Billiken Victory Fund

[billiken_roy]

20 minutes ago, BC1764 said:

So don’t complain when the program doesn’t live up to expectations (again).

so you think my $100 would have gotten lebron's son to actually be a billiken.   got it.  

[Gremio14]

3 hours ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I live in Bogota my favorite team Millionarios FC biggest rival is Santa Fe FC they play in the same stadium.   I mean rivals like you can't walk by the Santa Fe corner of the stadium at a classico wearing blue without getting stabbed.

 

Agree with you for pro sports but not for College.  There are very few good or not so good rivalries between schools that aren't geographically close.

The secret to surviving the above, the Cali rivalry, Grenal, Boca - River, etc…….bring a grey pullover to put on after the game.  Saved my life more than a few times….

[RUBillsFan]

1 hour ago, billiken_roy said:

so you think my $100 would have gotten lebron's son to actually be a billiken.   got it.  

A collective isn't about your $100.  It is about a few thousand fans putting their $100 together to have an NIL pool of $300,000 to entice recruits that SLU is good choice.

You said earlier that your $100 does more good for the world going to Shriners which is obviously true.

Donating to an NIL collective isn't about doing good for the world.  Sure there is some ancillary good done because the NIL collective has to serve a charitable purpose to maintain 501c3 status.  However, if you are donating, it is likely because you enjoy Billiken basketball, you want the program to thrive, and you think the best way to help that is for your money to go directly to the players because they are most responsible for on court success.

[cheeseman]

17 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

A collective isn't about your $100.  It is about a few thousand fans putting their $100 together to have an NIL pool of $300,000 to entice recruits that SLU is good choice.

You said earlier that your $100 does more good for the world going to Shriners which is obviously true.

Donating to an NIL collective isn't about doing good for the world.  Sure there is some ancillary good done because the NIL collective has to serve a charitable purpose to maintain 501c3 status.  However, if you are donating, it is likely because you enjoy Billiken basketball, you want the program to thrive, and you think the best way to help that is for your money to go directly to the players because they are most responsible for on court success.

What you say is all true but the problem is do you really think there are a few 1000 who will donate to it?  How many members in the Billiken Club?  

[Billikenbooster]

Wifey and I already discussed it. We are in.

[Billiken Rich]

19 minutes ago, Billikenbooster said:

Wifey and I already discussed it. We are in.

Well you are.........Billikenbooster!

[rgbilliken]

I'd be willing to give on the order of $5-10 a month for this. I consider it more like me paying for the enjoyment I get out of slu basketball than a charitable donation. 

[Soderball]

3 minutes ago, rgbilliken said:

I'd be willing to give on the order of $5-10 a month for this. I consider it more like me paying for the enjoyment I get out of slu basketball than a charitable donation. 

if every fan put 10-20$ a month into this it would be a significant chunk of money.

 

The truth is that NIL makes more impact than the coach, facilities, or school.

 

billiken_roy lives in the past and has for a long time.

 

NIL is the reality of college basketball. It's pro sports. The players need to get paid.

[Soderball]

8 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i am not contributing to something that i believe is fundamentally corrupt, is an effort in futility as the big schools will blow our likely pittance out of the water, and will likely lead to the ncaa splitting division one into D1 and D1a due to the wide gap in competition i believe this pos program will lead to.  

i understand there is a belief we have to try to compete in it, but count me out.  my money will be much better served contributing to Shriner's Children Hospital general fund. 

This here spells it out. Roy; you need to find another sport then. Pretty much every one of your beloved players here is selling T shirts and other merch. This is Name, Image, Likeness.

Roy, players in the modern era do not come for school or degree recognition by billiken_roy-logic the Ivy League should be blasting Kansas out of the water every year. Players come to play basketball and hope to play for money after they leave. Now they will come to play for money right now. Collegiate athletics is about MONEY BABY

[JMM28]

5 hours ago, RUBillsFan said:

A collective isn't about your $100.  It is about a few thousand fans putting their $100 together to have an NIL pool of $300,000 to entice recruits that SLU is good choice.

You said earlier that your $100 does more good for the world going to Shriners which is obviously true.

Donating to an NIL collective isn't about doing good for the world.  Sure there is some ancillary good done because the NIL collective has to serve a charitable purpose to maintain 501c3 status.  However, if you are donating, it is likely because you enjoy Billiken basketball, you want the program to thrive, and you think the best way to help that is for your money to go directly to the players because they are most responsible for on court success.

