goes beyond just the website.

5. Get local community involved - Doing some research, some universities' NIL partners with local business such that some proceeds of items purchased at that business goes to the NIL. So for instance, Cincinnati has partnered with a local brewery, Rheingeist, and have a beer call Cincy Light. A percentage of proceeds go to the NIL. Other NIL's are doing something similar. If we don't want to use alcohol, I understand that. However, we could reach out to Stella's Grocery or Carytown Burgers or some other local business and create the "The Spider Burger" or "The Spider Wrap". If we wanted to be even more ambitious, we could partner with these business at games. For instance, Carytown Burger could have a cart outside Robins Stadiums during football games or be somewhere in the area during basketball games selling the food items. The biggest key with this, the NIL store, or most importantly membership levels, is it gives an opportunity for people to feel that they will get something in return, even small, if donating to the NIL. I think this will allow us to reach a wider audience. Right now, if we donate to the NIL, we have no idea where that money goes. It does not feel as personal or connected. I think I speak for a lot of us, that we are more likely to donate money, if we get a chance to meet the coaches/team or get some cool spiders merchandise. People are more likely to even go out of their way to have lunch at a place where purchases of food items have a percentage of proceeds go to the NIL.

Link: https://businessofcollegesports.com...l-collectives-with-collective-inspired-beers/

6. Get UR Athletic Department involved - This one is also huge if we utilize it. The new Virginia Law essentially allows universities to pay NIL directly. Does this mean UR will give a percentage of its endowment each year to go to NIL? I do not foresee UR doing that, at least not anytime soon. However, the big thing with this is UR can set up a foundation where donors donate through UR that goes directly to NIL. Look at UVA, they established Sabres Society that allows donors to give money to a variety of areas in athletics and one of them is the UVA's NIL Collective, Cav Futures.

Link: https://virginiasports.com/news/202...nches-sabre-society-to-support-uva-athletics/

Imagine if UR did something similar with UR's Spider Athletic Fund? Similar to UVA, UR would offer an option to donate directly the Spider NIL through the Spider Athletic Fund, among other options (i.e. facility projects, performance and development, etc.)

Link: https://richmondspiders.com/sports/spider-athletic-fund

We could even promote it at UR Giving Day as one of the areas of support

Link: https://urhere.richmond.edu/o/university-of-richmond/i/2024/p/athletics

--

At the end of the day, if there are two things I've mentioned that we can do that will make the biggest immediate impact in improving our NIL in terms of amount of money raised and donors contributing is 1) Forming a membership like program with different prizes/opportunities given based on amount contributed & 2) UR integrating NIL through the Spider Athletic Fund.

 

[kneepadmckinney]

You're hired.

 

[spiderstudent17]

We had our last Spider Collective Zoom call with Chris Mooney Thursday. He was very open in his discussions about the team and players. Most of what he said I will keep confidential, however the high level view is that this is a very strong team with intense competition to start at 4 of the 5 positions. He reviewed and showed films of each of the players added from the portal and they are an extremely impressive group. He also said some very positive things about a few of the players that were recruited out of high school over the past 2 years, which is extremely encouraging. There is a very high probability Hunt starts. He is the leader of the team and an outstanding guard.

The coaching staff has done a tremendous job adding players through the portal. In addition, having one of the conference’s top NIL programs has also helped. We are very fortunate to have Paul and Greg volunteering their time to build out the Spider Collective, which currently has 25 members and steadily growing. They are always looking for recommendations of new people at the $10,000 level to reach out to. Also, as mentioned many times in the past, the NIL will take any size donation on their website.

Thanks for the update 80sfan. We are indeed very fortunate with the support we have in building up the collective. JOC recently had an interview where he shared we had about $500K a year for NIL. If so, that is excellent and towards the top of the A10.

Please feel free to suggest some of the ideas I listed to PQ or anyone else in charge of leading the NIL collective, if you'd like. It may not attract as many $10K donors, but could attract hundreds more $250-1000 level donors, which of course adds up.

 

[UR80sfan]

Thanks for your thoughts Spiderstudent17 on the website. I will share these comments. The NIL strategy is complicated at U of R, because there are 2 different NIL programs. There is the Spider Cooperative which is currently focused only on basketball.

