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

[slufan13]

6 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Do you truly believe the university itself is funding that salary without donor support?  I don’t.  Unfortunately you have hit upon one true fact about SLU athletics, they don’t show us the books. But I have heard enough about how the big money donors are paying his salary to think thats how it works.  I would like to see proof that I am wrong.  And money coming from donors is not money coming from the university.

Right. Sure Chaifetz isn't cutting Ford a check. He's likely not even giving money and telling May to use this to pay Ford. But if Chaifetz and others cut their donations by 10%, I am guaranteeing that we would in the market for less expensive coaches. It's like SLU Athletics is churning out some huge profit year after year and they could afford to take some of that profit and cover for a decrease in donations

[3star_recruit]

1 minute ago, willie said:

I don't know. Just because Rick was paid by Tony Novelli under Biondi doesn't mean someone else is paying Ford. If someone has first hand knowledge I would love to see it. One of my biggest ******* about this board is someone says something without proof and it becomes gospel. 

And even if a whale or two is paying some of Coach Ford's salary, that doesn't mean they're willing to switch that funding to players.  Coach Ford's tenure will eventually end.   Those whales are under no obligation to help pay for another coach.  The need to pay players is never-ending.

[Lord Elrond]

14 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

And even if a whale or two is paying some of Coach Ford's salary, that doesn't mean they're willing to switch that funding to players.  Coach Ford's tenure will eventually end.   Those whales are under no obligation to help pay for another coach.  The need to pay players is never-ending.

All very true. But if this is true, then getting the funding by the big whales shifted from supporting part of a coaches salary routed through the Athletic Department to go to the NIL for the players directly, not going through the University, but through the NIL so Title IX and equal pay issues don’t even apply, is the single most logical way we find the money for NIL for players.

And if it means shifting money from donations to the university for capital projects directly to NIL, then that’s what needs to happen. 

[willie]

3 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

All very true. But if this is true, then getting the funding by the big whales shifted from supporting part of a coaches salary routed through the Athletic Department to go to the NIL for the players directly, not going through the University, but through the NIL so Title IX and equal pay issues don’t even apply, is the single most logical way we find the money for NIL for players.

You have a lot of assumptions in there. 

[TheA_Bomb]

All of the above is necessary to maximize NIL Funds.

Of course we need the whales and we need the hoi polloi as well.

Not sure how many of you subscribe to podcasts or other content creators online.  Many of them have Patreon and tiered giving. People pay for something they feel is exclusive, being in the know and a part of something. 

Applying this to the BVF: You're a whale giving to BVF you get in person small group events where you get insider info direct from the source, you get a phone call/text with some interesting tid-bits from the BVF board member. You are part of the thousands you get to be on an occasional Zoom call with a player, you get an email with some insider information.

For sure the BVF needs someone versed in fundraising and someone good at online marketing (SEO, social media).  There are organizations that can do that on a contract basis. So it could be out-sourced.

[HoosierPal]

3 hours ago, Cowboy II said:

-if 100 people on here give $20 a month in a year that's $24,000 new to BVF

 

I would give the extra $20 per month to my church. 

[SluSignGuy]

In a small NIL idea...Convert the 50/50 raffle to be for the Billiken Victory Fund.  The have the AD pay lost money for the cheerleaders.

[TheA_Bomb]

3 minutes ago, willie said:

You have a lot of assumptions in there. 

You want facts hit up Encyclopedia Britannica.  We make assumptions for the sake of discussion.  Some are wild speculation and some are likely.  I think it is likely that a big donor helps pay Ford's salary.  

Here are some facts:

Ford is overpaid relative to results

AD receives donations from boosters

Money is fungible unless specifically earmarked by the donor

Less salary to a coach would mean more money to something else

Speculation:

$1.5mil paid to a Coach Blake Ahearn would leave about $1mil that could go somewhere else.  Maybe that is overseas recruiting to avoid NIL battles, maybe that is better staff to develop diamonds in the rough, maybe that is diverted to BVF for players. It is a reasonable argument.

[brianstl]

1 minute ago, SluSignGuy said:

In a small NIL idea...Convert the 50/50 raffle to be for the Billiken Victory Fund.  The have the AD pay lost money for the cheerleaders.

This is a great idea.

[willie]

4 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

You want facts hit up Encyclopedia Britannica.  We make assumptions for the sake of discussion.  Some are wild speculation and some are likely.  I think it is likely that a big donor helps pay Ford's salary.  

Here are some facts:

Ford is overpaid relative to results

AD receives donations from boosters

Money is fungible unless specifically earmarked by the donor

Less salary to a coach would mean more money to something else

Speculation:

$1.5mil paid to a Coach Blake Ahearn would leave about $1mil that could go somewhere else.  Maybe that is overseas recruiting to avoid NIL battles, maybe that is better staff to develop diamonds in the rough, maybe that is diverted to BVF for players. It is a reasonable argument.

What's an Enclyclopedia? I agree the AD receives money from boosters. Yes part of that money could go to the NIL. This all goes back to my original point that for this thing to be succesfull in the short run you need larger money from bigger boosters or local companies. See Luther Burdens potato chips. Maybe TJ can do adds for Great Clips. 

[thetorch]

4 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

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. 

Several posters on this board said 100 people at 250 a pop would be a good turnout.  Some of the posters who had "inside" knowledge of the working of the BVF said that was the expected haul.  That obviously didn't happen.  

There were only a handful of people there.

The BOT President disagreed saying there was 40. Fine.