Put this on a fuoking plaque and hang it up. Beautifully and concisely said. 

[SLU_Nick]

It seems like everyone is piling on Roy but I generally find myself in his camp.

I might contribute if I had any confidence that the NIL decision makers (or even Ford) have the wherewithal to know how to balance who gets paid what amount in a way that preserves team chemistry while still getting the best recruits and winning games.  

Right now team chemistry is about as bad as I’ve ever seen for the Billikens…I wonder if it has anything to do with Yuri getting a big bag of money to lure him back to SLU when he spurned us for the portal. Besides Yuri, Does the former preseason a-10 player of the year get the 2nd biggest NIL amount bc he looked like George Gervin 2 years ago…because now JP is probably our 8th best player.  

A little thought experiment: How much would the NIL fund have paid former 5 star recruit Cartere Gordon to come to SLU? Probably more than Bess and Isabell combined.  I wonder how that would have turned out for us.

I hope the NIL collective brain trust realizes the impossible nature of trying to value recruits against each other as it will only create animosity/jealousy between playes.  
 

For instance, look at the UNC Tarheels this year. Armando Bacot stayed for some ludicrous 7 figure NIL deal and they are about to miss the tournament with the same roster that was in the NCAA championship game last year.

The premise that big NIL deals = team wins is a notion that I reject outright. 
 

That said, I don’t have a better solution to offer given the current state of affairs in college basketball.  
I’m just overall annoyed in general.

The powers that be determined that the players should get paid….but not from the 90B dollars that is made from espn/cbs TV/Attendance…nah; let’s make the fans pony up more money so they can pay the players…and the corporate slime balls still continue to keep all the big money for themselves.  
 

it’s all just a racket and complete BS. I’m out on it like Roy. 

[billiken_roy]

10 hours ago, RUBillsFan said:

A collective isn't about your $100.  It is about a few thousand fans putting their $100 together to have an NIL pool of $300,000 to entice recruits that SLU is good choice.

You said earlier that your $100 does more good for the world going to Shriners which is obviously true.

Donating to an NIL collective isn't about doing good for the world.  Sure there is some ancillary good done because the NIL collective has to serve a charitable purpose to maintain 501c3 status.  However, if you are donating, it is likely because you enjoy Billiken basketball, you want the program to thrive, and you think the best way to help that is for your money to go directly to the players because they are most responsible for on court success.

i say the nil is doom to everyone beyond the bcs conferences.  us mid majors will never have the means to keep up with the big boys and no matter what the charms of the head coach can be, we are doomed.   basically the nil made what was considered major cheating in the past and tough to do legal and able to do on a large scale.   it is only a matter of time that this will separate the have's from the have not's and force D1 revenue sports to break into multiple divisions.  my $100 is only painfully contributing to a slow death spiral.  unless the big big boosters show up for the billikens and do it forever it is naive to believe us passionate but small time boosters can keep up. 

[dlarry]

3 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i say the nil is doom to everyone beyond the bcs conferences.  us mid majors will never have the means to keep up with the big boys and no matter what the charms of the head coach can be, we are doomed.   basically the nil made what was considered major cheating in the past and tough to do legal and able to do on a large scale.   it is only a matter of time that this will separate the have's from the have not's and force D1 revenue sports to break into multiple divisions.  my $100 is only painfully contributing to a slow death spiral.  unless the big big boosters show up for the billikens and do it forever it is naive to believe us passionate but small time boosters can keep up. 

Im not a big fan of it myself but I’m willing to jump on board.

I was really hoping the NIL was going to be athletes doing local commercials or autograph signings. Maybe getting a check from EA sports for using their name. I don’t like seeing the pay for play that it has turned into.
 

I’m worried about what his does to non state schools too.

The one thing that makes me feel a little better is knowing that the Billikens do not need to raise money for a football team.

I think so much money from P5 schools will be going to football that it kind of evens things out for non football schools.
 

Realistically the Bills only need to hand money bags over to 7 -8 players. 
If they can do that they can compete with the big boys.

A school like Minnesota needs to raise money for 70+ players when you take into account football.

Id be willing to drop small amounts into a fund monthly. 
Id also be willing to pay 5-10 bucks more a ticket if that money was promised to go to NIL.

[TheA_Bomb]

The big schools are the big schools because they have the most support and money.  The big schools were the big schools because they had the most support and money.   So in my view the only difference is that players now get a piece of all that money that was made by schools,  NCAA, TV, video games and shoe companies. 

