OT: - Kentucky NIL is out of hand | Page 2 | The Boneyard

OT: Kentucky NIL is out of hand

bjc42 said:
Other football teams spent more than OSU last year, fwiw
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Which ones? There were a bunch of these articles saying Ohio State spent the most.

Looks like Texas was up there too although the article has OSU at 2 on this list for highest NIL collectives but says they spent the most on their roster in 2024.

247sports.com

College football NIL collective leaders for 2025: NCAA estimates nation's top-25 spenders

Fundraising and donor contributions are not issues at these programs.
247sports.com 247sports.com
 
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HooperScooper said:
That amount does surprise me. Ohio State spent about $20 million on their football team last year. And football has a lot more players and also I'm sure OSU football makes a lot more money than Kentucky basketball. So yeah that number is surprising. At least OSU did win the championship. Let's see what Kentucky does.

Ohio State AD projects football roster cost 'around $20 million' in NIL money | FOX Sports

Ohio State's estimate of $20 million in NIL money spent on its football roster is believed to be the highest in the nation.
www.foxsports.com www.foxsports.com
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I'm not surprised - the market for basketball talent has always been much more efficient than the football market. Most of the top football prospects don't even see regular snaps until year three or four, at which point they're already draft eligible and not as likely to be wooed by the offers of other schools. It's just much more of a guessing game from beginning to end, which is why you're actually starting to see more parity in the portal era. It used to be that you brought 30-40 of the top high school prospects to campus and let the cream rise to the top. Now the cream is starting to leave after a year or two because they can play more snaps elsewhere.

Basketball players are worth 300-400% more simply by virtue of playing a game with fewer players. Once you factor in both sides of the ball, it's really like a 22:5 ratio, since obviously basketball players play both offense and defense.
 
FfldCntyFan said:
In all candor, does this surprise anyone?
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I have no problem with it.

This gives Kentucky an advantage, but it isn't big enough to make up for coaching and management.

We should always allow these things because moral hazard exists. We saw how Texas A&M went belly up under fisher despite a ton of money spent.

Money is not infinite, if pope has a $22M salary, they should theoretically go undefeated.

How are the investors gonna act when they get $22M for a sweet 16 loss and the guy Pope passed on is better than the guy who got paid and is in Final Four?

I think the dynamic is working fine.
 
Viet Vet said:
“For the good of the game”?

I am a dyed-in-the-wool free market capitalist. Made my wealth/lifestyle over 40 years of straight commission sales. BUT………competitive sports, pro or college, depend on a marketplace that rewards (and penalizes) success and/or failure on the gridiron, field, court, rink. Monopoly, based on (NIL) spending will erode competition. How many consecutive years of Ohio State/Alabama, Georgia/Michigan, or LSU/Clemson will the football watching audience tolerate before getting bored?

And then tune out.



ve
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Ive already tuned out because of it.
 
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Deepster said:
Good. Spend even more than that.

I think it's clear that $$$ doesn't translate to titles. You buy up players driven solely by the dollar and those players never, ever come through vs the teams that play for other reasons.
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100%.

IMO, Kentucky might be the #1 villain in CBB this season.

On a more positive note, I love hearing when certain players left money on the table picking UConn over other schools.

Fit > $$$
 
UCTitleTown said:
UNC is soliciting Saudi investor money to support their athletic department. It's just a matter of time before private equity controls D1 sports.
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I think that would be the Mets. No team has spent more per win in the last five years than the Mets.
 
HooperScooper said:
Which ones? There were a bunch of these articles saying Ohio State spent the most.

Looks like Texas was up there too although the article has OSU at 2 on this list for highest NIL collectives but says they spent the most on their roster in 2024.

247sports.com

College football NIL collective leaders for 2025: NCAA estimates nation's top-25 spenders

Fundraising and donor contributions are not issues at these programs.
247sports.com 247sports.com
Expand ...
Just saying from what I heard that teams like Texas, Georgia, and Oregon all spent more, and heard that on message boards from beat reporters/insiders.
 
Viet Vet said:
“For the good of the game”?

I am a dyed-in-the-wool free market capitalist. Made my wealth/lifestyle over 40 years of straight commission sales. BUT………competitive sports, pro or college, depend on a marketplace that rewards (and penalizes) success and/or failure on the gridiron, field, court, rink. Monopoly, based on (NIL) spending will erode competition. How many consecutive years of Ohio State/Alabama, Georgia/Michigan, or LSU/Clemson will the football watching audience tolerate before getting bored?

And then tune out.



ve
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Basically already there. Watch UConn, but little else.
 
uconnfan68 said:
Basically already there. Watch UConn, but little else.
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It’s actually better now than before, now it’s more out in the open, all of these power teams were doing this behind the scenes for years. I enjoy watching College basketball and will not stop because NIL has changed the perception of college basketball. Adapt, move on and hope your team does so as well.
 
bjc42 said:
Just saying from what I heard that teams like Texas, Georgia, and Oregon all spent more, and heard that on message boards from beat reporters/insiders.
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UGA does not spend more. They are the equivalent to UConn in basketball. Spend well but aren't the top bidders. Kirby sells kids on being their path to the NFL (which is far more established than UConn and the NBA).

