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What teams will use NIL to become the "new" top athletic programs in the years to come?


ATXbronco

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I was wondering which teams might be able to afford the largest NIL packages.
I guess "richest university" doesn't mean everything and there are other factors (not sure what they are) that come into play.
So, I asked the AI which universities were the 25 richest.

The dollar amounts are the "endowment" listed in the wiki article I gave to the AI.

Hopefully, someone smarter than I can give their opinion on how much endowments/this list might indicate which programs will stop sucking and start being real players in the playoffs, year after year. Like how the Buckeyes, Crimson Tide, Notre Dame, Wolverines, etc. have been over the last ~hundred years.

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Please list the top 25 richest universities that have a football program and are not overly difficult to get into.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment

RESULTS:

  1. Texas Longhorns - $44.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~31% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  2. Texas A&M Aggies - $18.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~63% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  3. Michigan Wolverines - $17.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~18% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~94%)
  4. Ohio State Buckeyes - $8.1B (Acceptance Rate: ~53% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~88%)
  5. UC Berkeley Golden Bears - $49.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~11% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~93%)
  6. UCLA Bruins - $49.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~9% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~92%)
  7. University of Virginia Cavaliers - $13.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~19% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~94%)
  8. North Carolina Tar Heels - $5.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~17% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~92%)
  9. Purdue Boilermakers - $3.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~53% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~80%)
  10. Pittsburgh Panthers - $5.5B (Acceptance Rate: ~49% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~85%)
  11. Minnesota Golden Gophers - $5.1B (Acceptance Rate: ~75% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~85%)
  12. Washington Huskies - $4.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~46% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~84%)
  13. Michigan State Spartans - $4.0B (Acceptance Rate: ~88% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  14. Illinois Fighting Illini - $5.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~45% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  15. Indiana Hoosiers - $3.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~85% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~79%)
  16. Wisconsin Badgers - $4.3B (Acceptance Rate: ~49% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~89%)
  17. Iowa Hawkeyes - $2.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~86% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~74%)
  18. Virginia Tech Hokies - $2.0B (Acceptance Rate: ~57% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  19. Iowa State Cyclones - $1.7B (Acceptance Rate: ~90% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~76%)
  20. Arizona Wildcats - $1.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~87% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~65%)
  21. Utah Utes - $2.2B (Acceptance Rate: ~89% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~72%)
  22. Rutgers Scarlet Knights - $1.8B (Acceptance Rate: ~66% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  23. Kentucky Wildcats - $2.2B (Acceptance Rate: ~95% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~69%)
  24. Oklahoma Sooners - $3.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~73% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~71%)
  25. Missouri Tigers - $1.7B (Acceptance Rate: ~82% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~71%)

Here are the "blue blood" football programs not in the top 25 by endowment:

  • Alabama Crimson Tide - $2.5B
  • Clemson Tigers - $1.2B
  • Florida State Seminoles - $1.0B
  • Georgia Bulldogs - $2.0B
  • LSU Tigers - $980M
  • Penn State Nittany Lions - $4.5B
  • Tennessee Volunteers - $1.7B
  • Auburn Tigers - $1.5B
  • Nebraska Cornhuskers - $4.2B

Here are the current Top 25 College Football Playoff Rankings teams that were not on the previous lists of wealthiest endowments or "blue blood" programs with smaller endowments:

  • Ole Miss Rebels - $912M
  • Oregon State Beavers - $1.6B
  • Oregon Ducks - $1.5B
  • Louisville Cardinals - $1.5B
  • Kansas Jayhawks - $2.6B
  • Kansas State Wildcats - $985M
  • Tulane Green Wave - $1.9B
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NIL doesn't come from endowments.  You need to look at the schools with the most passionate affluent alumni (e.g. Texas, Ohio st., Mich) or with one mega alum (e.g. Oregon). 

Places like Stanford and Cal are going to have lots of wealthy alums who don't give a fuck about football.

 

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12 minutes ago, ATXbronco said:

Today it doesn't but isn't that changing

My understanding is that going forward it would come from athletic department cash flow not the endowment.  Someone can correct me if I'm off but endowments are usually used for all that silly book learning stuff.

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2 hours ago, ATXbronco said:

I was wondering which teams might be able to afford the largest NIL packages.
I guess "richest university" doesn't mean everything and there are other factors (not sure what they are) that come into play.
So, I asked the AI which universities were the 25 richest.

