Monday: NIL & Schedule Notes

Well written! As a guy who remembers our SWC days, something changed when we ran off 6 straight Cotton Bowls in the late 60's & early 70's. No one really understood that the $$$ arms race had begun. After all why did the Big 12 start?

22 minutes ago, Bobby Burton said:

A little bit of NIL news from behind the scenes.

The Texas One Fund continues to put its best foot forward to raise NIL funds for Texas student-athletes.

I'm told the group is working on a major charity gala set for mid-May.

And the venue will be...

DKR. The actual field itself.

Chris Del Conte began reaching out to major donors late last week.

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Speaking of the One Fund, the group is beginning to attract the interest of a few companies for sponsorships, among them Benchmark Bank, Covert Auto Group and Ticket City. Hat tip to those companies for their sponsorships.

One Fund is doing a nice job of reaching out to multiple levels of fandom IMO.

Whether it's corporate sponsorships, tailgates at the Sugar Bowl like the one at Manning's (thanks Rick!), or cultivating large donors in unique ways like the gala mentioned above, it's nice to see all Texas fans pulling in one direction when it comes to creating better teams.

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At the town hall last week, Chris Del Conte was asked about whether or not he would be scheduling Big 12 opponents for football in the future.

Del Conte stopped short of saying no.

But he articulated the theory that it's unlikely the Horns will play any Big 12 teams unless those teams are willing to only play in DKR.

The Horns would be unlikely to play any home-and-home series with any Big 12 team. And therein lies the rub.

Texas won't be playing any Big 12 teams, unless it's in a bowl game or the CFP.

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His prerogative not to schedule Big 12 opponents should not be taken as a desire to lighten the non-conference schedule overall.

Del Conte is telling folks that the Horns should be playing the Ohio States, Michigans and Notre Dames in non-conference play moving forward and will look to schedule such teams well into the future.

 

So the Arizona State schedule for 2032-2033 will be canceled. 

 

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Great news on NIL. Bobby, do you believe the big money donors are coming around after seeing the success we just had on the field? It seems like up until very recently it was the smaller monthly donations of the common fan + a few larger donors carrying the water. CDC even seems more motivated on the NIL front than before.

No one asked me, but I'd be perfectly fine going forward if our "marquee" OOC game was more Arizona St or Colorado than Michigan or Ohio St. Plus two Rice and UTEP type games. If a typical SEC schedule is going to feature OU, Georgia, Florida, etc. 

The Big 12 made their bed w/ Texas.  Now they can lie in it.  

2 hours ago, Horn89 said:

Great news on NIL. Bobby, do you believe the big money donors are coming around after seeing the success we just had on the field? It seems like up until very recently it was the smaller monthly donations of the common fan + a few larger donors carrying the water. CDC even seems more motivated on the NIL front than before.

I think there are several factors at play.

First, winning helps. People like to contribute to winners  

Second, NIL is no longer “new”. We’re now a couple years in.

Three, I think your characterization of where Texas was and where Texas is going is accurate. Early adopters have helped Texas an immeasurable amount. Now One Fund is providing more ways for folks to get involved.

Seems better and have to play the game as it is now. But that can change on a dime with these court cases that are coming down soon. 

Have no doubt some type of revenue sharing is coming, and changes to NIL in the Tennessee case also. I appreciate the guys that run it because I know how hard it is. I give what I can. My friends will never give a dime however. They point to the new ESPN CFP $ that they think should pay players. As well as how much UT rakes in each year.

Doesn't matter that an Athletic Dept can't use that $ now, but eventually I see the rules changed and Athletic Depts will to able to fund NIL totally or partially at least. To go along with other forms of pay for play. We all know that is what is now ha! We shall see.

11 hours ago, Bobby Burton said:

I think there are several factors at play.

First, winning helps. People like to contribute to winners  

Second, NIL is no longer “new”. We’re now a couple years in.

Three, I think your characterization of where Texas was and where Texas is going is accurate. Early adopters have helped Texas an immeasurable amount. Now One Fund is providing more ways for folks to get involved.

This makes me think of something JWhitt said on 3rd and Longhorn the other day. He was saying something about the networking opportunities that are in Austin that just aren’t available in other college towns. Sounds like a good recruiting pitch to me. 
 

I’m assuming these larger corporations that have significant money to give are probably just now seeing the advertising opportunity NIL offers. 

I have a monthly donation set up to Texas One.

...but until things become more transparent, it's going to be difficult to get significant donations from people/businesses with real money (I don't have real money).