Geno and UConn and NIL

[RowdyFan]

We know that Geno never promises recruits playing time...that's something earned. He also isn't looking at recruits who are "me first". Any individual awards come from his belief that team come first, and if a player does all the right things, those accolades will follow. In this crazy time of NIL, does Geno apply the same standards to those in the portal? IE: Is NIL $$ "earned"? Just something that I would love to discuss.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

I believe Geno is targeting international players cause he doesn't have to pay them NIL.

 

[Zarathustra]

We know that Geno never promises recruits playing time...that's something earned. He also isn't looking at recruits who are "me first". Any individual awards come from his belief that team come first, and if a player does all the right things, those accolades will follow. In this crazy time of NIL, does Geno apply the same standards to those in the portal? IE: Is NIL $$ "earned"? Just something that I would love to discuss.

"In Geno I Trust"

 

[fireford]

Geno spoke at a fundraiser at Mitchell's in Westport in 2024 and said something like this when asked about NIL "If you come in and produce we'll take care of you and pay you more than the average bear but not necessarily higher than everyone else. If the impression we get is that the amount of NIL the player receives is their top priority then that type of player is not one we want in our program".
I may be paraphrasing a little but that was basically what he said when asked about NIL.

 

[Dogdude]

Geno spoke at a fundraiser at Mitchell's in Westport in 2024 and said something like this when asked about NIL "If you come in and produce we'll take care of you and pay you more than the average bear but not necessarily higher than everyone else. If the impression we get is that the amount of NIL the player receives is their top priority then that type of player is not one we want in our program".
I may be parapraprashing a little but that was basically what he said when asked about NIL.

Yeah.. I've seen on my own business that the ones who will only show for the dough don't seem to work as hard for the end product. To quote the great Captain Ahab (I'll paraphrase, it's a little long...) "If money's to be the measurer, man, (skip skip skip)...then let me tell theee, that my vengeance will fetch a great premium HERE!" See? Money funds madness. I have no idea what this has to do with the topic anymore, but I had a few minutes to spare.

 

[my2cents]

Geno recently stated that he asked Bueckers about receiving NIL money and she was not interested. Take care of my teammates. She was already making a lot of money from endorsements and didn't need it.

 

[reelfan]

N I L is a monster created by NCAA. Has yet to be tamed.

 

[Bone Dog]

There’s some confusion about NIL and endorsements… and it may be mine. Currently, as I understand it, schools don’t pay NIL money to students, though this may change soon and probably should. Currently, collectives of well-meaning alums and boosters arrange a package nominally tied to endorsement deals for local businesses. The school itself can also be one of these businesses in the sense that they sell branded merch and have to compensate students for this. As far as I know, that’s the limit on direct school involvement in any pay package.

Paige and Azzi on their own had negotiated endorsement deals with national businesses, like Nike and Gatorade and Chipotle and Bose. When Paige said she didn’t need to have a piece of the school’s NIL package, she probably meant her national endorsements dwarfed what the school could arrange through its collective. I don’t know if she is compensated for the many “5” jerseys we see everywhere, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she even let UConn keep that as well.

Paige was already on magazine covers in high school. The initial NIL question concerned kids like her. Could she be disqualified by the NCAA for making money while a student on the basis of her name, image or likeness, which she unquestionably owns. There were no legal grounds to justify preventing a kid from selling her own property. But soon enough, booster organizations saw an opening to slip back into the picture and fund athletes more or less directly. This has made the picture rather murkier.

We all talk rather loosely about schools paying kids NIL, and this is not quite accurate. The schools obviously arrange for booster collectives to put lucrative packages together for their athletes. This may be a distinction without a difference, but I don’t think any school is allocating endowment funds to pay NIL money.