The dollar amounts are the "endowment" listed in the wiki article I gave to the AI.

Hopefully, someone smarter than I can give their opinion on how much endowments/this list might indicate which programs will stop sucking and start being real players in the playoffs, year after year. Like how the Buckeyes, Crimson Tide, Notre Dame, Wolverines, etc. have been over the last ~hundred years.

----

Please list the top 25 richest universities that have a football program and are not overly difficult to get into.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment

RESULTS:

  1. Texas Longhorns - $44.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~31% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  2. Texas A&M Aggies - $18.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~63% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  3. Michigan Wolverines - $17.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~18% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~94%)
  4. Ohio State Buckeyes - $8.1B (Acceptance Rate: ~53% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~88%)
  5. UC Berkeley Golden Bears - $49.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~11% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~93%)
  6. UCLA Bruins - $49.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~9% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~92%)
  7. University of Virginia Cavaliers - $13.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~19% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~94%)
  8. North Carolina Tar Heels - $5.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~17% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~92%)
  9. Purdue Boilermakers - $3.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~53% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~80%)
  10. Pittsburgh Panthers - $5.5B (Acceptance Rate: ~49% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~85%)
  11. Minnesota Golden Gophers - $5.1B (Acceptance Rate: ~75% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~85%)
  12. Washington Huskies - $4.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~46% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~84%)
  13. Michigan State Spartans - $4.0B (Acceptance Rate: ~88% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  14. Illinois Fighting Illini - $5.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~45% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  15. Indiana Hoosiers - $3.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~85% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~79%)
  16. Wisconsin Badgers - $4.3B (Acceptance Rate: ~49% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~89%)
  17. Iowa Hawkeyes - $2.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~86% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~74%)
  18. Virginia Tech Hokies - $2.0B (Acceptance Rate: ~57% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  19. Iowa State Cyclones - $1.7B (Acceptance Rate: ~90% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~76%)
  20. Arizona Wildcats - $1.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~87% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~65%)
  21. Utah Utes - $2.2B (Acceptance Rate: ~89% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~72%)
  22. Rutgers Scarlet Knights - $1.8B (Acceptance Rate: ~66% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  23. Kentucky Wildcats - $2.2B (Acceptance Rate: ~95% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~69%)
  24. Oklahoma Sooners - $3.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~73% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~71%)
  25. Missouri Tigers - $1.7B (Acceptance Rate: ~82% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~71%)

Here are the "blue blood" football programs not in the top 25 by endowment:

  • Alabama Crimson Tide - $2.5B
  • Clemson Tigers - $1.2B
  • Florida State Seminoles - $1.0B
  • Georgia Bulldogs - $2.0B
  • LSU Tigers - $980M
  • Penn State Nittany Lions - $4.5B
  • Tennessee Volunteers - $1.7B
  • Auburn Tigers - $1.5B
  • Nebraska Cornhuskers - $4.2B

Here are the current Top 25 College Football Playoff Rankings teams that were not on the previous lists of wealthiest endowments or "blue blood" programs with smaller endowments:

  • Ole Miss Rebels - $912M
  • Oregon State Beavers - $1.6B
  • Oregon Ducks - $1.5B
  • Louisville Cardinals - $1.5B
  • Kansas Jayhawks - $2.6B
  • Kansas State Wildcats - $985M
  • Tulane Green Wave - $1.9B

TCU, SMU, and Baylor seem to be missing.  All have endowments around $2-3b.  USC is missing.  Notre Dame is missing.  Stanford?  Public schools only?

Also, NIL has little to do with endowment.  Somewhat correlated since endowment and NIL are tied to donors (among other things), but it's a spurious correlation.

Edited by Hondo
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5 minutes ago, Not a cat said:

My understanding is that going forward it would come from athletic department cash flow not the endowment.  Someone can correct me if I'm off but endowments are usually used for all that silly book learning stuff.

 

Does endowment have any influence at all on athletic department cash flow?

 

2 minutes ago, Hondo said:

TCU, SMU, and Baylor seem to be missing.  All have endowments around $2-3b.  USC is missing.  Notre Dame is missing.  Stanford?  Public schools only?

