BYU NIL

[Red Rhino]

The majority of the NIL money coming into BYU is coming from a single person. I am friends with this person but I cannot say who it is. It is not Ryan Smith. Although this person has the means to make these payments, knowing this person, I doubt they will want to continue doing this year after year. This is the reality of NIL. You can buy a player or two, and perhaps change a season around, but when they move on to the NFL/NBA after one year, that is not a great return on investment. In addition, the donors will sour very quickly when a player they have paid top dollar for does not pan out. It would be seen as a tremendous waste of money, especially for people who may not want to continue forking out millions of dollars every year, while there are so many better causes in this world.

[Jackalope Joe]

I believe for BYU donors, this is the equivalent of a shiny new toy. They are in the Big 12, they are allowed to openly fork over money indiscriminately to buy players, and it is a fun thing to do right now. I personally think a lot of this is pent-up emotion from having watched Utah’s success in the PAC12. They want that for BYU and they are willing to pay.

I remember reading on a post somewhere that BYU has something like 7 active sports donors who all have net worths of 9 digits. I worry it may take a long time for them to run out of money if BYU does well on the national stage. Hopefully BYU football falls flat on its face this year and they lose all the momentum they have going.

[TheNuschler]

I’ve talked about this with my best friend, who went to Cal and his wife Stanford. Both institutions could be monsters with alumni, but they struggle with understanding the ROI. Other than just wanting to see your team win, you get nothing in return from an individual standpoint. At some point, like you said, it’s just too much money to give away if it doesn’t work out as planned. A lot of the people from Cal and Stanford, with the money to contribute, do have their eye on something other than distributing it to football. These schools in the South are different; it’s all they have. Their fan bases start tailgating on Wednesday afternoon in the SEC. That’s an unreal concept in places like Cal, Stanford, pretty much anywhere outside the South.

BYU does have the religion factor, which I feel plays to their advantage being a reflection of their religion. I agree with your points though, if it’s a single or small individual donor base, that won’t last because there truly is no ROI. Especially when they’re suspending college kids for doing college-aged activities.

[Tednab]

Thanks for the insights and different perspectives. Much appreciated

[TruckStopTerrors]

Thanks for sharing. We just have to hope that the ROI is so bad that these donors stop spending on their program.

[RoboUte]

Haha what a coincidence

[ProudUte]

It appears to me that BYU donors are focusing mostly on basketball. This makes sense because you don’t have to get as many star players. The one donor said, “We will not be outbid.” Utah is going to have a difficult time competing with this.

What will stop this BYU NIL money? More issues like Retlaff. The powers that control BYU will not like their school changing its core values. Most of the kids that the donors are buying do not share the LDS values. Mark my words, this will cause problems.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

If you’re winning and gaining national attention (McMahon era) that trumps values. If your losing (Crowton era) values matter. As long as BYU is winning the donors will continue their support.

Utahs success in football for the past 20+ years has been hard for BYU and their fans. As a long term (old) Utah football fan I know exactly how it feels. We played second fiddle for over 20 years in the 80s and 90’s.

BYU is once again in a position to rise to national attention and the fans and donors are stepping up to make it happen. No different than us when we got Urban and joined the Pac 12. The rivalry and quest to dominate the other school will create a good scenario for both schools at the cost of donors. It could turn in to a war of attrition. Donors are now in a position of power and also a position of we can’t win without you. A lot of pressure to keep spending more and more. Not sustainable.

[ProudUte]

I think you are right about the donors paying big money if they continue to win. However, what I was referring to are the folks in Salt Lake putting a stop to “pay for play” if they see the values of their flagship school changing. They will not tolerate BYU becoming a party school. Just my opinion.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

I agree proud Ute. My point is they turned a blind eye on the HC when McMahon was clearly breaking it. The HC violations are kept in house for a reason. The JR case was national news and therefore had to be enforced. If the lawsuit was not filed Jake would be the starting QB. You can’t tell me players don’t get caught occasionally having sex and it doesn’t get reported or they sweep it under the rug.

[ProudUte]

I don’t think the folks at South Temple turned a blind eye to JMac. I think Lavel and staff did everything they could to hide what he was doing until he played his final game for BYU. I believe that the leaders in SLC were told that everything is fine. They want to open their flagship university to non-members because they can be a positive influence on them. However, if they learn that the values of the school are changing, they will be quick to make changes.

There is a group at South Temple who believe that BYU should not participate in football because they believe it hurts the mission of the church.

[BeachUte]

It’s also a different time than 40+ years ago. Everything is online now. Decades ago, it was much easier to sweep that stuff under the rug. Today? It’s all out there – from photos to videos to DMs.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

Even 40 years ago I would see McMahon with a beer and wonder how he got away with it. LE could have got in big trouble had he got caught not reporting him to the HC. My wife attended BYU in that same time frame and she went to lots of parties with alcohol and drugs. Lots of football players. That was going on and she got turned in to the HC for a Levi’s label on her corduroy jacket. Figure that out!!

[Red Rhino]

What these players are asking for is not spare change. Let’s take a billionaire, for example. A billionaire only has 1000 million. I know that sounds like a lot, but AJ was 7 mill. That is almost 1% of a billionaires net worth. If it was a one time thing, it might be ok, but to have to make donations like that every year, as those players bomb, transfer, or make the jump to the pros will start to make major dents in their fortunes. An owner of a team like the Jazz is actually making money off their investment in players or at least breaking even. These NIL donations do not produce income for the donors, therefore emptying the pot and never giving back, except in terms of entertainment value.

[UteThunder]

Good point, but billionaires typically have more than just one billion dollars. And it’s not like their fortunes are just sitting stagnant. They continue to grow their wealth, whether it be from their business ventures, investments, or simply from accruing interest. Unless they are paying tens of millions of dollars in NIL each year, they aren’t going to be in danger of running out any time soon.

[NarfUte]

There are 8 billionaires in the state – 4 of them have ties to byu (Flat brim, his brother, his dad, and one of the two scumbags who run PACS [who are in hot water with the government]) with the crumbl guy not far behind. If they pooled their money to endow an NIL fund collectively of 500 million they could conceivably easily afford $20 million a year in NIL with a safe, easy 4% return without touching the endowment.

We have an alumn that just had a ~$3 billion exit, but they aren’t a sports fan. womp womp.

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