If true about Stanford deciding not to get involved with NIL money, can't see how they will compete in the modern landscape of college basketball. That might be a reason why Madsen would not find Stanford as a place he could build a program. And obviously means Cal needs to up their NIL game to be competitive in this new era.

BigDaddyBear said:

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If true about Stanford deciding not to get involved with NIL money, can't see how they will compete in the modern landscape of college basketball. That might be a reason why Madsen would not find Stanford as a place he could build a program. And obviously means Cal needs to up their NIL game to be competitive in this new era.

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So Stanford must have retained their coach for his Xs and Os abilities.

It isn't. Cal can't directly pay NIL either. Stanford just said "he we aren't breaking the law" and the Comical wrote a puff piece. Stanford has at least one Collective.

If it is an either or, I think you have the right idea.

I'd consider anything which fixes the food.

annarborbear said:

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I have wondered if we should now spin off the revenue sports into a separate for-profit organization. It could be owned by donors, by a large corporation or by a wealthy individual like Joe Lacob. We could get a return on investment for the university by renting out Haas, Memorial, the school colors, the mascot, the band and the dance team. If amateurism is now totally gone, I don't see why we shouldn't go even further. Might even improve the food available at games.

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I have been advocating for an alumni run not-for-profit to run the revenue sports (and maybe eventually the whole department). It would take over the Learfield contract. Market the teams. Collect revenues. Pay the coaches' talent fees and the players' MIL. Donations would get voting shares for board seats and general elections. We'd hire a Cal alum on professional sports management as president and shadow AD. At the end of the year all profits would be donated to the university to fund non-revenue sports. This would allow most of the athletic department bureaucrats to be shown the door.

annarborbear said:

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I have wondered if we should now spin off the revenue sports into a separate for-profit organization. It could be owned by donors, by a large corporation or by a wealthy individual like Joe Lacob. We could get a return on investment for the university by renting out Haas, Memorial, the school colors, the mascot, the band and the dance team. If amateurism is now totally gone, I don't see why we shouldn't go even further. Might even improve the food available at games.

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Good thoughts, but how bout this? joint venture.

Let the wealthy guys get ROI by their investments in the team.

Portion of ticket sales, concessions and post season revenues in exchange for them fronting the program the $$ to get out of hell

Not sure if this was posted under another topic, if so, sorry.
https://www.si.com/college/cal/basketball/rebuilding-cal-roster

Thank you for finding out the dollar values. An aside, do you know the Stanford 6 were already the major donors to revenue sports? The strategy is interesting, and only works with a substantial initial funds to create trust money will not decrease or go away.

4thGenCal said:

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wc22 said:

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It isn't. Cal can't directly pay NIL either. Stanford just said "he we aren't breaking the law" and the Comical wrote a puff piece. Stanford has at least one Collective.

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I didn't see the Comical article, but its been confirmed by a highly successful former HC coach and an assistant on the Stanford hoops team that 1) each player received $50k this season and 2). each Stanford football player received $10K. Highly likely the football allotment will increase substantially. The money is coming from 6 high wealth individuals who have created a very large pool of funds to provide ongoing financial support/ NIL monies to both football and basketball. (I don't know if monies in the NIL have been also allocated for Women's bball). Its sink or swim for Cal competitiveness - We definitely need to support the new HC/staff with NIL monies so that the roster can be rebuilt and we enjoy a quick and impressive program turnaround.

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While an earlier poster indicated that they would wait and see how our new coach does in their first year before throwing money at NIL, this comparison to Stanford NIL above makes me think that I want to wait and see if we have a few equally committed high value donors backing the program before I go down the emotional route of convincing myself that sending a meager sum of my own money will make a rats arse difference. For my money to have an impact I need to see it being a) added to enough big donors relative to the competition or b) a massive swell of small donors contributing. Since my gut tells me that Cal faithful don't give gobs of money in small increments we must have a few sugar daddies leading this effort.

Are there disclosures around NIL that inform donors around what the landscape of giving is within an alumni base but also between school collectives? I share the earlier poster's concern that me giving a little sum of money seemingly seems to be a bad bet given the history of our program and administration. I'd want to see some deep pockets at the table fully in before I write a check.

graguna said:

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soon billionaires will be controlling college team thru NIL as a pastime. for a few $mill/yr they can have some fun and bet against their friends.

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Phil says hi

OldenBear said:

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graguna said:

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soon billionaires will be controlling college team thru NIL as a pastime. for a few $mill/yr they can have some fun and bet against their friends.

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Phil says hi

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Phil don't talk to no riffraff.

4thGenCal said:

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wc22 said:

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It isn't. Cal can't directly pay NIL either. Stanford just said "he we aren't breaking the law" and the Comical wrote a puff piece. Stanford has at least one Collective.