Also, NIL has little to do with endowment.  Somewhat correlated since endowment and NIL are tied to donors (among other things), but it's a spurious correlation.

Not sure about TCU/SMU/Baylor.
USC got "honorable mention" somehow.
AI said this about Notre Dame lol

image.thumb.png.6a058347ab8b6b6612a4f1532108f6ef.png

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5 minutes ago, ATXbronco said:

 

Does endowment have any influence at all on athletic department cash flow?

 

Not sure about TCU/SMU/Baylor.
USC got "honorable mention" somehow.
AI said this about Notre Dame lol

image.thumb.png.6a058347ab8b6b6612a4f1532108f6ef.png

Endowment shouldn't have anything to do with AD cash flow other than the overlap mentioned by another poster that the same factors leading to endowment also often lead to healthy athletic departments (bunch of involved alumni with cash).

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Aside from the fact that endowment isn't really connected to NIL, I don't understand your list and how it determined the rankings.

Pitt has a larger endowment and is easier to get into than UNC... so why are they below UNC? For that matter, why is Illinois below UNC with the same endowment and easier to get into than UNC?

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4 minutes ago, gatormarc said:

Aside from the fact that endowment isn't really connected to NIL, I don't understand your list and how it determined the rankings.

What are your thoughts on how NIL will change who the "it" schools are over the next few years?
That's really what this thread is about.  Guessing the new pecking order in the years to come.

 

  

4 minutes ago, gatormarc said:

Pitt has a larger endowment and is easier to get into than UNC... so why are they below UNC? For that matter, why is Illinois below UNC with the same endowment and easier to get into than UNC?

I'm not sure.  It might have something to do with "system" money? 
Like, UCLA is listed as having $49.9B but that belongs to the system that UCLA belongs to.
It's not UCLA's.

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2 minutes ago, ATXbronco said:

What are your thoughts on how NIL will change who the "it" schools are over the next few years?
That's really what this thread is about.  Guessing the new pecking order in the years to come.

The same schools with resources that have what it takes to win today will have what it takes to win in the years to come. It will still come down to getting the right coach, and getting the talent and keeping them happy.

I think the whole situation is way too volatile to try to come up with long term shifts. Millionaires like staying millionares and while the big schools have always had a handful of boosters willing to toss money around for recruiting and for access to the program, NIL has suddenly turned it from fat cats throwing around hundreds or thousands on gameday to now being asked for 6 or 7 figure donations. Not many will be willing to do that on a consistent bases.

The "little guys" in the SEC and B1G will have a shot but they will be more about catching lightning in a bottle with a great hire that inspires some boosters two buy one or two classes or one off situations like Oregon where you have an aging billionaire who is willing to throw millions away so he can try to finally see a win before he dies. 

11 minutes ago, ATXbronco said:

I'm not sure.  It might have something to do with "system" money? 
Like, UCLA is listed as having $49.9B but that belongs to the system that UCLA belongs to.
It's not UCLA's.

Aren't you the one who asked the AI the question? If you don't know how it figured it out, that doesn't leave much hope for the rest of us.

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5 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

watching the game yesterday, asked my dad yesterday what happens when a oregon can offers simmons 8 to 10 mil to transfer ?

If Knight really wanted to, Oregon could have a $100M payroll. Or $1B. Or $10B. I can't get inside the head of a billionaire donor, but my guess is they want to give their team a chance without outright buying a championship. Kinda takes away from the thrill of it.

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1 hour ago, Not a cat said:

NIL doesn't come from endowments.  You need to look at the schools with the most passionate affluent alumni (e.g. Texas, Ohio st., Mich) or with one mega alum (e.g. Oregon). 

Places like Stanford and Cal are going to have lots of wealthy alums who don't give a fuck about football.

 

Haha. I was just hanging out with a friend of mine who’s a Cal grad. He’s basically given up on his fandom. I told him “You’re a lawyer. There must be a bunch of rich Cal alums that can be convinced to an NIL fund.” He was surprised that the whole Texas NIL initiative was just a bunch of dudes on a message board. /Paul Rudd/ Look at us now!

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Ed

34 minutes ago, TXpride said:

If Knight really wanted to, Oregon could have a $100M payroll. Or $1B. Or $10B. I can't get inside the head of a billionaire donor, but my guess is they want to give their team a chance without outright buying a championship. Kinda takes away from the thrill of it.