The other NIL Program (I do not know a lot about) is run by the athletic department and donors can donate to any sport and businesses can contract with specific players. My guess is that it has raised very little money and is not a high priority of the athletic department (please correct me if I am wrong). The athletic departments has development professionals that raise money for their annual fund and also for major one off projects. I don’t think they raise money for their NIL program. They also don’t raise money for the Spider Cooperative and the development people might view it as competition for donor dollars. With that said, the athletic department has been very helpful in advertising the cooperative during basketball games and providing other resources.

For the Spider Cooperative to be successful it needs to stay very focused and not get distracted. Their initial goal is to spend all their time increasing the number of basketball large donors, which takes a lot of time identifying them. Currently, they are up to 25 and hope to be close to 35 by the fall. This strategy has so far resulted in us having one of the largest NIL basketball funds in the conference. At some point, they would like to broaden the base and might add different giving levels as you suggest.

We are very fortunate to have Paul and Greg volunteering their time to build out the Spider Collective. They are always looking for recommendations of new people to reach out to at the $10,000 level. Additionally, as mentioned many times before, the NIL will accept donations of any size on their website.

 

[97spiderfan]

I would say if they are development professionals running the NIL, they would know that yes, you want to get big dollar donors involved, but the base of a stable fundraising pyramid, is having a large number of small dollar donors.

If you are depending upon high dollar donors to fund everything, you run the risk that a few of them decide to not renew or focus their charitable endeavors elsewhere at any given time and then you are scrambling to try and replace significant lost contributions. If you also have 500 donors giving you $250 buck a year, that is $125,000 per year, that allows you breathing room when one or two you high dollar donors don't renew.

Also, set up a monthly donation option versus just a one time donation. If you get folks to make a monthly donation via their credit card, that just runs on autopilot every month. Smaller donors are likely to say, sure I can afford $25 or $50 bucks a month.

 

[97spiderfan]

And yeah give me a decal that says Spider collective, similar to the old Spider Club decals. Every member that gets it and puts it on their car become a drivable advertisement for you.

 

[Anachnid]

An agents perspective on nil

$$$

 

[Anachnid]

80’s the nil collective met with the coach, providing a nexus between the school and paying the players, specifically mens bb players. How is this going to play out in title ix litigation. Already a pending action in Oregon. A search of the internet shows large law firms offering blog opinions.

Oregons response

 

[AnnapSpider]

I read on NIL that the NCAA is being sued for $20 billion by the
the House. If this is true and the NCAA loses it will be bankrupt.
I’m totally sure of all of the details but I gather schools schools are
suing do to changes in the recruiting arena. But, I guess it’s all of the
schools not in the Power 5

 

[UR80sfan]

I read on NIL that the NCAA is being sued for $20 billion by the
the House. If this is true and the NCAA loses it will be bankrupt.
I’m totally sure of all of the details but I gather schools schools are
suing do to changes in the recruiting arena. But, I guess it’s all of the
schools not in the Power 5

That litigation will make independent NIL programs more important.

 

[SFspidur]

I read on NIL that the NCAA is being sued for $20 billion by the
the House. If this is true and the NCAA loses it will be bankrupt.
I’m totally sure of all of the details but I gather schools schools are
suing do to changes in the recruiting arena. But, I guess it’s all of the
schools not in the Power 5

The NCAA is being sued by athletes (former Arizona State swimmer Grant House is the lead plaintiff on the main case) on antitrust grounds over rules that banned NIL in the past. It’s a class action case that could see thousands of former athletes receiving payouts.

It appears the NCAA is on the verge of settling the case, and it sounds like they’re going to screw over the smaller conferences by making them pay a far larger share of the settlement than their former athletes will be receiving. Protect the P5 at all costs.

 

[SpiderTrap]

The NCAA is being sued by athletes (former Arizona State swimmer Grant House is the lead plaintiff on the main case) on antitrust grounds over rules that banned NIL in the past. It’s a class action case that could see thousands of former athletes receiving payouts.

It appears the NCAA is on the verge of settling the case, and it sounds like they’re going to screw over the smaller conferences by making them pay a far larger share of the settlement than their former athletes will be receiving. Protect the P5 at all costs.

Could this settlement be a breaking point for some smaller conferences and the starting point to some more realignments on the mid-major level?

 

[Anachnid]

The Title Ix issue is not funding and payouts to athletes under an NIL guise, it’s the unequal payments under color of college’s blessings with violations (or independence from the US Govt) leading to colleges disqualification for federal funding, you know, how the non athletes pay for college.