I believe in laissez-faire economics the market will work itself out. Yes there will be pain but it's better than some entity (NCAA) making regulations with all kinds of unintended consequences. 

As for locker room chemistry.  That's always been a thing.  Players have never gotten equal playing time,  coach favoritism, fan/media attention.  Now $ is another consideration.  Just another thing to manage.  

Fears over a college sport changing are not enough to curtail a person's legal rights to earn a living.

Look at the positives, maybe a player doesn't jump to the G League or Europe for money. They stay in school and get their degree. 

The college sport equilibrium will worth itself out and Duke will still be Duke and East Tennessee State will still be East Tennessee State.

[TheChosenOne]

I tend to post and ghost. Put me in the camp of being glad a NIL fund has been put together (a year ago I was considering helping to put it together since it was such an obvious need), but having zero interest in giving to it. My wife and I pay about $1,000 per ticket with about half of that going for the cost of the ticket vs. a mandatory donation. Add in what we spend going to the games, we are spending decent money supporting the program as fans and alums of the school. I would be all for a % of any those expenses going to the players. I am all for players getting paid, but it’s not coming from me if the form it takes is direct additional contributions. The SEC is sending out $49.9 million checks to all of their programs, but they need their fans to contribute to pay the players? That doesn’t make any sense to me. So, put me on the list of those who will never consider giving $ to this collective. I just think of ways to spend my money and how low down that list paying 18-24 year old basketball players is.

[ACE]

17 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

The big schools are the big schools because they have the most support and money.  The big schools were the big schools because they had the most support and money.   So in my view the only difference is that players now get a piece of all that money that was made by schools,  NCAA, TV, video games and shoe companies. 

I believe in laissez-faire economics the market will work itself out. Yes there will be pain but it's better than some entity (NCAA) making regulations with all kinds of unintended consequences. 

As for locker room chemistry.  That's always been a thing.  Players have never gotten equal playing time,  coach favoritism, fan/media attention.  Now $ is another consideration.  Just another thing to manage.  

Fears over a college sport changing are not enough to curtail a person's legal rights to earn a living.

Look at the positives, maybe a player doesn't jump to the G League or Europe for money. They stay in school and get their degree. 

The college sport equilibrium will worth itself out and Duke will still be Duke and East Tennessee State will still be East Tennessee State.

I'm afraid Cinderella story Final Four type runs - Bulter, VCU, Loyola will be even more rare. I hope I'm wrong.

Also, I think it's no coincidence that as the era of NIL + transfer free agency starts kicking in, the A-10 is staring at being a one-bid league for the first time in more than 15 years.

[wgstl]

38 minutes ago, dlarry said:

Im not a big fan of it myself but I’m willing to jump on board.

I was really hoping the NIL was going to be athletes doing local commercials or autograph signings. Maybe getting a check from EA sports for using their name. I don’t like seeing the pay for play that it has turned into.
 

Exactly when the NCAA started NIL, it was so Little Jimmy could sell his autograph for $20 and not get in trouble. It was so a Booster could take them out to dinner without it being an issue.  Not so a QB could make a million to go to Tennessee 

[TheChosenOne]

Its just seems so weird. Why can’t they just give a % of season ticket dollars to the players? Again, I’m all for these guys getting paid, it is just not coming so directly from me. And I’m not buying clothing from a dude that said peace out to SLU and then came crawling back. Now, get yourself some chips and I’ll buy those when I’m at the store.

I just hate the form this has taken. Although, I also often wonder why an institution with a billion+ endowment and tuition of $50k needs folks to contribute for a locker room.

[Lord Elrond]

8 hours ago, SLU_Nick said:

It seems like everyone is piling on Roy but I generally find myself in his camp.

I might contribute if I had any confidence that the NIL decision makers (or even Ford) have the wherewithal to know how to balance who gets paid what amount in a way that preserves team chemistry while still getting the best recruits and winning games.  

Right now team chemistry is about as bad as I’ve ever seen for the Billikens…I wonder if it has anything to do with Yuri getting a big bag of money to lure him back to SLU when he spurned us for the portal. Besides Yuri, Does the former preseason a-10 player of the year get the 2nd biggest NIL amount bc he looked like George Gervin 2 years ago…because now JP is probably our 8th best player.  