Wonder if Phil remembers when he could have bought a Cam Newton title season for under $200K? 

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5 hours ago, ATXbronco said:

I was wondering which teams might be able to afford the largest NIL packages.
I guess "richest university" doesn't mean everything and there are other factors (not sure what they are) that come into play.
So, I asked the AI which universities were the 25 richest.

The dollar amounts are the "endowment" listed in the wiki article I gave to the AI.

Hopefully, someone smarter than I can give their opinion on how much endowments/this list might indicate which programs will stop sucking and start being real players in the playoffs, year after year. Like how the Buckeyes, Crimson Tide, Notre Dame, Wolverines, etc. have been over the last ~hundred years.

----

Please list the top 25 richest universities that have a football program and are not overly difficult to get into.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment

RESULTS:

  1. Texas Longhorns - $44.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~31% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  2. Texas A&M Aggies - $18.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~63% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  3. Michigan Wolverines - $17.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~18% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~94%)
  4. Ohio State Buckeyes - $8.1B (Acceptance Rate: ~53% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~88%)
  5. UC Berkeley Golden Bears - $49.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~11% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~93%)
  6. UCLA Bruins - $49.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~9% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~92%)
  7. University of Virginia Cavaliers - $13.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~19% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~94%)
  8. North Carolina Tar Heels - $5.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~17% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~92%)
  9. Purdue Boilermakers - $3.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~53% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~80%)
  10. Pittsburgh Panthers - $5.5B (Acceptance Rate: ~49% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~85%)
  11. Minnesota Golden Gophers - $5.1B (Acceptance Rate: ~75% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~85%)
  12. Washington Huskies - $4.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~46% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~84%)
  13. Michigan State Spartans - $4.0B (Acceptance Rate: ~88% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  14. Illinois Fighting Illini - $5.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~45% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  15. Indiana Hoosiers - $3.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~85% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~79%)
  16. Wisconsin Badgers - $4.3B (Acceptance Rate: ~49% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~89%)
  17. Iowa Hawkeyes - $2.4B (Acceptance Rate: ~86% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~74%)
  18. Virginia Tech Hokies - $2.0B (Acceptance Rate: ~57% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~86%)
  19. Iowa State Cyclones - $1.7B (Acceptance Rate: ~90% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~76%)
  20. Arizona Wildcats - $1.6B (Acceptance Rate: ~87% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~65%)
  21. Utah Utes - $2.2B (Acceptance Rate: ~89% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~72%)
  22. Rutgers Scarlet Knights - $1.8B (Acceptance Rate: ~66% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~82%)
  23. Kentucky Wildcats - $2.2B (Acceptance Rate: ~95% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~69%)
  24. Oklahoma Sooners - $3.9B (Acceptance Rate: ~73% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~71%)
  25. Missouri Tigers - $1.7B (Acceptance Rate: ~82% / 6-Year Graduation Rate: ~71%)

Here are the "blue blood" football programs not in the top 25 by endowment:

  • Alabama Crimson Tide - $2.5B
  • Clemson Tigers - $1.2B
  • Florida State Seminoles - $1.0B
  • Georgia Bulldogs - $2.0B
  • LSU Tigers - $980M
  • Penn State Nittany Lions - $4.5B
  • Tennessee Volunteers - $1.7B
  • Auburn Tigers - $1.5B
  • Nebraska Cornhuskers - $4.2B

Here are the current Top 25 College Football Playoff Rankings teams that were not on the previous lists of wealthiest endowments or "blue blood" programs with smaller endowments:

  • Ole Miss Rebels - $912M
  • Oregon State Beavers - $1.6B
  • Oregon Ducks - $1.5B
  • Louisville Cardinals - $1.5B
  • Kansas Jayhawks - $2.6B
  • Kansas State Wildcats - $985M
  • Tulane Green Wave - $1.9B

A big thing about NIL that people don’t realize is that our NIL collective donations are tax deductible for IRS purposes. This is a HUGE advantage when it comes to collecting NIL money that other big schools like Michigan don’t have. Our NIL collective was one of the first to get its tax deductible status before the IRS stopped allowing this to be done by all schools. I would like to see a comprehensive list of which schools have NIL collective tax exempt status because I think it makes a huge difference in how much money can be raised by a school. 