Personally, I think the situation would be improved if the schools simply did become the direct source of NIL money. They could raise the money from boosters, of course, and it could be somehow tied to some value-calculation. But it might be morally clarifying to do away with the current fictional facade to mask the real situation. And undoubtedly the entire situation would change college athletics in ways none of us would welcome if this were to happen. But the current situation is so rife with dishonesty as not to merit preserving.

 

[VaConnFan11]

The problem is...There are no rules!

 

[Bone Dog]

The problem is...There are no rules!

Nor should there be, at least not any promulgated by an organization as corrupt as the NCAA.

 

[TAK]

Most college kids chasing NIL will eventually learn that the money a job pays makes you happy for a while. After a while, the money no longer matters if you don’t like your job.
Substitute basketball program for job.

 

[Charliebball]

There’s some confusion about NIL and endorsements… and it may be mine. Currently, as I understand it, schools don’t pay NIL money to students, though this may change soon and probably should. Currently, collectives of well-meaning alums and boosters arrange a package nominally tied to endorsement deals for local businesses. The school itself can also be one of these businesses in the sense that they sell branded merch and have to compensate students for this. As far as I know, that’s the limit on direct school involvement in any pay package.

Paige and Azzi on their own had negotiated endorsement deals with national businesses, like Nike and Gatorade and Chipotle and Bose. When Paige said she didn’t need to have a piece of the school’s NIL package, she probably meant her national endorsements dwarfed what the school could arrange through its collective. I don’t know if she is compensated for the many “5” jerseys we see everywhere, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she even let UConn keep that as well.

Paige was already on magazine covers in high school. The initial NIL question concerned kids like her. Could she be disqualified by the NCAA for making money while a student on the basis of her name, image or likeness, which she unquestionably owns. There were no legal grounds to justify preventing a kid from selling her own property. But soon enough, booster organizations saw an opening to slip back into the picture and fund athletes more or less directly. This has made the picture rather murkier.

We all talk rather loosely about schools paying kids NIL, and this is not quite accurate. The schools obviously arrange for booster collectives to put lucrative packages together for their athletes. This may be a distinction without a difference, but I don’t think any school is allocating endowment funds to pay NIL money.

Personally, I think the situation would be improved if the schools simply did become the direct source of NIL money. They could raise the money from boosters, of course, and it could be somehow tied to some value-calculation. But it might be morally clarifying to do away with the current fictional facade to mask the real situation. And undoubtedly the entire situation would change college athletics in ways none of us would welcome if this were to happen. But the current situation is so rife with dishonesty as not to merit preserving.

While not receiving money directly from the school, offering money from wealthy boosters on behalf of the school to attract the best talent serves the same purpose........when the quality of the education, the quality of the coaches and teammates are no longer the reasons to attend a school than we are no longer talking about student-athletes.......it's just another pay to play scheme where players park themselves to collect their cash and hopefully get something out of their free education.......I'll be curious to see how long it will be before grade requirements for student athletes to remain in good standing will be eliminated......

 

[Stagnant]

I don’t think you get upfront NIL at UConn. But if you are good… you instantly become one of the most marketable players in the country. You sell a ton of shirts. You gain a lot of followers on social media. A player has to see the big picture to some extent at UConn.

I think you can go to other programs and get up-front guaranteed money. So, even if you suck and don’t turn out to be the player the school expects… you still get paid.

 

[hoopsfan22]

While not receiving money directly from the school, offering money from wealthy boosters on behalf of the school to attract the best talent serves the same purpose........when the quality of the education, the quality of the coaches and teammates are no longer the reasons to attend a school than we are no longer talking about student-athletes.......it's just another pay to play scheme where players park themselves to collect their cash and hopefully get something out of their free education.......I'll be curious to see how long it will be before grade requirements for student athletes to remain in good standing will be eliminated......

There's already a bill in the House to get rid of the NCAA and replace it with something new that I'm guessing would be way smaller with less oversight/control/bureaucracy and would mostly give autonomy to conferences and schools. The day is coming quickly where we can officially stop pretending what's been obvious for years.

