Ishbia/UWM Ending MSU NIL Program
Ishbia wants to avoid an "actual or perceived conflict of interest." The details are vague, but he/UWM were giving "up to $700 a month" to "more than 100" MSU athletes across sports. Not sure what percentage of their total NIL dollars this involves, but this certainly cannot help recruiting.
He could do both. Stephen Ross does it for Michigan and the Miami Dolphins, but I am not sure how involved he is in the NIL space. The Pegulas have done it with the Buffalo Bills and PSU hockey. PSU hockey does not exist with the Pegulas. These people have more than enough cash to burn.
I think one issue for Ishbia is he owns an NBA team and wants to primarily be involved with MSU basketball which might make a conflict of interest specifically with NIL when those MSU players become NBA players.
“As an owner of two professional sports teams, it was asked that Mat/UWM discontinue this NIL partnership to avoid any actual or perceived conflict of interest,” according to the letter, which does not specify the entity that asked for the termination of the deal.”
What would the conflict of interest be? Ishbia’s desire to have a winning football program and MSU’s decision to keep Mel Tucker on staff?
that’s my guess. Tucker is a horseshit coach and MSU is on a pretty big downward trend right now. pouring money into a losing proposition is not how billionaires became billionaires
Maybe the conflict of interest is between how much Ishbia had to pay for the Suns and his bank account balance
I guess MSU becoming a "farm-system" for his professional teams. Other schools thinking that the lure of a connection between MSU and those professional teams could give them an unfair advantage. Other owners thinking that NIL-ing MSU gives him more access to MSU players than other owners.
Who knows!
I do sort of understand this for the basketball teams. But why would he need to end the program for the football teams? It's not like a football player is going pro in basketball.
People have so little patience for the reasons for things. . . whatever that might be here. Gonna be construed as a blow to MSU, period.
For a minute there, thought Syracuse joined the B1G (Bert)
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We really need a Illinois/Syracuse Pinstripe Bowl this December (played in 15 degree weather, requiring 4 layers of clothing), simply for the TV visual.
Y'know how you can telll the difference?
The Syracuse blob has a little body tone.
My daughter was Otto!
Most will (reasonably) focus on Mel here, but HFS look at Bielema. He's huge.
He's gotta be over 3 bills.
Absolutely depending on height.
I am nowhere as gross as he is (not sharing pics) and I'm 285. He's gotta be pushing 325-330.
I’m only 5’11” and maxed out at 278 a number of years ago (down to a manageable 220 now and still shedding weight) and I never looked that big. I might even throw 350+ lbs on the board
He's less than 6'. I saw him at O'Hare many years ago.
The internet says he’s 6-2. He was on the defensive line when he played at Iowa, so I doubt he’s under 6’.
He went past 300 lbs like a mile marker on the highway
The size of his knee is extraordinary.
The crazy thing is that he wasn’t always huge like a lot of these guys. He was actually pretty slim when he started out at Wisconsin. The lifestyle of a head college coach has apparently not been kind to his physique.
This picture is from 2007, his 2nd year as Badger head coach. Yes, it's been 16 years, but this doesn't even look like the same dude.
He also has a penchant for wearing those pullover windbreakers (he also wears them in all temperatures, from 0 to 110). Those aren't doing him any favors either.
“He also has a penchant for wearing those pullover windbreakers”
They’re basically muumuus.
The crazy part: it actually looks like he lost some weight since last year. He looked much bigger on the sidelines in 2022.
Dude is building quite a front porch.
...this certainly cannot help recruiting.
While I totally agree, I'm not sure this will hurt their recruiting, either.
Well Fuck.
- meLLLLLLL
On the one hand, if we say this works out to about $500/mo. (the "up to" might be doing work here) that's $50k/mo., which is $600k, an objectively paltry total for a billionaire or his large company to fork over. But on the other hand UWM's stock is down to $5.18/share from around $10.18 two years ago today. And with interest rates the way they are that does have to hurt the mortgage industry because fewer people will be taking out loans. So it might just be a cost-cutting measure with the added PR of not looking like he's just funneling money to his alma mater while likely having to cut other corners.
But more generally, MSU's big "money cannon" always felt a like a flash in the pan, and so not a huge surprise it's drying up once their huge investment in the football team turned out to be a dud. That's the thing about these big deals - there's a finite amount of money from big donors when it comes to NIL + coaching salaries + other donations, and so if you take from one more than usual it'll cut into your budget for the others ones. Paying Tucker whatever amount they are (it's not the whole contract but it also isn't pennies) means they're going to have to pull back at times elsewhere.
$700 a month per kid, so nearly a million dollars annually? Not an insignificant sum to flush down the drain.
It says in the article it's up to $700/mo for members of the football, volleyball, and men's BB teams to post on social media. So there may be some wiggle room, and regardless that money (I assume) comes from UWM and not Matt Ishbia being promoted by name on a guy's Instagram account. Regardless, I do assume that this is a cost-cutting measure more than anything else, and claiming any concerns about perception or bias is just a smoke screen.
ishbia, seen here leaving the MSU NIL office....
whoa, wonder how those pilots fared, yikes.
#Tuckleavin
Got to conserve cash for the eventual buyout.
Jokic must have knocked some sense into Ishbia.
Sparty, No!
ah, that felt good!
For a dude who makes his living hustling home mortgages, right now is probably not a good time to piss away money on Moo sports.
ESH/WOMBG ending GHR FUK program too
Ya hate to see it.
Also, coming from the real estate industry, mortgage companies big and small are cutting back on their spending. The market is not "crashing", there are simply fewer transactions happening, therefore fewer loans being originated, which is where they get their short term revenue.
Gotta count his pennies to make those MeLLLLLLL payments.
Tuck stayin'!!!!😁😄😄😄😄
Hilarious. The Spartan fans I know practically worshipped this guy and thought he was going to buy them all sorts of good players and put then above Michigan. "Why does everyone make fun of Tucker's contract! Ishbia will just pay the buyout if needed!" LOL
Where is the “conflict of interest” with football and volleyball? Michael Jordan is co-owner of an NBA team and his sneaker brand gives NIL deals to basketball players. It sounds like Mat Ishbia simply wants to cut bait.