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53 minutes ago, MrBig said:

A big thing about NIL that people don’t realize is that our NIL collective donations are tax deductible for IRS purposes. This is a HUGE advantage when it comes to collecting NIL money that other big schools like Michigan don’t have. Our NIL collective was one of the first to get its tax deductible status before the IRS stopped allowing this to be done by all schools. I would like to see a comprehensive list of which schools have NIL collective tax exempt status because I think it makes a huge difference in how much money can be raised by a school. 

Come on....you're saying that some school's NIL collectives facilitate donations that are tax deductible while other schools NIL collectives cannot? And the reason for that is because the IRS arbitrarily stopped allowing it but grandfathered in the original collectives? That sounds like BS to me, but I know nothing about it.

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7 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

I think the novelty wears off on another year or two. Donors will not like the return on investment they see with only one team winning it all in a given year. I think it peaks and then drops down significantly to a more manageable level in the next couple years.

I think you are very wrong and wildly underestimating the strong affiliation that a lot of people have with their schools.

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11 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Come on....you're saying that some school's NIL collectives facilitate donations that are tax deductible while other schools NIL collectives cannot? And the reason for that is because the IRS arbitrarily stopped allowing it but grandfathered in the original collectives? That sounds like BS to me, but I know nothing about it.

This is a good article that discusses the tax implications of NIL collectives.

https://midmichigannow.com/amp/sports/unintended-consequences-how-nil-in-college-sports-has-raised-questions-about-nonprofits

Unintended consequences: How NIL in college sports has raised questions about nonprofits

Monday, Jul 29th 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — Three years into the new age of college sports, where athletes are allowed to profit from their successes through name, image and likeness deals, everyone is still trying to find out what the new normal will be.

Greg Sankey, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, called it “uncharted waters of change” in July at SEC Media Days in Dallas, as college football season approaches. "Anytime you go through a reset, it is difficult,” said Sankey, whose conference not only includes perennial powerhouses Georgia and Alabama, but, as of this year, Texas and Oklahoma, as well.

Those uncharted waters aren't limited to football. The complicated, often murky, world of NIL has touched not just every corner of college sports, but also had an unanticipated effect on the charitable organizations that popped up to help players secure these sponsorship deals.

The basic question NIL raises for nonprofits is: What is charitable about paying college players?

To unravel how NIL deals in college sports have anything to do with the nature of tax-exempt organizations, we have to go back to 2021. That’s when a Supreme Court decision forced the NCAA to allow players to be paid for the use of their name, image and likeness. The ruling allowed players to finally enter into sponsorship and endorsement deals — including everything from the much-anticipated EA Sports College Football 25 video game to promotional appearances for local restaurants and car dealerships.

Fallout from the Supreme Court decision continues, with rules governing NIL deals evolving in response to new lawsuits and state laws. Initially, the NCAA prohibited colleges and universities from directly paying their players, though that may soon change. But to bridge that gap, a cottage industry of outside groups popped up to facilitate contracts between boosters and athletes.

Some of those outside groups formed as companies — where fans gave them money and the groups, after taking a small cut, passed it on to the school’s athletes. In return, the athletes are supposed to perform some service for the group, like autographing merchandise or posting on social media. Other groups incorporated as nonprofit organizations and applied successfully to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status.

“The worry was there’s going to be a narrative perception from the public that this is just greedy athletes, right? So we've got to clean that up, and the way you do that, as always, is nonprofit work, charity work,” said Darrell Lovell, assistant professor of political science at West Texas A&M University, who has written a book about NIL initiatives.

What percentage of these new organizations are for-profit and what percentage are nonprofit? Hard to say, since no one entity is monitoring all of them. The NCAA recently contracted with a company to create a voluntary registry for agents, service providers and deals over $600, which may yield better information about the estimated $1.2 billion flowing through NIL collectives.

On the nonprofit side, however, last June, the IRS issued a memo stating that the activities of many NIL nonprofits were not tax-exempt. In essence, the agency wrote that NIL deals serve the private interests of players, but not the public good.

Phil Hackney, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s law school, said the IRS offers tax-exempt status for organizations that probably should not qualify “happens more often than we might think."

“There’s probably a lot of nonprofits that nobody’s focusing on that probably ought not have an exemption, but they do,” said Hackney, who formerly worked in the IRS’ Office of Chief Counsel.