 

[azfan]

The problem is...There are no rules!

Ahhhh .. but there are rules. Myriad rules. Complex rules. Think the IRS tax code. The haves benefit from this complex, overlapping set of rules.

A simple market likely will function in a more transparent and efficient manner than what currently exists. This is a rare occasion in which I would agree with an attorney. 'The market should be a free market,” said Michael Hausfeld, an attorney representing athletes who are dissatisfied with the settlement, in an interview with The Athletic.

However the likelihood the status quo evolves toward a free market is very close to zero. What I anticipate is an industry similar to healthcare in the United States which involves a complex and confusing combination of governmental edict, large money interests, increasing costs to the customer (in athletics that would be us the fans) and acceleration between the haves and the haves not. William Baumol developed the metric of the cost disease which offers insight into these types of industries in an accessible manner. His two books The Cost Disease: Why Computers get cheaper and Healthcare Doesn't and Good Capitalism Bad Capitalism elaborate on this cost disease analytic and make wonderful reading. Baumol was an important thinker and economist and in my view should have been a Nobel prize winner.

Higher education may exemplify the cost disease by magnitudes greater than healthcare. More and more and more money in the industry lower quality and quantity. When I graduated from Arizona State University in 1978 the semester tuition was $250. I believe tuition at Arizona State University is approximately $5100 per semester but it's very difficult to know given all of the additional fees, charges, and add-ons that accompany enrollment at Michael Crows real estate conglomerate.

Currently there are a ton of rules that make no sense, that are overlapping, that violate the law. Scroll to the end to read about revenue sharing.

Assuming the NCAA settlement takes place there will be revenue sharing beginning at 20 million per School. As I understand at this 20 million will be for All sports. So clearly 80 to 90% of that money will go to football. Taking 80% as the football take that would leave approximately 4 million for all other sports. Assuming men's basketball takes the Lion share of that 4 million think Cooper Flagg/Duke then there's very little revenue that would impact women's basketball. The question is will the settlement be enforceable or will nil continue. I think the answer to that is clear.

What is NIL in college sports? How do athlete deals work?

The NCAA now allows college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness, otherwise known as NIL. Learn more about how it works now.

www.espn.com

NIL contracts raise big questions on employment and pay-for-play

Direct payments to athletes in the expected $2.8 billion NCAA settlement might not solve schools' legal woes

www.espn.com

It's significant that the NCAA is dragging their feet as once the settlement is implemented and revenue sharing begins this rent seeking corrupt organization will find itself accelerating to oblivion. The bureaucrats at the NCAA will be frantically searching for legal justification to hold on to revenue from March madness and the college playoff system.

The link below gives an overview of the rules of nil and the different types. Only one female athlete in the top 10 the famous gymnast from LSU.

Highest Paid College Athletes via NIL Deals

NIL deals give student-athletes the opportunity to profit from their own brand through business ventures, partnerships, sponsorships and endorsement deals.

www.si.com

Link below for the proposed settlement that many observers think will be taking effect July 1.

The world of college sports as you know it could soon change overnight. Here's how

Confused about the House v. NCAA settlement? We’ve got answers.

www.deseret.com

A great read

Gold Rush or Minefield: Nico Iamaleava and the Desperate State of NIL in College Athletics

Is it a gold rush or a minefield? How Nico Iamaleava's failed hold-out is an example of the harsh reality about the new state of College Athletics in the NIL era

open.substack.com

 

[azfan]

........when the quality of the education, the quality of the education.......I'll be curious to see how long it will be before grade requirements for student athletes to remain in good standing will be eliminated......