 

[Philaspidur]

Related to the NIL of others . . . Max Shula rescinded his transfer to Villanova today after VCU bucked up more money. Source is Philadelphia Inquirer, behind a pay site.

 

[Eight Legger]

Villanova coming with that higher offer tonight and he'll switch back again tomorrow. 🤣

 

[Spiders4ever]

Villanova coming with that higher offer tonight and he'll switch back again tomorrow. 🤣

Maybe UConn

 

[Long Island Spiders]

RIP college sports

 

[Long Island Spiders]

RIP college sports

It’s becoming just a worse version of professional sports. Except there is no salary cap so colleges will be able to buy championships. How downright sad.

 

[SFspidur]

Interesting perspective...the settlement may save the NCAA, at least for the next 10 years, because the big P5 schools need the little guys like us to help pay off the bills.

Could impending NCAA settlement save March Madness?

The NCAA is making a deal that it has to make, and it is not ideal for all parties. But the alternative is much, much worse.

sports.yahoo.com

The big conferences need them. Not only do they need them, they need them to remain financially solvent and capable of continuing to pay their share for the next decade. To do that, they need the NCAA to continue to exist and the NCAA basketball tournament to thrive and thus fill the coffers of both the NCAA itself and the smaller conferences.

Estimates are that 90% of the settlement money will go to P5 football and men's basketball players, yet the 27 non-P5 conference are on the hook for over 35% of the cost.

With $2.8B settlement looming, NCAA's smaller conferences feeling squeezed: 'What other options are there?'

College sports is on the brink of a deal that'd require a massive amount in damages. But schools outside the power conferences aren't too happy about the split considering who'd be paying the majority of it.

sports.yahoo.com

In a framework approved Tuesday by the Division I Board of Directors, the NCAA will fund 41% of the damages ($1.1 billion) while the schools will fund 60% ($1.65 billion) over a 10-year payback period.

At issue is the schools’ portion. The power conferences will pay about $664 million in contributions to the damages. The other 27 non-power conferences will pay $990 million.

NCAA's settlement proposal facing 'strong objection' from Big East

College sports insiders describe this week as the most consequential in college sports history.

sports.yahoo.com

Under the formula, the Big East will be responsible for about $5 million to $7 million annually, or as much as $70 million over the next decade — a figure that works out to about $600,000-$700,000 per school per year.

“Based on the numbers we have reviewed, the liability of the 22 non-FBS conferences under the proposed formula appears disproportionately high, particularly because the primary beneficiaries of the NIL ‘back pay’ amounts are expected to be FBS football players,” Ackerman wrote. “I have voiced the Big East's strong objections to the proposed damages framework through recent emails to [NCAA president] Charlie Baker and his counsel and through comments during commissioner calls over the past two weeks.”

FCS schools like us will be on the hook for an average of ~$300k per year for 10 years, all to pay off former P5 football and basketball players. Us little guys proposed an alternate model that would have reduced average FCS payouts to $200k per year, but the NCAA and the P5 rejected it.

 

[spider23]

I tend to agree with LI on NIL taking some fun out of the sport, Except I do feel for the moment the Spiders hoops program is operating in a sweet spot. We never have been able to obtain top 50-100 type talent out of hs (except for the every decade example). However with a seemingly strong NIL and attractive conference, and other factors have done pretty good so far in this era. Won our first regular season co-championship. Though I tend to agree with Gkiller that the the THUD at the end of the season took some shine away and raised age old thoughts on Mooney. But again, we were successful last season, and on paper this offseason haul in the portal looks great. If we can get to the NCAA's then I think it will be evidence that we are doing quite well in this era. Further, I am hoping we see contributions from a few of the home grown guys in Tyne (high confidence), Soulis, Tanner, and McGlothin or Robinson. I do like the continuity and cheering for guys that have been in the program for a long time. Was really looking forward to Dji this season. And as fun as it was with King, he is kind of a blip on the radar to me, already fading behind guys like Gonzo to me.

 

[spiderman]

I enjoyed last year's regular season as much as any regular season and more than most.
kids getting paid had no ill effect for me.

 

[97spiderfan]

And as fun as it was with King, he is kind of a blip on the radar to me, already fading behind guys like Gonzo to me.

The era of watching kids develop and become stars at your school is largely over with NIL, as currently constructed. Maybe it returns in the futures but for now it is gone.

