Acceptance is the answer to all your problems today…

[AlohaUte]

Hi Ute friends, I know we all are frustrated with NIL and the Transfer Portal. It sucks losing Williams and maybe others. In my experience, once I accepted this all as the way things are and just shrug my shoulders both when players enter the portal from Utah and player join us via the portal from other programs, my serenity increased.

Yes, I’m far less invested in college sports than I used to be, I even less excited about Utah football than previous seasons. But it is what it is. Just food for thought. Not trying to criticize any of you or hate on you, just sharing my experience and that accepting it for what it is works for me.

[Tednab]

Peaks and valleys .. it won’t stay like this forever. The pendulum will swing back and forth.

[Utah#1]

and I believe it will swing in Utah’s favor! For now it sucks and TDS will reap what they sow!

call me crazy but I think there is validity to the rumors that Utah will be moving to the Big10. While I haven’t believed it for sometime, Whitt has alluded to it several times making no bones about it. And a reputable journalist reported about it this past weekend that his connections with some Big10 admin informed him that Utah would be a great fit for the conference and that they are a lock to join. Not long after he posted that on X he was bombarded by Utah haters who questioned him and made him retract his statement and immediately posted another statement that said Utah is not a lock. Regardless, I’d like to believe its a formality at this point, and that they are just waiting for the right time to report it in the media. Again, this may not be believable but this gained traction over the past months and those media outlets entertaining the idea making it know leads me to believe there is much validity to the rumors. Only time will tell

[Central Coast Ute]

You’re crazy

[Utah#1]

look, Smith Snowden stayed loyal to Utah! that’s very encouraging and a positive step in the right direction. hope his example will rub off on other players offered $$$ to transfer out of Utah. for that, have a little faith and believe that a move to the Big10 in the near future is a likely possibility

until then, Whitt and the program need to prove it this upcoming season and get back to their winning ways and shoot for their first Big12 championship

[John]

All this talk about moving to the Big10 is nothing but hot air. The Big10 added Maryland and Rutgers for one simple reason: Money. It put the channel on the basic tier in NYC and DC markets. They get 53 cents per subscriber. Compare that to the PAC channel at 13 cents. They added the LA schools for the same reason and to a lesser extent the Seattle and Portland markets.

Utah has a population of just over 3 million, statewide.Oregon is well over 4 million and Washington is about 8 million. The Utah market is split (don’t argue it) and Utahns are too cheap to pay extra for channels.

If the Big10 is going to add a team they have to add to the financial statement and not reduce the amount other schools are getting. Utah does not add enough. IF the Big10 were looking to add they would go after North Carolina and Georgia Tech for the markets. Notre Dame if they would ever move would be a slam dunk.

If the ACC collapses with the strong possibility of Clemson and Florida State moving then the two aforementioned schools would be attractive to the Big 10. Boston College might be attractive for the New England market.

[Kellso]

I somewhat agree. But, if things don’t change in the next couple of years, I will be out. One good thing has come from NIL, TDS has shown their true colors. It’s not a good look.

[Caleb]

I just don’t know if Utah has the horses to compete in this landscape. They thrived as a program because they were very good at finding undervalued talent and turning it into something strong. But with NIL, once those players blow up, the teams with the financial resources come calling and honestly, it’s hard to to begrudge a player for taking a guaranteed paycheck, especially when it’s maybe double what Utah can offer.

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[Central Coast Ute]

Agreed on all points. I force myself to care at this point. Not sure how much longer that will last.

[Tednab]

Utah needs to figure it out. Football is good money and worth investing in, but if you’re putting out a @$&$ product people will stop attending the game and investing the time and money into it. They invested in whit , they better start funding the rest of the team

[Caleb]

Utah has to figure out how to grease up their donors like BYU is doing because it seems we have plenty of successful alumni but they don’t seem too interested in wanting to help fund NIL deals?

[Charlie]

I think Utah and BYU donors are different with the Utah side having more competing interests on the academic side. On the Y side there seems to be a much greater need to prove they are equal or better and for some reason it spills into the sports thing. I have a split family, half and half, giving me quite an opportunity to attend games in Provo. Mostly Utah games but also big games when major teams visit. We know the fan bases are different but they are also different sports related. Utah is typical, much like other places I have been invited to and like Arizona where I also went to school. The Y is a one of a kind, not like TCU or other religion based schools, in that their venues are packed with people that are otherwise not at all sports fans. They are short on understanding rules or other approaches to the game used by others but they are very much a fan of winning. I have always wondered how that translates to the donor level. I wonder why Mr Marriott gave the U a library and donated to the Y’s sports program. Either way, I think Y donors check an extra box when donating to the Y but maybe that is also the case at Notre Dame.

[belli1976]

Agreed Aloha.

The only thing that matters is if you have billionaire alumni that loves sports.

OSU beavers has Jensen Huang who has 3 times the net worth of Uncle Phil.

Utah doesn’t have the sport loving billionaires. Even if we get into the B10 we will not be relevant.

[AlohaUte]

Is that true about Oregon State?! Crazy.