Endemic cheating

By the Numbers: Academic Integrity in Higher Education

Dive into the latest research about academic dishonesty in higher education, and uncover best practices for maintaining academic integrity.

www.meazurelearning.com

"Quality"

The Average College Student Is Illiterate

Students are not what they used to be. The crisis is worse than you think.

open.substack.com

“Cheating is now so rampant that uni degrees have become worthless”

Plus, another op-ed from Middlebury College. Plus, Best/Worst is coming up again. Plus, an integrity award.

open.substack.com

Requirements

Already gone-link above and online delivery. 1990 legal perspective -
https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1889&context=ndlr

Careful of anecdotal evidence of elite athletes completing rigorous academic curriculum. For every Morgan Tuck think about the GOAT who on her show with Sue often said she thought a 800 on the SAT was a great score. I think most of the professional athletes adhere to the code of silence but if asked directly there would be confirmation on the expectations academically and methods of institutions support these expectations.

 

[Bone Dog]

Ahhhh .. but there are rules. Myriad rules. Complex rules. Think the IRS tax code. The haves benefit from this complex, overlapping set of rules.

A simple market likely will function in a more transparent and efficient manner than what currently exists. This is a rare occasion in which I would agree with an attorney. 'The market should be a free market,” said Michael Hausfeld, an attorney representing athletes who are dissatisfied with the settlement, in an interview with The Athletic.

Link below for the proposed settlement that many observers think will be taking effect July 1.

The world of college sports as you know it could soon change overnight. Here's how

Confused about the House v. NCAA settlement? We’ve got answers.

www.deseret.com

That second link, from Deseret News, hits the nail on the head. And this line ought to give anyone pause:

• "...if the House settlement is approved, schools will share a capped amount of revenue with athletes while an NIL clearinghouse attempts to curtail certain big-money offers from booster clubs."

Of course, this stinks of prior restraint, which will not stand up to judicial scrutiny unless some compelling national interest can be shown to justify it. I can't really see any. You can't restrain any American's right to engage in trade otherwise.

I agree with Michael Hausfeld, whom you cite: "the market should be a free market." It's as simple as that.

I will hate what this does to WCBB, which is the only sport I enjoy watching anymore. But it's important to correct injustices when we encounter them.

 

[Happydad745]

NIL and the transfer portal have given players new opportunities and new wealth....the damage they have done to the Women's Basketball spectrum of innocents is obvious. Personally if I could change some of it, I would not allow players to receive more than a small percentage of NIL money until they graduate; players can transfer, but only once, and a team can not have more than 2 transfers on their rosters. The NCAA makes changes that help the NCAA, developing parity and maintaining the idea of amateur sports is not big on their list.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

In a recent sit down with CT NBC Geno reported he felt he needed to sit down with Paige about NIL for Paige and she said no she didn't need it and Geno indicated he knew that but and she said whwatever NIL the program had should go to the other players. So there is NIL in the program. I don't know if the give it to everybody else reflex will ever kick in again.

 

[MooseJaw]

There’s some confusion about NIL and endorsements… and it may be mine. Currently, as I understand it, schools don’t pay NIL money to students, though this may change soon and probably should. Currently, collectives of well-meaning alums and boosters arrange a package nominally tied to endorsement deals for local businesses. The school itself can also be one of these businesses in the sense that they sell branded merch and have to compensate students for this. As far as I know, that’s the limit on direct school involvement in any pay package.

Paige and Azzi on their own had negotiated endorsement deals with national businesses, like Nike and Gatorade and Chipotle and Bose. When Paige said she didn’t need to have a piece of the school’s NIL package, she probably meant her national endorsements dwarfed what the school could arrange through its collective. I don’t know if she is compensated for the many “5” jerseys we see everywhere, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she even let UConn keep that as well.

Paige was already on magazine covers in high school. The initial NIL question concerned kids like her. Could she be disqualified by the NCAA for making money while a student on the basis of her name, image or likeness, which she unquestionably owns. There were no legal grounds to justify preventing a kid from selling her own property. But soon enough, booster organizations saw an opening to slip back into the picture and fund athletes more or less directly. This has made the picture rather murkier.