IRS spokesperson Anthony Burke said in May that the agency has a compliance strategy to make sure NIL nonprofits are “in full compliance with the existing legal requirements,” but did not elaborate. Since January, the IRS has released three rulings denying tax-exempt status for specific, but unnamed, organizations offering NIL contracts with college players.

Some nonprofit NIL collectives continue to operate, though others have closed.

The Texas One Fund that supports the Texas Longhorns still promotes its tax-exempt status on its website and hosted a fundraising concert in the football stadium in May. It did not respond to a request for comment.

Athletes at the University of Utah last year received leases to new cars, in one of the highest profile NIL deals. The Crimson Collective, which is the school's official NIL, is registered as a nonprofit in Utah and has successfully applied for tax-exempt status from the IRS. Its most recent tax filing from 2022 indicates that it reported having less than $50,000 in revenue.

Erin Trenbeath-Murray, vice president of philanthropy for Ken Garff Enterprises and the Crimson Collective, said the organization was not involved in facilitating the leases and that its purpose is to support other charities in the state, like Make A Wish Foundation, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Junior Achievement and other nonprofits.

The Cohesion Foundation, which supports Ohio State athletes, said it stopped collecting new donations after the IRS memo, but paid out its contracts through the end of last year. Executive director Dan Apple said the collective is currently “inactive” but hasn’t taken down its website or publicly announced its closure in case something changes again.

These nonprofits continue, in part, because large donors like to give through charitable vehicles so that they can take a tax deduction.

“Where the big dollars come in and I’m talking six figures,” said Tom Dieters, president of the nonprofit organization Charitable Gift America, “Those come from grants. From donor-advised funds. Private foundations. Charitable trusts. We’ve even got a charitable IRA rollover money. You can only get those gifts as a public charity.”

Dieters said his organization helps donors enter into NIL contracts with players at 10 schools around the country, including his alma mater, Michigan State. In return, athletes promote Charitable Gift America — through social media posts, for example.

“We’re not unlike a car dealership that would promote their cars,” Dieters said. “We just promote philanthropy.”

Brian Mittendorf, the H.P. Wolfe Chair in accounting at Ohio State, said he sees some window where it could be possible for a tax-exempt organization to enter into NIL contracts, but it would be a tricky line to draw. A nonprofit that existed before it started offering NIL contracts still must ensure its work furthers its charitable mission, he said.

“(Organizations should) be able to demonstrate that the contracts they enter into are in furtherance of that charitable purpose and not to benefit any individuals in particular,” Mittendorf said.

In the upcoming school year, the waters remain uncharted following a $2.8 billion settlement reached between the NCAA and the nation’s five biggest conferences that could create a revenue-sharing model with their athletes. At least one school, Houston Christian, has objected in court to the settlement arguing that it will divert money to sports from schools' core missions of education and research.

Elsewhere, Virginia recently passed a law allowing schools to make NIL deals with players. Other states are wrestling with whether players can unionize.

Hackney sees momentum for schools directly paying players somehow, though he argues that will further challenge whether the schools primarily serve a charitable education mission.

“The system that allows this major business, major TV athletic product business, to operate as a charitable activity has long been problematic,” he said, in part because until recently, the athletes doing the work have not been paid.

“Getting dollars to athletes for the real work that they do is important,” Hackney said. “But once you’re starting to pay them, you’re no longer operating a charity where you’re honestly there to educate these athletes. You’re there to pay them for a transactional business that’s not charitable anymore.”

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Texas Tech is an interesting one to watch. They have a very passionate billionaire former player in Cody Campbell who is starting to throw real money around. They currently have the #2 class in the transfer portal. There is also a power vacuum in the Big 12 that they could step into if they buy their way into it.

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Where does all the money generated by the sport go? Bigtime programs like Texas probably clear 100 million a year in ticket sales. Then you get to TV/media rights and merchandise. Even a small but solid program like a TCU probably brings in 20 million at the box office alone.

Why is it necessary for fans and boosters to come up with the money to pay players on top of all the money they make off us already?

If an LSU or Oklahoma decides they can't pay players and are good with going 0 for SEC every year, that's gonna cost them money in ticket sales. Maybe they have to spend a little of that ticket money to keep the stadium full

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15 minutes ago, cmontexas said:

Where does all the money generated by the sport go? Bigtime programs like Texas probably clear 100 million a year in ticket sales. Then you get to TV/media rights and merchandise. Even a small but solid program like a TCU probably brings in 20 million at the box office alone.