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I didn't see the Comical article, but its been confirmed by a highly successful former HC coach and an assistant on the Stanford hoops team that 1) each player received $50k this season and 2). each Stanford football player received $10K. Highly likely the football allotment will increase substantially. The money is coming from 6 high wealth individuals who have created a very large pool of funds to provide ongoing financial support/ NIL monies to both football and basketball. (I don't know if monies in the NIL have been also allocated for Women's bball). Its sink or swim for Cal competitiveness - We definitely need to support the new HC/staff with NIL monies so that the roster can be rebuilt and we enjoy a quick and impressive program turnaround.

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So, that's about an annual 1.5M? Using the 3% standard, that suggests a fund of 50M.

annarborbear said:

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I have wondered if we should now spin off the revenue sports into a separate for-profit organization. It could be owned by donors, by a large corporation or by a wealthy individual like Joe Lacob. We could get a return on investment for the university by renting out Haas, Memorial, the school colors, the mascot, the band and the dance team. If amateurism is now totally gone, I don't see why we shouldn't go even further. Might even improve the food available at games.

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Agree. I'm not sure it isn't already in process to some degree. Big money donors have always enjoyed an outsize influence so let them take over completely as "franchisees" (including all potential liabilities) with the university receiving rental/licensing fees. We could eliminate the athletic department, or at least downsize it to accommodate non-revenue/club sports, and dump many of the highest non-teaching salaries on the books. And, yes, eliminate the student label from franchise sport athletes, thereby freeing up admissions spots for deserving (but non-athletic) applicants.

59bear said:

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annarborbear said:

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I have wondered if we should now spin off the revenue sports into a separate for-profit organization. It could be owned by donors, by a large corporation or by a wealthy individual like Joe Lacob. We could get a return on investment for the university by renting out Haas, Memorial, the school colors, the mascot, the band and the dance team. If amateurism is now totally gone, I don't see why we shouldn't go even further. Might even improve the food available at games.

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Agree. I'm not sure it isn't already in process to some degree. Big money donors have always enjoyed an outsize influence so let them take over completely as "franchisees" (including all potential liabilities) with the university receiving rental/licensing fees. We could eliminate the athletic department, or at least downsize it to accommodate non-revenue/club sports, and dump many of the highest non-teaching salaries on the books. And, yes, eliminate the student label from franchise sport athletes, thereby freeing up admissions spots for deserving (but non-athletic) applicants

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I'd like to see a future where athletes are paid a percent of the revenue from ticket sales and broadcasting and, while retaining NIL rights for advertising, etc., see a future with NIL playing a less dominant role. One effect of NIL plus the transfer portal is to make a mockery of the ideal of the "student-athlete". For a normal (non-athlete) student, transferring from one university to another is a big deal requiring lots of planning and coordination for continuity of their education and ability to graduate without too much disruption and delay. It was already very challenging for athletes to devote time to their studies, but now they are bouncing around from college to college like ping-pong balls. On top of this, with UCLA and USC joining the B1G conference, their athletes will now be spending so much time traveling and dealing with jet lag, that their educations (classroom time) are going to be even more impacted.

GoldenBasketBear said:

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We need to go after Fardaws Aimaq, who previously played for Madsen. He may be the centerpiece to build around since he has many teammates from Texas Tech that will be transferring, and also his UVU teammates which are predicted too as well. The main guy to look for on that UVU roster is Aziz Bandaogo and Trey Woodbury, who just filed a waiver to receive an extra year. Trey & Fardaws are said to have been roommates / great friends. If we can get two of those three in a package, that would be an immense start to this off-season.

The big question mark will be if Madsen presents this to the NIL people to fundraise for what this may cost. I would assume if the logistics line up, he can influence them to join him at Cal. They all seem to talk highly of him!

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There seems to be stiffer rules around transferring and the portal these days especially for players that have already used the portal, with Fardaws and Aziz already have (this is almost definitely a good thing). They'd have to apply for waivers.

Or graduate.

Tony "I coulda been and NBA Contenda" Gonzalez has a net worth of $50M. When is he going to drop some boku into the Cal NIL kitty?

BearGreg said:

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Every candidate we interviewed had players they believed they could bring to Cal to kickstart the rebuilding process. Some more than others.

Here's the essential point: Every single player that these candidates could bring will require NIL money before they sign with Cal. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

In addition, the Bears likely need NIL $ to retain Newell, Celestine, and Okafor.

Bottom line is that NIL money is the key to all of the recruiting. Thus the importance of hiring a head coach in a way that would bring together donors AND to land a candidate who has a history raising NIL money and recruiting in the NIL era.

This is a good time to give to Cal Basketball in the Collective if you want to see a rebuilt roster.

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When you write "we interviewed", does that mean that you were involved in interviewing candidates?

I hope so.

graguna said:

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soon billionaires will be controlling college team thru NIL as a pastime. for a few $mill/yr they can have some fun and bet against their friends.

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Pretty much the Squid game. I kinda hate it.

Mad Dog is Diesel-approved.

🗣 @SHAQ#GoBears pic.twitter.com/bzMXJH3t3j

— Cal Basketball (@CalMBBall) March 31, 2023

Friends in high places. Impressive.

Shaq didn't mention Cal or the Bears

C'mon Diesel