We all talk rather loosely about schools paying kids NIL, and this is not quite accurate. The schools obviously arrange for booster collectives to put lucrative packages together for their athletes. This may be a distinction without a difference, but I don’t think any school is allocating endowment funds to pay NIL money.

Personally, I think the situation would be improved if the schools simply did become the direct source of NIL money. They could raise the money from boosters, of course, and it could be somehow tied to some value-calculation. But it might be morally clarifying to do away with the current fictional facade to mask the real situation. And undoubtedly the entire situation would change college athletics in ways none of us would welcome if this were to happen. But the current situation is so rife with dishonesty as not to merit preserving.

If you believe nothing else believe that yes players, individually and team wise can get paid team NIL money. The dollars may not be as high in WCBB as in men's BB and FB but many teams get paid including UCONN, according to Geno.

 

[Jackcatscal]

Here are a couple of observations about NIL that I've seen lately:

--Some schools (or boosters--I'm not really sure there's a difference) have added, or are considering adding incentives to NIL payments. Win the league scoring title--bonus of $x. Win the league championship--$y. And so on. Thinking about it, this presents the same evils as gambling on games or point-shaving does. The game is no longer paramount.
--The NIL payments are a contract, or are incorporated into a contract. You promise to stay x years in the program. If you enter the portal, you're in breach, and we're going to sue the pants off you.
--This one's really scary. There are suggestions that Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava and some teammates may have thrown a game to protest the low NIL rate they were getting. And, if you use a little bit of imagination, you can probably think of more evil outcomes from the NIL situation.

 

[azfan]

Of course, this stinks of prior restraint, which will not stand up to judicial scrutiny unless some compelling national interest can be shown to justify it. I can't really see any. You can't restrain any American's right to engage in trade otherwise.
But it's important to correct injustices when we encounter them.

ABSOLUTELY
There are two related issues here and you hit the nail on the head on the most important. A free and liberal society must enforce the rules of law!

The related second issue - the predictable perverse consequences of engaging in regulation or layered regulation on the market for college athletics. It's much like a house remodel gone awry. The efforts by congress, the courts, and of course the self-interested nefarious NCAA will generate greater complexity, less transparency all favoring the haves.

 

[hoopsfan22]

In a recent sit down with CT NBC Geno reported he felt he needed to sit down with Paige about NIL for Paige and she said no she didn't need it and Geno indicated he knew that but and she said whwatever NIL the program had should go to the other players. So there is NIL in the program. I don't know if the give it to everybody else reflex will ever kick in again.

I wonder if that's why I never see Paige in local ad campaigns, but I do see the rest of the team all the time. There's a couple of billboards on 95 in Bridgeport with KK and Ashlynn.

 

[fireford]

Geno spoke at a fundraiser at Mitchell's in Westport in 2024 and said something like this when asked about NIL "If you come in and produce we'll take care of you and pay you more than the average bear but not necessarily higher than everyone else. If the impression we get is that the amount of NIL the player receives is their top priority then that type of player is not one we want in our program".
I may be paraphrasing a little but that was basically what he said when asked about NIL.

Was hoping this article about the above referenced event would have his exact quote about NIL but it doesn't. But it does have some nice pictures worth looking at and I just realized that I'm in the third picture down from the top. I won't say which one I am but I'll narrow it down and say I'm "the old guy" ;-).

UConn Fans Turn Mitchell’s Westport Into Husky Heaven — The Westport Local Press

Above, left, Page Bueckers joins Legendary UConn Women’s Basketball coach Geno Auriemma on stage to speak with the nearly 200 Husky fans gathered for the event. At right, Husky KK Arnold joins Auriemma and the moderator.

westportlocal.com

 

[Skeets]

The combined problems of NIL and the portal makes college sports look like the wild, wild west. It's like professional sports without any contractual restraints. One potential solution: make college sports exactly like professional sports. Have the "student athletes" sign contracts (the contracts would have to be standardized across schools). After all, the genie cannot be put back in the bottle.