Ishbia to pay MSU FB/BB players $500/month
United Wholesale Mortgage billionaire Mat Ishbia is gonna give all MSU football and basketball players $500/month under the new NIL framework (freep article so feel free to find it yourself).
Honestly, if I was a recruit on the fence, that would sure help me choose. That's good beer money for a college student.
Not sure what the hold up is with Michigan on this.
September 8th, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
Where is Ross on this? Why do we constantly handicap ourselves. Let the players use the Block M and get some money. Another example of why I think they truly don't care about winning.
Now I have to switch mortgage companies
September 8th, 2021 at 9:01 AM ^
I thought there was a Michigan state law that prohibited athletes from using public school logos for personal NIL deals.
But yes, it would be nice if Warde could shake down some of our billionaire alumni to help with such NIL payments.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:01 AM ^
Once again it goes back to our ivy league president who really doesn't care about athletics and he just tolerates it. This is why there will be little, relative to our alumni base, etc., coming out of the Michigan money cannon.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:43 AM ^
^^^^^This right here. We have a president that tolerates sports.
September 8th, 2021 at 10:09 AM ^
edit: "we have a really good school and sports aren't the only thing that matters there"
September 8th, 2021 at 10:15 AM ^
Very true, but Michigan is also a school that has a very long and rich (no pun intended) sports tradition that should be respected as part of the fabric of the university as a whole.
September 8th, 2021 at 10:39 AM ^
and is also a school that resides in a city that relies on the tens (hundreds) of millions in revenue that the athletic department generates.
Just look to $50 golf course parking.
September 8th, 2021 at 12:14 PM ^
Golf course was $60 on Saturday, Pioneer was $70 for those who didn’t pre-purchase.
September 8th, 2021 at 2:48 PM ^
I love when people justify throwing more money at sports by citing the financial impact on the local community, which in case like this is negligible. It’s like 6 days and benefits maybe 100 people. A very Jerry Jones argument.
September 8th, 2021 at 10:21 AM ^
Getting a good education and being paid well are not mutually exclusive concepts. In fact, part of the argument for going to Michigan is that it will set you up well for the future....why not have "the future" start in college? There's no good reason to hold out on students.
We have to get off our high horse, especially now that NIL is legal.
September 8th, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
This 10000% You know who cares about how prestigious Michigans academics are? People that have a degree from Michigan. No one else does. It's silly that insiders can't see past that.
The point here is, if you're selling that going to Michigan as a student helps get you piles of money when you leave it's hypocritical to not embrace making piles of money to come play football here. Cognitive dissonance is pervasive at the UofM
September 8th, 2021 at 11:45 AM ^
Obviously you have never hired a person in your life...
September 8th, 2021 at 12:28 PM ^
True, but staying up in your ivory tower and essentially acting as if Michigan Football is only a “side institution” for the University when there is a legit argument that it might be the most marketable and known aspect of your University, it makes you look like a pompous and out of touch ass; which, from a distance, I believe Mark Schlissel is.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:49 AM ^
You know for a fact that Schlissel is actively blocking Boosters from offering NIL deals to athletes?
September 8th, 2021 at 10:58 AM ^
Let us use some deductive reasoning, we have the largest alumni base, he have a very large endowment - a reasonable indication that our alums can AND have given money, many big name donors for all sorts of endowed chairs / position both academically and athletically, we lead the nation in football attendance - people are willing to pay money to see our teams and players, great ratings from our football games, Nike / Jumpman brand, in the very top of apparel sales,
Given all this, and probably more things, where is the LARGE money cannon???
September 8th, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
Ask the people responsible for getting donations for the AD specifically. They have their own development office. Here's their contact info:
At a school like Michigan, the President is not getting involved in silly things like NIL when there is a staff dedicated to such endeavors which reports to the AD.
September 8th, 2021 at 1:55 PM ^
Well it is a university that was established to educate students. It wasn’t founded to win football games as sports should be secondary to education. Too bad people think we should care only about a sport and just throw stupid money at it to win a few more games a year
September 11th, 2021 at 1:11 PM ^
ok, if you're the president with his background (Phd/MD from Hopkins), and you saw the heathcare income at $4.8B and the athletic income at $200M, where would you focus your attention? Hint, not the $200M.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
I understand why the university won't let players use the block M, I don't have an issue with that. But it's clear that the university is putting in hurdles elsewhere that is making things harder
September 8th, 2021 at 10:50 AM ^
I don’t understand it. Universities have profited off the students intellectual property (NIL) for decades and in perpetuity until the O'Bannon decision. The students want to profit off the university logo and the university is like FU. The universities didn’t care about how this would negatively impact the athlete but now the athlete must take into consideration the negative economic impact wearing the school logo outside the sporting telecast? If they want to restrict the logo, pay the players like every other professional sports league.
September 8th, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
Well, in the old structure you had Universities and high end marketing firms profiting off the athletes. With this new model, we are asking 18-22 year old "kids" to use school licensing responsibly. I think that's the big difference.
September 9th, 2021 at 12:22 AM ^
So it’s fine for a university to restrict students earnings for their own personal profit but the students aren’t allowed to even slightly infringe on the earning potential of their intellectual property? Sounds like horse excrement to me.
September 8th, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
To clarify, all *men's* basketball players.
Also, looking forward to Dan Gilbert announcing that he's giving each player $501 per month.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:01 AM ^
duck...... 'ruffle some feathers' 'women's team'
women hate being referred to a chics.....