Is 40 good?  No it isn't.

The powers that be are satisfied with that number and run with it how do we get better?  

What is the impetus for them doing more events?

I look at that picture and say JFC they need my help. I'm going to figure out a way to help them.  I expected 100 people at this thing.  If I knew there were only about 12 real donors their, I would have shown up with a few people.  THe BVF put out a post saying only a few spots left, get them while you can.  I was pumped.  Obviously now that was total BS.  They had plenty of room for more people.

If the BOT President says we are doing just fine, most people will say good, they must not need my contributions.  If BVF says they are almost full, then most people won't show up.

 

[Cowboy II]

40 minutes ago, SluSignGuy said:

In a small NIL idea...Convert the 50/50 raffle to be for the Billiken Victory Fund.  The have the AD pay lost money for the cheerleaders.

 

38 minutes ago, brianstl said:

This is a great idea.

-the only part of this idea I like is imagining SVU fans buying tickets

[Cowboy II]

45 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

I would give the extra $20 per month to my church. 

-The Billiken Club?

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, willie said:

Unless the rules have changed the university itself can not fund the NIL. I know this board believes outsiders are paying part of his salary but we don't know that is a fact. 

willie i doubt the university is paying all if any of ford's salary and i suspect a whale is footing the bill or at least a sizeable portion of it.   so that whale would free up money they had been spending on salary to participate in NIL money to a greater degree if i am correct.

 

[billiken_roy]

45 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

I would give the extra $20 per month to my church. 

my donations only go to Shriner's Children's hospital.   I am definitely not donating money to the Billikens at this time.   i swore i wouldnt give money to Saint Louis University until pesky, stormy and krafty were all no longer a part of the university.   as far as i know they all are still at SLU

[TheChosenOne]

28 minutes ago, thetorch said:

If the BOT President says we are doing just fine, most people will say good, they must not need my contributions.  If BVF says they are almost full, then most people won't show up.

What did the BOT President say about the BVF? I would absolutely love it if he was on this site hahaha. I am confident that the current Chair used to yell at me when I worked the clock at games despite lacking the knowledge that the officials control the clock. If you are reading this, I didn't get the chance to say it then, but screw off dork.

[willie]

3 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

willie i doubt the university is paying all if any of ford's salary and i suspect a whale is footing the bill or at least a sizeable portion of it.   so that whale would free up money they had been spending on salary to participate in NIL money to a greater degree if i am correct.

 

Roy I don't know if you are correct or not. Why are you confident. I do agree that part of a contribution to the university could help pay salaries but how do you know that money could go to the NIL. 

[Lord Elrond]

52 minutes ago, willie said:

You have a lot of assumptions in there. 

Fair enough, and if I am wrong and the University is paying the entire salary of Travis Ford, then you get rid of Ford, hire a new coach at $500k to $1mil per year, take the rest of the money and stick it in your capital improvement budget, and tell the donors if they want to help, donate to NIL. I don’t see how we get to where we need to get to without fundamentally changing how we spend the money coming in and making sure it gets pushed to NIL. Every suggestion that everyone has for bringing in additional money is great, try all of them and double down on the ones that work. But I don’t think you get where we need to be with only finding new money.

[billiken_roy]

7 minutes ago, willie said:

Roy I don't know if you are correct or not. Why are you confident. I do agree that part of a contribution to the university could help pay salaries but how do you know that money could go to the NIL. 

the whale isnt an employee and he/she has a business that could benefit from NiL work.

[BILLS324]

56 minutes ago, thetorch said:

Several posters on this board said 100 people at 250 a pop would be a good turnout.  Some of the posters who had "inside" knowledge of the working of the BVF said that was the expected haul.  That obviously didn't happen.  

There were only a handful of people there.

The BOT President disagreed saying there was 40. Fine.

Is 40 good?  No it isn't.

The powers that be are satisfied with that number and run with it how do we get better?  

What is the impetus for them doing more events?

I look at that picture and say JFC they need my help. I'm going to figure out a way to help them.  I expected 100 people at this thing.  If I knew there were only about 12 real donors their, I would have shown up with a few people.  THe BVF put out a post saying only a few spots left, get them while you can.  I was pumped.  Obviously now that was total BS.  They had plenty of room for more people.

If the BOT President says we are doing just fine, most people will say good, they must not need my contributions.  If BVF says they are almost full, then most people won't show up.

 

Who showed up and who paid can be two different things.

[Billikenswin]

On 10/20/2023 at 9:02 AM, 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.

Not that it really matters because you have an obvious need to have there be only few people at this event but there were tables with people sitting to the right and behind this photographer who would not be in the picture 

[thetorch]

28 minutes ago, Billikenswin said:

Not that it really matters because you have an obvious need to have there be only few people at this event but there were tables with people sitting to the right and behind this photographer who would not be in the picture 

JFC Resign from the Board of Trustees. Pronto.

I was in that room yesterday. It isn't set up like that. 

You are telling me that you set up this room full of people and had the podium and the viewscreen set up on only one side of the room and despite their being by my count 30 unused chairs and complete tables without people, that half the attendees chose to sit on the side of the room where they cannot see or hear the presentation?

Total BS.

I talked to many fans at the open practice last night who wanted to go the event but weren't given notice or like me thought it was full. 

 

[SLU_Nick]

If the BVF wanted to be effective, they would find out who in the NCAA decides if Ezeriro is eligible and funnel all available BVF funds to that person’s savings account.