A little thought experiment: How much would the NIL fund have paid former 5 star recruit Cartere Gordon to come to SLU? Probably more than Bess and Isabell combined.  I wonder how that would have turned out for us.

I hope the NIL collective brain trust realizes the impossible nature of trying to value recruits against each other as it will only create animosity/jealousy between playes.  
 

For instance, look at the UNC Tarheels this year. Armando Bacot stayed for some ludicrous 7 figure NIL deal and they are about to miss the tournament with the same roster that was in the NCAA championship game last year.

The premise that big NIL deals = team wins is a notion that I reject outright. 
 

That said, I don’t have a better solution to offer given the current state of affairs in college basketball.  
I’m just overall annoyed in general.

The powers that be determined that the players should get paid….but not from the 90B dollars that is made from espn/cbs TV/Attendance…nah; let’s make the fans pony up more money so they can pay the players…and the corporate slime balls still continue to keep all the big money for themselves.  
 

it’s all just a racket and complete BS. I’m out on it like Roy. 

There’s a lot of truth in this post. Big NIL spending does not guarantee a place in the tournament. However, what’s the alternative?  I would prefer a system where the players were paid a percentage of TV money and ticket receipt money myself, but that would mean far too many current people who profit off college football and basketball wouldn’t anymore, so that was a non-starter. I really question how many people will pay for season tickets AND pay for the merchandise players sell every year (different stuff for different players every year?) AND will pay money into a NIL collective every year. I guess we will find out.

[billiken_roy]

if the players are all getting paid, then how about all athletic scholarships are abolished?   they now got the money to pay their own tuition and housing.   

the truth is the toothpaste is now out of the tube and the purity of college sports, no matter how b.s. that actually was, is now really gone.   division III sports is looking better to me all the time.   maybe the almost move to DIII back in the 80's for the billikens was the right move afterall?  

i will continue to come and own my seats (for now) but i cant help but to have lost a lot of enthusiasm since this happening.  

[TheA_Bomb]

Take a step back from being a fan of sports.  Doesn't matter what the NCAA intended.  We're talking about regulating how people get paid for their services/work.  People can be paid for anything that is legal. To limit that arbitrarily because you play a sport is un-American and illegal per the SCOTUS.

Now you have the option whether to support this or not.  No one is forcing you. 

As for Final 4 runs by Cinderellas?  Who knows. I think this will go back to an equilibrium UNC basketball always had more support than George Mason basketball even when GM made that run.  So what's different now? Transfer portal?  OK seems to me the top 25 today looks about like it did the last fee decades. Mostly big schools traditional powers with a few smaller schools/non-traditional powers on the list. 

Lead, follow or get out of the way.

[wgstl]

32 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

if the players are all getting paid, then how about all athletic scholarships are abolished?   they now got the money to pay their own tuition and housing.   

I'd say 75% of college basketball players are not getting paid anything, or at least more than 5/10k. 

[Billiken Rich]

47 minutes ago, ACE said:

I'm afraid Cinderella story Final Four type runs - Bulter, VCU, Loyola will be even more rare. I hope I'm wrong.

Also, I think it's no coincidence that as the era of NIL + transfer free agency starts kicking in, the A-10 is staring at being a one-bid league for the first time in more than 15 years.

I still see a way forward as an A10 member.  A run to the final four for a school at SLUs level has been a once in a lifetime deal before now but it still is possible.  It's still early in the NIL/transfer portal era but, other than almost Yuri, we haven't lost a player to a power five conference school.  It's going to be harder to keep a four year stud that we took a chance on and developed from scratch but having a great recruiter for a coach makes us less likely to be burned.  It will be interesting to see what happens with Yuri and Jimerson next year......  

[wgstl]

As of right now, SLU is a beneficiary of the NIL. Remove football schools/G6, There are very few schools that can compete with SLU in booster money/NIL potential.  If we sit around and mope over this, schools will catch up and eventually pass us. I think this is exciting times for us as long as enough money is passed along. 

[RUBillsFan]

To those saying they would donate, but have no confidence in Ford or won't donate until Ford is fired:

Sure Ford benefits from the NIL collective while he is the SLU coach, but this NIL collective has very little to do with Ford.  Whoever is the coach will likely have some input (off the record) about how NIL collective funds are used, but they have no direct control over it.  A robust NIL collective would actually help attract in a good new coach who understands where the train is headed with regards to recruiting.  If you care about SLU basketball, but don't like Ford then donating to an NIL collective is about the best way to support the program without supporting Ford.