I'll show myself out
September 8th, 2021 at 10:23 AM ^
I'm pretty sure women love being referred to as chic
September 8th, 2021 at 9:00 AM ^
It's time to start an Mgoblog foundation...... $250/year membership fee, merch, a couple fundraisers a year....
Sponsor a Wolverine!
September 8th, 2021 at 9:11 AM ^
I was wondering when he would get into the mix. $500 a month is cool, but I highly doubt that's going to convince 4/5 star athletes to choose Sparty over other programs.
You would think that with a world class B-school and billions of donor money coming in, they could figure out a way to financially support the players.
September 8th, 2021 at 11:51 AM ^
but I highly doubt that's going to convince 4/5 star athletes to choose Sparty over other programs.
Yeah, missing some zeros... by way of comparison:
It cost a house for Reggie Bush.
$180,000 for Cam Newton.
$400,000 for Zion Williamson.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:15 AM ^
Now that United Wholesale Mortgage is the official sponsor of Sparty do Michigan fans boycott them?
September 8th, 2021 at 9:36 AM ^
If they give me the best rate, no. I'm not in the business of paying more money for no reason.
September 8th, 2021 at 11:07 AM ^
Obviously Ishibia is paying the players for a reason. The money makes it more attractive for recruits to go there. That's why I said if you're a "michigan fan" would you boycott. Some people don't mind paying extra for certain things or principles.
I'm just curious how some of these NIL deals will work out if competitive companies are sponsoring rival schools. Will fans start boycotting companies because of it.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:17 AM ^
This NIL situation is going to turn into a real shit-show! Recruits will go to the highest bidder with an openness that makes the old SMU scandal look like Pop Warner league shenanigans.
This unstructured NIL is just bad policy, and our fractious government is in no position to bring corrective measures with any kind of immediacy.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:31 AM ^
I was talking to a Div. II head coach a couple weeks ago, he said EXACTLY what you just said.
He said this is going to be a huge mess and its going to take years for them to dial the rules in, but the toothpaste is out of the tube and they will chase their tails trying to put some reasonable structure around it.
his words, not mine.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:46 AM ^
Hot take: This reminds me of many cryptocurrency and "DeFi" discussions.
Sure, there's a lot of bullshit in the air and very few rules, but that's no reason to stay on the sidelines. Is bitcoin overvalued at Time X? Possibly, but if you think you can sell it at a higher price at Time Y, go get some. Who cares about its long-term trajectory?
With NIL, I don't see a reason not to push ethical margins a little bit if regulation is still far away. There's real money (playoffs, TV, etc.) at stake.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:53 AM ^
What ethical margins are being pushed? Maybe there are some legal gray areas, but do people think it's ethically wrong for these kids to get paid
September 8th, 2021 at 12:23 PM ^
The athletes are bringing in a lot of money and should get part of the action. That being said, I think this is going to really change (not for the better) college football. I wish there was a way to keep some integrity but also get athletes some $, but I don't see it.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
What a world we live in, where people are going to sell their services to the place that puts the most value on said services and benefits them the most financially. For shame.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:56 AM ^
Would you view your daughter's virginity the same way?
Not everything should be subjected to the principles of laissez-faire capitalism.
September 8th, 2021 at 10:02 AM ^
If you're equating playing football with prostitution, I think you have bigger issues than NIL rules.
September 8th, 2021 at 10:24 AM ^
This is how they get you - first you take some innocent-seeming NIL money, then next thing you know you’re going down on people in public restrooms for crack.
WON’T ANYONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN
September 8th, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
If she's of age and all parties are willing participants, it's up to her whether you're comfortable with it or not.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
My first double post. Took me long enough
September 8th, 2021 at 9:55 AM ^
Recruits will go to the highest bidder with an openness that makes the old SMU scandal look like Pop Warner league shenanigans.
To which I say: GOOD. Someone offers you more money to do the same job, do you take it? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the culture, how well respected the company is, what your future prospects are, will it look good on your resume?
The biggest/best schools are going to get the best players. This just allows them to get paid what they're worth. What are they worth? Only the market can say.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:18 AM ^
It's comical to see people bitching about this...and wondering why we aren't shaking down our billionaires for more money.
Michigan has garnered more large donations than MSU...by a large margin. The Ross family has give $325 million. Taubman - $150 million. Zell - $150 million. Munger - $140 million. It goes on and on. Just use the Google Maching to look it up.
Michigan's endowment is $12.5 billion. MSU's? $3.4 billion.
By every metric, the Michigan AD is top-five/top-ten. Multiple teams in multiple sports are very competitive and/or winning championships on the regular. MSU's? Not so much.
Michigan is an elite university by every measure.
You don't like how the football team is performing? Put up your own $$...and stop spending everyone else's.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
I think you touched on something that many have ignored. Michigan's big donors give their money to causes they believe in. The business school, the hospital, the educational experience of traveling abroad. Our donors may not believe in paying student/athletes under the guise of NIL.
If I had that kind of money, NIL sponsorship would not be on my list of contributions.
September 8th, 2021 at 9:56 AM ^
Sounds like it's time to load the Michigan athlete money cannon. How much have Tom Brady, Charles Woodson, Juwan Howard, Desmond, et al made in their careers? I bet Derek Jeter might even be a good name to add to that list. Maybe some of these guys would be willing, if asked, to fund some sort of NIL program for their respective sports.
(Would Juwan be considered a coach, booster or alumnus in this situation?)
September 8th, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
Maybe we can start a gofundme for our billionaires.
September 8th, 2021 at 7:56 PM ^
Too late. They call it, "The United States Tax Code"