Why is it necessary for fans and boosters to come up with the money to pay players on top of all the money they make off us already?

If an LSU or Oklahoma decides they can't pay players and are good with going 0 for SEC every year, that's gonna cost them money in ticket sales. Maybe they have to spend a little of that ticket money to keep the stadium full

 

IMG_2617.jpeg

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Should separate the ability to spend from the want to. The big belief has been that the SEC has the most resources when it comes to NIL, but I wonder how much of that is confusing passion for data. Right now, the BigTen has the better television contract. That's more money in their coffers. I don't know how to, or even if correlating any of the geographic economic data with football/NIL makes sense, but SEC is somewhat behind in that sense as well. Of course, you can clearly see that it might not mean anything when looking at Oregon for example, or conversely, UCLA--all it takes is one mega-booster willing to play the game, but if this ever lands squarely on the plebeians to start funding it, that Super Conference is coming quicker than we can imagine.

 

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Make it make sense that the Texas Longhorns and Dallas Mavericks have roughly the same attendance number for 7 home games vs 41. Probably roughly the same TV total viewership in 13 games vs 82.

But the Mavs can pay Luka Doncic 60 million dollars a year without begging their fan club to chip in

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2 minutes ago, TOR said:

What I don't understand is how/why UCLA is still just... bad.  They have the fanbase, the $$$, the recruiting ground everywhere, etc.,.   There is no excuse for them to be mediokre.  

USC can suck a d1ck.

they don't have the fanbase

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3 minutes ago, cmontexas said:

I didnt understand until I moved here but geographically the Rose Bowl is basically in Frisco and UCLA is where TCU is.

And LA is a basketball/baseball town

 

3 minutes ago, naija said:

they don't have the fanbase

The mind wobbles.  I get the baseball thing, but c'mon.  There has to be a fanbase in SoCal that can support a program.  How did Ricky come out of SD?

Well shit, I just answered my own question.  

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On 1/2/2025 at 7:17 PM, Hondo said:

TCU, SMU, and Baylor seem to be missing.  All have endowments around $2-3b.  USC is missing.  Notre Dame is missing.  Stanford?  Public schools only?

Also, NIL has little to do with endowment.  Somewhat correlated since endowment and NIL are tied to donors (among other things), but it's a spurious correlation.

Almost like AI sucks and shouldn’t be used for actual information gathering, but for entertainment purposes only. But that’s for another thread I guess. 

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23 hours ago, cmontexas said:

Make it make sense that the Texas Longhorns and Dallas Mavericks have roughly the same attendance number for 7 home games vs 41. Probably roughly the same TV total viewership in 13 games vs 82.

But the Mavs can pay Luka Doncic 60 million dollars a year without begging their fan club to chip in

College football pays for the entire athletic department is part of it

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23 hours ago, cmontexas said:

Make it make sense that the Texas Longhorns and Dallas Mavericks have roughly the same attendance number for 7 home games vs 41. Probably roughly the same TV total viewership in 13 games vs 82.

But the Mavs can pay Luka Doncic 60 million dollars a year without begging their fan club to chip in

What’s hard to understand that the university still can’t pay the players? NIL is simply a way to allow players to make money off of their own image and likeness which they were never able to do before. Basically let them do ads, etc..

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On 1/3/2025 at 1:16 AM, HookEm said:

Texas Tech is an interesting one to watch. They have a very passionate billionaire former player in Cody Campbell who is starting to throw real money around. They currently have the #2 class in the transfer portal. There is also a power vacuum in the Big 12 that they could step into if they buy their way into it.

They still have a high school mentality head coach, a new OC they poached from Texas State, and a new DC they poached from Houston.  Not sure that is going to equate to success, even in the left-behind conference.

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On 1/3/2025 at 9:54 AM, cmontexas said:

Make it make sense that the Texas Longhorns and Dallas Mavericks have roughly the same attendance number for 7 home games vs 41. Probably roughly the same TV total viewership in 13 games vs 82.

But the Mavs can pay Luka Doncic 60 million dollars a year without begging their fan club to chip in

NBA teams have 15 players, colleges have 100+ players

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