The BVF Returns - Pay $250 to watch a sub .500 team practice

[HoosierPal]

Most of the posts in this thread discuss the BVL.  For smaller donors, the Billiken Exchange might be more in line with your finances.  For a small NIL donation, you can get a player of your choice to give you a social media mention, autograph an article of your choice, and among other things, make an appearance at your event.  I'm sure you can 'contribute' as much as you want above a minimum figure. 

What I don't know is the reach of the Exchange beyond current players.  Can prospects be lured onto Team Blue through some creative NIL ventures through the Exchange? 

You can slip any player a few Ben Franklin's for a five minute video, if it is your desire.  Can you do the same (next summer) to Connor Turnbull if/once he enters the portal? 

I believe you can also get creative in your proposal to the player, stretching "NIL" a far as your conscience allows.

I am not advocating one over the other; simply mentioning there are options that may fit your personal agenda and financial situation.

[cgeldmacher]

On 10/14/2023 at 9:26 AM, thetorch said:

So the BVF gets a pass because they are volunteers.  MMP, who are also volunteers, need to step up and do more and be less critical.

Fans like you are the reason we have 1 NCAA berth in going on 10 years.  

 

 

So, I guess you wrote a big check to the BVF?  How much did you give?

[thetorch]

7 hours ago, cgeldmacher said:

So, I guess you wrote a big check to the BVF?  How much did you give?

Don't know how my personal giving ties into the argument.  Unfortunately, I gave my money to the Billiken Club this year.  If BVF had gotten off of life support sooner than last week, they'd have my money instead as I already stated.

This will be my 23rd year of season tickets along with yearly donations.  Can you even come close to that?  Unlikely.  I've earned my right to *****.

 

[majerus mojo]

Surely at least one MBM attended this event 

[thetorch]

44 minutes ago, majerus mojo said:

Surely at least one MBM attended this event 

From the pics online maybe not. Only a handful showed up.

[Billikenswin]

1 hour ago, thetorch said:

From the pics online maybe not. Only a handful showed up.

Not true. There were about 40 people there. 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

3 hours ago, Billikenswin said:

Not true. There were about 40 people there. 

I mean, for an arena, is 40 not a handful? Both things can be true.

[billikenfan05]

5 hours ago, thetorch said:

From the pics online maybe not. Only a handful showed up.

That's the idea though. It's supposed to be an intimate opportunity. That's the allure of paying $250.

[Lord Elrond]

At $250 each, you weren’t going to fill up Chaifetz, it was billed as an intimate event, 40 I would consider as intimate, 40 x $250 = $10,000, I don’t think the BVF posted what number of people they actually expected, but it sounds like it met expectations. If anyone attended and wants to post what they thought about it, or attended and has suggestions for how to improve it, I’d like to hear them.

[TheChosenOne]

No need to post anything negative about the event since this is the sort of thing I am happy to see them doing. Plus, practice and some form of meet and greet with drinks and appetizers for $250 to me is a solid event and deal. My only recommendation would be sending out the invitations with a bit more lead time before the event. I think I spent about half of that ordering Luther Burden chips, so if anyone wants a bag we can arrange a meet up.

[TheA_Bomb]

I think $10,000 is a #170 ish ranked HS player or maybe a strong defensive JUCO PF/C.

So that's good.  Just my estimate. If 40 paid that's possibly 40 more donors than they had before.

[billikenfan05]

20 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I think $10,000 is a #170 ish ranked HS player or maybe a strong defensive JUCO PF/C.

So that's good.  Just my estimate. If 40 paid that's possibly 40 more donors than they had before.

Yeah, you get that initial 10k and you get a chance to make your pitch to a captive audience of a couple handfuls of new people 

[TheChosenOne]

13 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I think $10,000 is a #170 ish ranked HS player or maybe a strong defensive JUCO PF/C.

So that's good.  Just my estimate. If 40 paid that's possibly 40 more donors than they had before.

I'd be curious of that 40 how many were new donors, but the point remains and is why many on here were happy to see this event being offered. I follow college football/basketball way too closely and find myself wanting to know the "pay scale" so badly. With just 13 scholarship players it wouldn't seem like the most difficult task for a school without big time college football to be competitive in NIL, but I say that merely as a fan posting on a message board.

[thetorch]

Sorry my post was construed as negative.

The board conversation prior to the event had 100 people attending with $25k raised. Don't know if that was just a consensus estimate or a hoped for number.

I'm here to be honest.

The pics online showed me a room that was filled mostly with people already connected and in many cases working for the program. I was in most cases not counting those people as attendees.

They took picture of the room with Coach Ford speaking. I count 25 people at tables and 1 person standing up. That is counting Chris May, Janet, and other staffers. Where are the other people? 

Board estimates had us raising 25k at this. I'd say its closer to 5k. I just want to be accurate. If they do more of these with some planning and more lead time, I'll be there.

[3star_recruit]

29 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

I'd be curious of that 40 how many were new donors, but the point remains and is why many on here were happy to see this event being offered. I follow college football/basketball way too closely and find myself wanting to know the "pay scale" so badly. With just 13 scholarship players it wouldn't seem like the most difficult task for a school without big time college football to be competitive in NIL, but I say that merely as a fan posting on a message board.

