NIL has now trickled down to the average Duck fan. With the launch of Eugene NIL Club, and Ducks Rising scheduled to launch later this month, fans are encouraged to donate toward NIL contributions for players. This is basically NIL through crowd sourcing. The rewards for donating include some exclusive digital meetings with players and the feeling that you have ...

 

 

Should Fans Feel Compelled to Contribute to NIL?

FISHDUCK.COM

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NIL has now trickled down to the average Duck fan. With the launch of Eugene NIL Club, and Ducks Rising scheduled to launch later this...

 

I buy Duck gear, game tickets, concessions and watch every game of the season. Thats plenty. Usually watch 3 or 4 games each week plus channel surfing.

 

I am a working man, blue collar. I will not be giving to a collective. Donations to places like OBDF... sure, done it a few times.

 

Giving money to a collective? Imo, it won't take long for corruption of some form to seep in. Yea, no thanks  

I buy Duck gear, have season tickets and mostly Nike athletic gear.  That is enough for me.  I have no problem with others contributing to the NIL group fund.

The bigger question is if there should be a NIL that pays super fans, like us?

I am no fan of the NIL and am concerned that it will destroy college football as we have come to know it.

I am not inclined to do anything that perpetuates it

No thanks. Would rather give money to a charity that actually has some impact on things that matter.

You would think that a good college education-scholarship wasn't important anymore.

Donating to a nil fund without any idea of who and where it goes to is not a good idea. The collective could keep 50 percent  or more of the money donated and  as far as i know it would be completely legal.

The average tuition across all states for 2021 was $30,000.  Let's add $10,000 for room and board.  The average scholarship then is $40,000.  124 teams with 85 scholarships costs the schools $421,600,000 per year. 

Add in basketball 358 teams, 13 scholarships at $40,000 and that is an additional $186,160,000.  Total of $607,760,000. 

 

The TV money the D1 football conferences pulled in was 1.553 billion.  That doesn't include the TV money the D1 basketball conferences pulled in.  

 

The big 5 professional leagues don't give less than 48% of revenue to the players.  Scholarships for football and basketball only account for 39.11%.  I don't know what the right way to move forward is, but why are the kids that make sports happen, the ones who have to get the short end of the stick? 

 

The coaches are paid like professionals.  With the new contract Nick Saban signed, I believe he is the 2nd highest paid football coach in America.  Only behind Sean McVay.

I'm "compelled" to donate to the DAF so I can have the privelege of giving them more money for my season tickets.  Probably wouldn't otherwise, the tickets, travel, etc. are expensive and my finances are working class.

 

I'm generally averse to this kind of crowd funding because I have doubts that donated money will actually be used as intended.

 

That said, the players deserve to be compensated and have for a long time.  Should that compensation fall on the backs of bread-and-butter fans?  As long as it's voluntary I have no issue with it.  I'd rather see grass roots funding than a few sketchy boosters.

On 8/24/2022 at 9:13 AM, florida duck said:

Donating to a nil fund without any idea of who and where it goes to is not a good idea. The collective could keep 50 percent  or more of the money donated and  as far as i know it would be completely legal.

the Eugene NIL Club does say that they are giving about 80% to players via their website. 

 

I'm not an expert with all the various organization and business classifications. But I am sure there is some level of transparency that will be involved with SOME of them but not all. But without any sense of accountability it is risky to give to these organizations. 

 

 

I think I am donating enough for the program...and feel silly with what I do as it is!

And...I am grateful for the article, as it is a great topic for us to ponder.  Thank you David.

I believe that donating money, or bidding on items that raise NIL money is fine (Ducks of a Feather). If it is not in your budget to donate then you should not feel compelled to contribute just because you are a fan. 

 

The University and DAF have received donations from me annually for many years. 

While I don’t feel compelled to donate to an NIL fundraising effort that I am not familiar with, I would not tell others that they should not donate, or get involved. 

 

 

No fans should not feel compelled to donate to NIL.  Being a fan is enough and one shouldn’t be made to feel guilty bc they don’t think it’s right or in their financial wheelhouse to donate to NIL.  In contrast, one shouldn’t be made to feel guilty if they want to donate.  

Once college football became professional football I started treating it as such.  So not only will I not contribute to the NIL I've stopped buying merchandise as well.  NIL will destroy "team sports."   You want to block for a guy driving a Rolls Royce to practice while you are eating mac and cheese?   They will have to pay all players or this will backfire? 

Edited August 24, 20222 yr by Pac10again

If 'NIL' gets as big as I'm afraid it might then there is no way a small market like Oregon (Eugene esp) will ever be able to keep up with the really big schools and programs.  I don't see this as a good thing for Collegiate Sport in general.  But then, I'm old-school and ready to be put out to pasture.

NIL=NIET!

On 8/25/2022 at 5:59 AM, Wrathis said:

I'm gonna let my hypocrisy show here, and to my own shame. I don't like the idea of crowd-sourcing funding for players.  Given the amount of money being generated by these players performing, they should be paid for the work they're putting in. 

They are getting a quality college education - a chance to play football for a major college program - world-class physical training - National exposure on TV - a shot at the NFL where they could earn $ millions.  At the least, the first 3 are worth it, don't you think?

Glad you tackled this head on. I agree with everything you said except for the conclusion. (Smile). Agree that fans give a ton of money in myriad ways that ends up in the pockets of everyone except the players. Agree that the powers that be should find a way for more of their billions to tickle down. But until that happens, the vast majority of players who aren't marketable as stars continue to struggle on middling stipends.  When players started their contribution program, I decided: Instead of buying my typical bagful of the latest Duck gear this year, I'll forgo a couple and give the money to the players. I get so much joy from them...why not trade a new sweatshirt and cap for a chance to help out. It's a way to take the money from the clothing makers and hand it to the players directly. 

 

Also if I could add....many people say the players are already getting an education and they get stipends. All true. But the reality is, those stipends should be much higher. Not so many years ago a certain high profile Duck and a player destined to become even higher profile were pulled over by the cops. The players had two joints in the glove box. They wanted to sell them to get $20 to go out for beer. You can criticize the judgment of a couple of 20-year-olds. You can also say: maybe we should think about why they needed to do that. 

Edited August 29, 20222 yr by Drex Heikes

I did contribute $25 and now regret it. I wanted that Herbert jersey lol! Now they have my cash, no email and no response to not getting a link for the jersey. Also no customer support on the site. Once you spend that money, its gone! 

 

So rather than being a monthly supporter, they got my $25, no more from me... I dont trust the site

I have messaged them multiple times on the site (message board and chat). Also messaged them on their FB page. So far no response to any method. Sounds like I should use twitter 😔

 

Either way, not a good experience so far. Glad it worked for you and it gives me some hope that it can be turned around. I wonder how many others have experienced similar issues and chose to pull their donation?

Who is/are the people behind this Eugene NIL Club?