And yeah, Utah is in some trouble if NIL doesn’t get regulated soon. BYU seems to have a the benefactors they need, but I don’t know that Utah does. Regardless, I’m trying to just be chill with it and enjoy Utah football. I’ll love my Utes, watch them, and cheer for them regardless of whether they are playing in the B1G, Big-12, Pac, or MWC.

[ProudUte]

Screw it. I am close to just giving up on college sports. It is so messed up. I hate what has happened with the NIL and portal. I need to separate myself from this mess. I was a Ute fan during the 1-10 seasons of the 1970s and enjoyed it. But, this crap is out of hand.

I have never been a casual Ute fan, but this may be what I will be now.

Spending millions on unproven college athletes when there are so many more important causes just rubs me wrong. Donors, donate to good causes. They should donate their money to cancer research. T2T, Wounded Warriors, Red Cross, etc. I for one will not be donating to any college football player.

[UteBacker]

I’ll just say this: college football has the right to go in whatever direction they want to. College football players have the right to chase NIL $$. The courts have the right to strike down any attempt to regulate the transfer portal or NIL earnings. ESPN has the right to control the playoff structure and conference makeup.

I, as a long time super-passionate college football fan, have the right to give up and stop following it.

[AlohaUte]

And honestly, the only power we fans gave is to stop watching and engaging. I, for one, refuse to watch a Big-10 or SEC game. They are destroying sport, so I won’t watch them. Unfortunately, too many big12 or acc or other conference fans will watch.

I won’t blame any of you one bit if you abandoned college sports. You make excellent points about what each entity has the right ti do. For me, I enjoy watching the Utes so much that I’ll keep watching them, but that’s about it.

[Central Coast Ute]

The problem is it doesn’t matter if every fan outside of the B1G and SEC stop watching. If the networks cared, they wouldn’t be creating what college football has become.

[AlohaUte]

They are trying to create something that will get the maximum number of viewers. If casual fans and fans of teams outside those conferences stopped watching them, it would make an impact. But it won’t happen.

[EagleMountainUte]

I don’t really watch college sports beyond Utah. So most of the time it is me seeing highlights in social media or something.
I think that is the normal for most fans. I will watch games while waiting for Utah to come on and then maybe watch highlights to discuss things with my family or friends.
It certainly is what it is. I don’t see it getting better or getting fix. Clearly it is a lot like most sports the billionaires and millionaires are having little hobbies now. You see the success the Jazz have had with their new money.

College sports has always been unfair. It is self evident.

[Ute Squatch]

I think that there is a common misperception that the Jazz have more money to spend because Smith is a billionaire. They don’t. They still have the same salary limitations they’ve always have had. He can’t pay Jazz players more than the cap and he certainly doesn’t take it out of his own pocket. His families donations to BYU have no impact on the Jazz. I actually believe he isn’t involved in BYU NIL beyond his donation required to get his front row seats. His dad and brother? Yeah, I think they are very involved in BYU NIL in addition to a few more billionaires.
And I think the issue with Utah and NIL is that we have a lot of old rich doctors and lawyers that like sports enough to donate for great seats and to support the CC. And a $10k-$100k donation was awesome before NIL. That’s not competitive with millions young tech billionaires who are rabid BYU fans are donating without a second thought. I don’t see that changing for a long while. Even with some regulation of NIL next year they have more to spread around to an entire football team. I do expect us to catch up on basketball with new NIL oversight as long as we don’t crap the bed recruiting and results wise.

[EagleMountainUte]

The best players are smart with their money in the nba now. So these billionaires are connecting their players with ways to invest their funds. It goes beyond just what they are paid it is a new way of networking these guys.

[GameForAnyFuss]

For all those who are (rightly) fed up with NIL, the portal, and all the outside money ruining college sports, can I make a suggestion?

Start following one or more of the Olympic sports.

1. No NIL money, just scholarships. The way it used to be in football/basketball.
2. There’s a portal, but it’s being used for the right reasons. Not just to extract max revenue.
3. Players still play for the love of the game.
4. Players still play to represent their school.

Yeah, I know…none of the other sports are football, and football is the greatest sport ever. But which would you rather watch? The greatest sport ever that’s become completely corrupt? Or a “lesser” sport that’s still basically pure? I know what my choice is.

[Central Coast Ute]

I’ll probably just start watching the NFL. If college football eventually dies off, so be it.

[UteBacker]

Me too, Central. I’ve been shopping around for an NFL team to follow. I’m thinking the Raiders since I live in St. George, but I don’t know if I have the strength for that.

[Central Coast Ute]

The Raiders wouldn’t be a bad team for someone in St. George. But the Bills Mafia would gladly take you.

[Rick]

I just realized this weekend that I am more excited and supportive of the Utah Hockey Club than I am Utah Football. I am also a bigger fan of my favorite NFL team (Go Dolphins) than I am Utah Football. I never thought I would ever say these things but it is how I feel. NIL has NOT killed college football. The way it has been rolled out and completely mismanaged because everyone is afraid of lawsuits is what is killing college football. Until that get reversed it will only get worse. I actually feel closer to the players on my NFL team which is an almost 5 hour plane flight away than the college team 25 minutes from my house. I have almost zero affinity with any of the players on our starting roster other that Barton and the Fano brothers. I want us to do well, but if they don’t it is on to basketball which seems to be making strong progress with Alex.

[Author]

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