The big schools have 500K to give to a top tier starter.  100K to give to a role player.  For us, 50K for a player is a lot of money.  We can be competitive in NIL, but only with schools that have a similar budget.  And if a player becomes a star, we have no ability to match the offers he'll get in free agency.  You just hope he chooses loyalty over money.

[billikenfan05]

13 minutes ago, thetorch said:

Sorry my post was construed as negative.

The board conversation prior to the event had 100 people attending with $25k raised. Don't know if that was just a consensus estimate or a hoped for number.

I'm here to be honest.

The pics online showed me a room that was filled mostly with people already connected and in many cases working for the program. I was in most cases not counting those people as attendees.

They took picture of the room with Coach Ford speaking. I count 25 people at tables and 1 person standing up. That is counting Chris May, Janet, and other staffers. Where are the other people? 

Board estimates had us raising 25k at this. I'd say its closer to 5k. I just want to be accurate. If they do more of these with some planning and more lead time, I'll be there.

Dude. The allure of this specific event is that it is exclusive. If money wasn't an object, I would rather pay $250 to be one of 40 in a room than $100 to be 1 of 150. Who cares if they are embellishing about what they made? I say GOOD! Selling the BVF is as much about selling "everyone is doing it" as much as it is the idea of supporting Billiken Basketball. This is a fine start, now they need to find other types of events to get that $100 a pop, $50 a pop, $25 a pop, etc etc. 

[brianstl]

7 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

The big schools have 500K to give to a top tier starter.  100K to give to a role player.  For us, 50K for a player is a lot of money.  We can be competitive in NIL, but only with schools that have a similar budget.  And if a player becomes a star, we have no ability to match the offers he'll get in free agency.  You just hope he chooses loyalty over money.

Which is why BVF has to expand the donor base in ways that aren't traditional for SLU.  Waiting until less than a week before this event to let the vast majority of the program's fans know this event was even happening and only doing it because ticket sales were disappointing among the current clique they have is not the way to expand that donor base. 

The goal can't be competing on a shoestring budget.  That is setting the program up for failure.  You have to work aggressively to expand that budget by exploiting every potential source of revenue.  SLU isn't the Harvard of the Midwest.  It isn't even the Harvard of St. Louis.  In too many cases it acts like it is both those things.

[TheChosenOne]

1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said:

This is a fine start, now they need to find other types of events to get that $100 a pop, $50 a pop, $25 a pop, etc etc. 

They need '05 hosting an event at Humphrey's shooting the crap with his buddies/former players after a few man sodas. I will pick up the bar tab, '05 is the host, so we just need some talent. I am volunteering you for this '05 and realize the BVF would likely distance itself from some idiot like me, but this would be gold for those of us who support the program in a less formal way.

[TheA_Bomb]

After imagery analysis of the photo posted, I'm agreeing with Torch.  That is a low turn out. I'm not sure we can get an effective towel boy. But maybe there were about 20 others off camera.  Or these people donated more than the minimum $250.

[3star_recruit]

7 minutes ago, brianstl said:

Which is why BVF has to expand the donor base in ways that aren't traditional for SLU.  Waiting until less than a week before this event to let the vast majority of the program's fans know this event was even happening and only doing it because ticket sales were disappointing among the current clique they have is not the way to expand that donor base. 

The goal can't be competing on a shoestring budget.  That is setting the program up for failure.  You have to work aggressively to expand that budget by exploiting every potential source of revenue.  SLU isn't the Harvard of the Midwest.  It isn't even the Harvard of St. Louis.  In too many cases it acts like it is both those things.

Expand it to what?  Where are these non-traditional high net worth individuals that love SLU basketball but aren't giving to the local basketball program?

[billikenfan05]

3 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Expand it to what?  Where are these non-traditional high net worth individuals that love SLU basketball but aren't giving to the local basketball program?

The answer to this has probably been beaten to death in this thread. You have to heavily supplement the big donor events with lower admission higher attendance events in the alumni hubs like STL, Chicago, Dallas, Milwaukee. 

[willie]

2 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Expand it to what?  Where are these non-traditional high net worth individuals that love SLU basketball but aren't giving to the local basketball program?

Timeing is a problem with some of this. Larger program donors have just completed pledges to the Champion Center. Annual Billiken Club gifts. While I applaud  trying to broaden the base success will be determined at the top. Can you convince someone who has already given big money to give more? That or find new backers. 

[wgstl]

Time to start a BVF golf tournament. 

[billikenfan05]

3 minutes ago, willie said:

Timeing is a problem with some of this. Larger program donors have just completed pledges to the Champion Center. Annual Billiken Club gifts. While I applaud  trying to broaden the base success will be determined at the top. Can you convince someone who has already given big money to give more? That or find new backers. 

I feel like Billy Beane at the scouts table here. What are we talking about? Why sit here and talk about how difficult it is to double dip with big donors. The focus needs to be on getting small donations from a lot of people.  The BVF can certainly see what they can pull from big donors but we’re not going to hang with the big dogs playing the way they do. 

[billikenfan05]

Just now, wgstl said:

Time to start a BVF golf tournament. 

And pickleball tournament, and poker tournament, and game watch parties, and live events such as @TheChosenOnesuggested.