To me and I think to many others college is about going away from home for the first time, discovering yourself, your interests, building your own life, your own network of friends and connections. And then you have an institution that will be a part of you for the rest of your life because of the 4 years you spent there. NIL has transformed the college experience for football and basketball players into a capitalistic money grab.

Yes, these athlete are now getting paid and good for them. But what they are losing is the college experience, developing close college friendships, teammates and maturing/growing with these individuals over 4 years at a school. Is the cash an even offset for all they are losing by having to chase this money from school to school? Not for me it isn't. And I think when a lot of these kids finish their college experience they will do so without having received of the benefits of a 4 year college experience.

I don't blame kids for taking the cash, it is tough to turn down, I blame the adults, most of whom who are making big NIL contributions, specifically because they have this tie with the college they are supporting and who are diminishing the college experience for the kids that follow. NIL is not about giving students cash, it is about rich donors wanting their school to win championships by buying these kids for a year. If a better player comes next year, the kid who you wanted last year, suddenly is expendable.

When Jordan King looks back 20 years from now, who does he identify with. Siena, East Tennessee State, Richmond? The answer is probably none of them because he wasn't at any long enough for him to forge the lasting connection with that school. Not to pick on Jordan, cause mad respect for him, but just using him as an example of literally any decent D-1 college basketball or football player.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Related to the NIL of others . . . Max Shula rescinded his transfer to Villanova today after VCU bucked up more money. Source is Philadelphia Inquirer, behind a pay site.

When I saw his return - I assumed VCU paid up. Not to mention, I think he has a better shot at A10 POY than going to Villanova. Just look at Burton, who I thought was an overall better player. Went to Villanova and sort of disappeared.

 

[spider23]

When I saw his return - I assumed VCU paid up.

This was number 1 on my list of 10 ideas why he flipped back.

 

[Section9.RowD]

When I saw his return - I assumed VCU paid up. Not to mention, I think he has a better shot at A10 POY than going to Villanova. Just look at Burton, who I thought was an overall better player. Went to Villanova and sort of disappeared.

Better coach at VCU than Nova for sure

 

[AnnapSpider]

It seems to me that the changes that are having to be paid for were
forced on the smaller Conferences by the Power 5/6 Conferences.
So, the smaller conferences should put together a class action suit against large conferences and make them pay the whole ball of
wax.

 

[RichmondNative]

It seems to me that the changes that are having to be paid for were
forced on the smaller Conferences by the Power 5/6 Conferences.
So, the smaller conferences should put together a class action suit against large conferences and make them pay the whole ball of
wax.

This situation has become the bully taking your lunch money. The non-power conferences need to abandon the football driven organization and create their own basketball focused organization. Not going to be easy and I am sure there will be plenty of litigation so the lawyers can get more money, but as they say the game is over. Time to burn it all down and start over.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Yes - the latest settlement only furthers the divide between power conferences (HAVES) and everyone else (HAVE NOTS).

 

[Eight Legger]

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, I do think former players were screwed a bit by not having access to this money, and the NCAA and its member schools (at least the big ones) clearly can afford it. On the other hand, things change all the time, and I don't know that you can always retroactively go back and apply those changes to everything that happened previously.

When a locality lowers my real estate tax rate, should I sue it for all the previous tax payments I made at the higher rate? It's an interesting situation for sure.

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

from what I hear, this is an instance of Nova messing up more than VCU winning him back. VCU happy to have him back so did the correct thing, but seems like Nova blew it.

 

[urfan1]

from what I hear, this is an instance of Nova messing up more than VCU winning him back. VCU happy to have him back so did the correct thing, but seems like Nova blew it.

seems consistent with what I have heard

 

[SpiderRick]

RIP college sports

Amateur college sports are dead. This is just minor league football, basketball, lacrosse, baseball and everything else. Keep chasing the dollars and forget about education boys. It's a greedy world we live in, and I will not contribute to the greed.

 

[Long Island Spiders]

Amateur college sports are dead. This is just minor league football, basketball, lacrosse, baseball and everything else. Keep chasing the dollars and forget about education boys. It's a greedy world we live in, and I will not contribute to the greed.

Just a real shame

 

[spiderman]

some of you are painting with a really wide brush. yes, some kids have and will jump from school to school to take the highest offer. other kids won't.

Richmond has a history of retaining more than most. we've lost very few before graduation who were contributing on the court. if you do a good job as a school and program, kids will want to stay. in some cases ... it just won't make sense. just like if you're happy in your job, but someone at another great company offers to double your salary.