Texas and USC are at the top. OSU spent far more than $20 million last year, that number was just for transfers.
 
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As a UConn and Big East fan I am not terribly concerned about the Kentucky NIL because I don't think you can spend yourself into a championship. In professional sports the highest payroll does not directly correlate to the most success. For example in major league baseball (which has no real salary cap and minimal guardrails against organizations looking to outspend the competition) the teams remaining in the playoffs are ranked 2, 5, 16 and 23 in terms of highest payroll. Of the top 10 MLB payrolls in 2025, 4 missed the playoffs entirely, including the team with the highest payroll. Also keep in mind that in college basketball you have a roster of 15, however it's the first 7 to 9 members of the team that will usually determine the success of the team in any given season, so the total payroll may not correlate to amounts needed to pay and retain the top tier of the roster, which is the key to roster construction in the NIL era.
 
KY does have 8 titles. It's not like they don't have any, and they do have a somewhat recent one in 2012.
 
rrskyjf said:
KY does have 8 titles. It's not like they don't have any, and they do have a somewhat recent one in 2012.
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Uggh - modern era please. It is REALLY hard to qualify their 4 titles pre 1958 other than pieces for a museum. I'll even give them the 1978 title as part of the conversation, since they beat Duke.

Yale could brag about having the best college football program of all time with their 18 titles. Get what I'm saying?
 
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UConnTrumbull said:
I won’t really care until we can’t retain our players and get the recruits we want. But to be honest it’s only because of Dan and the staff that we feel immune to this stuff. I’m not gonna pretend it’s not possible.
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Yeah as someone who worked in corporate America for many years and has heard the word “competitive” thrown around a lot when talking dollars and cents, it worries me a little bit in the long run when that’s how our NIL pool is described.
 
ec33 said:
Kirby sells kids on being their path to the NFL (which is far more established than UConn and the NBA).
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Just like Cal does. And refresh my memory, what did GA football do between Herschel and Smart? I'm just a casual CFB follower and nothing comes to my mind.
 
RuffRuff said:
Uggh - modern era please. It is REALLY hard to qualify their 4 titles pre 1958 other than pieces for a museum. I'll even give them the 1978 title as part of the conversation, since they beat Duke.

Yale could brag about having the best college football program of all time with their 18 titles. Get what I'm saying?
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I get it. The quote about no championships for UK I don't agree with. Recently, not much, thanks to Calipari. But Kansas, UNC also have titles that go way back (with recent success also). I just view the history of the game in a different way.
 
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ec33 said:
Texas and USC are at the top. OSU spent far more than $20 million last year, that number was just for transfers.
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That's not what any of the articles say. They say the $20 million was for their entire roster. Where did you see that was just for transfers? Imagine being a star player on the team and seeing all the transfers get way more than you're getting? That would be a chemistry nightmare.

As ESPN describes, Ohio State poured the $20 million dollars from its NIL fund into building its 2024 roster, drawing from the transfer portal and recruiting class and also enticing some Buckeye players from going to the NFL.

www.sportingnews.com

Ohio State NIL budget, explained: How Ryan Day built a '$20 million' roster through NIL, transfer portal | Sporting News

Ohio State’s roster is one of the most talented in the nation, from Jeremiah Smith to Quinshon Judkins to Caleb Downs. How did the Buckeyes build it?
www.sportingnews.com www.sportingnews.com

Ohio State AD projects football roster cost 'around $20 million' in NIL money | FOX Sports

Ohio State's estimate of $20 million in NIL money spent on its football roster is believed to be the highest in the nation.
www.foxsports.com www.foxsports.com

rodgersherman.substack.com

Ohio State's $20 million bargain

Everybody seems to think it's ridiculous that Ohio State spent $20 million on their roster. So do I. There's no way a team this good should cost that little.
rodgersherman.substack.com rodgersherman.substack.com
 
I know there are a lot of uber wealthy people in the US and they can allocate their money as they wish. Many of those people made money by investing and getting a return on their investments. I’m just wondering if there will come time when the donors will expect anything more than good seats and a chance their school plays well?
 
rrskyjf said:
I get it. The quote about no championships for UK I don't agree with. Recently, not much, thanks to Calipari. But Kansas, UNC also have titles that go way back (with recent success also). I just view the history of the game in a different way.
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The different way imo is that UConn is the best. They’re relatively late comers who some don’t view as a blue blood (that depends on how you want to define it and that’s fine) but for those that are living and breathing today the Huskies are certifiably the top dogs!
 
It's grotesque and it's money wasted. I don't see it making much of a difference. Basketball has 5 starters and they maybe go up to 5 deep on the bench. Always have, always will. Programs like Kentucky have always had some of the best players so nothing really changes. It's not like paying the best kids more money is going to make them better, or allow you to play more kids in a 40 minute game. I know they'll be able to lure the diamonds in the rough through the portal with NIL so I suppose that could have an impact. If anything, all that cash may have a negative impact on some diaper dandies. It's human nature.
 
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