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What I think that may be ignoring is that it's not 100 millionaires giving $300K each.

It's 100 millionaires giving $300K each EVERY YEAR.

$20-30M/year are annual numbers.

How sustainable is this, really?

I get it.  The point I was flailing about trying to make was that I don't get the hook for the say $200k/yr donor.  

I don't know what it is now but you used to have to give about $2k/yr for the right to buy season tickets to tOSU games.  The hook there is obvious.  If I want to buy season tickets I have to give $2k THEN buy the tickets.  

I think the hook for a Knight/Cuban is some control and a sense of ownership.  They basically own those programs.  

The hook for someone in between is what I don't get.  If I gave say $200k/yr to tOSU it isn't like I'd be in control.  That is a lot of money but if Ohio State's NIL is $20-30M then my $200k would only be 0.6 - 1.0%.  

I get it.  The point I was flailing about trying to make was that I don't get the hook for the say $200k/yr donor. 

I don't know what it is now but you used to have to give about $2k/yr for the right to buy season tickets to tOSU games.  The hook there is obvious.  If I want to buy season tickets I have to give $2k THEN buy the tickets. 

I think the hook for a Knight/Cuban is some control and a sense of ownership.  They basically own those programs. 

The hook for someone in between is what I don't get.  If I gave say $200k/yr to tOSU it isn't like I'd be in control.  That is a lot of money but if Ohio State's NIL is $20-30M then my $200k would only be 0.6 - 1.0%. 

it's the same hook - season tickets - pure fanatic
That hasn't changed - just the elevated price

I get it.  The point I was flailing about trying to make was that I don't get the hook for the say $200k/yr donor. 

I don't know what it is now but you used to have to give about $2k/yr for the right to buy season tickets to tOSU games.  The hook there is obvious.  If I want to buy season tickets I have to give $2k THEN buy the tickets. 

I think the hook for a Knight/Cuban is some control and a sense of ownership.  They basically own those programs. 

The hook for someone in between is what I don't get.  If I gave say $200k/yr to tOSU it isn't like I'd be in control.  That is a lot of money but if Ohio State's NIL is $20-30M then my $200k would only be 0.6 - 1.0%. 

Understood. However remember that we're talking about some different things...

• Revenue sharing for players comes out of the school's budget, and is capped uniformly across all schools.
• NIL comes from private parties (whether actual endorsements, or commonly NIL collectives now) which are supposed to be arms-length transactions from the school's perspective

When you pay $2K for a seat license to OSU, that money goes into the AD's revenue and can't be used for NIL. However what you're getting for it is the seat license for one of the things you really want... Namely season tickets. 


With large donations to the athletic budget, you may not get control, but often you might get "perks" from the school. Not being someone who does it, I don't know what those perks are. But I'm guessing someone giving even $200K/year is given the red carpet treatment by the athletic dept at every opportunity. Its not control, but it's prestige. 

What sort of "perks" can you get from donating instead to an NIL collective? I'm not sure... I don't know if it would even be legal/appropriate for the school itself to treat you the same way they would a donor, because NIL collectives are supposed to be arms-length and not actually controlled/directed by the school. 

Good leadership can convince the people with the $200K to spend that by spending it on the athletic department they are a part of something important. The world round, fundraisers play this game. The good ones can make those folks believe. That's all you need. 

This is absolutely true.  It doesn't matter if you are fundraising for your school's NIL, for your local candidate for Council, for a national candidate, for a civic organization, or anything else.  

That sounds like I'm against such things--I'm not. We all make choices about how to spend our money, and while I don't think I would be that person (supporting the fund to pay student athletes), I won't take a huge moral stand against it. Our market economy depends on people making lots of different choices.

That is fair.  I guess if whoever leads Ohio State's NIL Collective can convince 200 guys that giving an extra $50k each will win us an NC . . . we'll have an extra $10M in our NIL and that may well lead us to an NC.  

Talk to Mark Cuban or the Texas Oilmen, that state had 2 teams in and the Horns had an arguement to be