Michigan opens NIL exchange
Michigan has just announced that the VICTORS exchange platform is now open to the public. From the announcement:
“The VICTORS Local Exchange is a student-athlete NIL business registry, custom-designed for businesses, donors, alumni and other interested NIL dollars wishing to connect specifically with student-athletes at the University of Michigan. Registered companies can search, filter and initiate conversations with your student-athletes to discuss an NIL deal. Once the NIL deal between a registered business and student-athlete(s) is completed, the business will use the VICTORS Exchange to create a transaction that directly pays the student-athlete (without any transaction fee) and automate a disclosure to the INFLCR Verified Compliance Ledger.”
Link here: https://mgoblue.com/news/2022/2/9/general-michigan-opens-victors-exchange-platform-to-public.aspx
February 9th, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
This is great, but they kinda buried the best part at the bottom:
Components of the Michigan VICTORS Program
Education & Personal Branding
• Name, Image and Likeness Education and Updates
• Contract Law Basics
• Agent and Representative Education
• Personal Finance and Tax Law
• Investing and Resource Management
• Business Formation
• Social Media and Personal Marketing Education
• Data Analytics
• Branding Strategies
So great. Using the opportunities to educate the athletes on all of the things they're potentially being offered, how it could impact their future, how to manage the money they make, etc. is huge.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:37 AM ^
This should be front and center...was really hoping to see this element. Reward and educate..invest and prosper.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
Agreed! We do very little to educate people about how to manage money and the complexities that surround it. And by very little I mean nothing. It is about as fundamental a life skill as there is and we wonder why so many get into such trouble with it.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
Cool!
February 9th, 2022 at 10:13 AM ^
Just as the university presidents envisioned when varsity sports began at the schools, I'm sure.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:22 AM ^
You seem lonely rn....
February 9th, 2022 at 10:59 AM ^
At work now, so... maybe? Going out with the wife tonight though.
February 9th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
Knish on the menu?
February 9th, 2022 at 3:30 PM ^
Well, I'm not going out with someone else's wife... so maybe not? I suppose I should ask Mark for some advice.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:22 AM ^
Originalism is for the birds.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:31 AM ^
Until now, we've had a system where everyone profited from the work these players put in except the players themselves. Bloated athletic departments and administrative positions within these departments, athletic foundations with employees making 6 figures to raise money solely for the athletic department, coaches that are the highest paid public employees in the state even after they've been fired, etc. etc. etc.
There are really only two solutions here. Either tear the whole fucking thing down or pay the players. The first isn't going to happen, so I'm all in on the second.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
I'm more in the camp of "burn this village down in order to save it".
The current system of having absurdly paid administrators/coaches while some of the people doing the *real* work of the university (lecturers, non-tenure faculty, etc.) are getting a pittance is an insult to them.
It is *also* an insult to the regular student body that they are expected to pay up to $100k/yr to get their education (many also working on the side and possibly also participating in university sports & other sponsored organizations), while many "student-athletes" not only get all of it for *free* but can now legally get millions per year of NIL... all without having to actually worry about true academic progress. As long as the keep their GPA above what - a 2.0? - in whatever blowoff courses that might take. (And yes, not *all* student athletes do this - especially outside of the revenue sports at the top programs - but it happens *enough* to support my argument. How many of the football starters at Bama or Georgia or the basketball starters at Kentucky or LSU, as a few examples, are planning to graduate - let alone use their degree as it was intended academically?).
Split off the monetized sports from the school-proper. Let's have the legitimate student-athletes get their time on the varsity sports instead of - at best usually - being walkons on the 3rd/4th string.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:56 AM ^
right there with you, buddy.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
Welcome to capitalism?
February 9th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
For the students in public (tax payer supported) education ?
February 9th, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
I'm not sure that "public education" is a fitting label anymore, given how little universities actually get from the state.
I agree with your general point. It's kind of disgusting to do the math and see how much money a professor/instructor generates for the university (cost per 3 credit class * number of students in class) compared to how much they actually get paid. And then compare this to the salary of an administrator...
And this isn't only a problem at universities. Even in elementary and high schools, the gap between administrator (including principal) pay and teacher pay continually gets larger.
I'd be in favor of burning it down, but there's no way it would actually happen.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
But remember, being a "public university" not only means getting "direct" support from the state (grants, reimbursement, etc.) but also "indirect" in terms of tax-exemption and other perks. It adds up.
Also, just because the problem is difficult to solve doesn't mean it should be ignored.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:58 AM ^
I'm not saying it will be difficult, I'm saying it will be impossible.
State governments will never go back to their higher levels of taxpayer funding. So income will have to come from donations. Administrators (deans, provosts, vice provosts, presidents etc.) already spend an inordinate amount of time begging for donations. They're not going to do this for less money. In addition, it requires more people to do the work (administrative proliferation) that they should be doing when they are instead groveling for donations. And this is just one of the problems with the current public education system.
I think it is possible to make some changes in places, like in terms of university recreation. The recreation centers have just become crazy, another part of the university arms race, with their own administrations and assistant administrators, etc. But this is just trimming at the margins.
Like I said, I'm in favor of burning it down. Give me a realistic proposal and I'd support it. I just don't see anything realistic.
February 9th, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
Never is a long word. There wasn't such a thing as "public education" until relatively recently in civilization. Who is to say that it will continue in it's current (admittedly financially flawed) form - in this country - for the long term?
February 9th, 2022 at 11:52 AM ^
Broadcasting games on ESPN is not public education, and that's fundamentally where all the money is coming from. As long as watching varsity sports on TV is something people are willing to spend money on, you're going to have to figure out what to do with that demand and the proceeds from it. Right now a comparatively small fraction of that value is going to the people who are most directly responsible for creating it (the athletes themselves), and that sucks - NIL makes it a little better.
So blow it all up if you want, just recognize that that would mean essentially "make it illegal to broadcast college sports" otherwise the money is gonna be there either way.
February 9th, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
Not true. It should not be illegal to broadcast college sports. The question is why should a public university be *allowed* to monetize the broadcast so thoroughly? If the schools were mandated to provide the broadcast for free, as a public service, they could do so quite easily. This isn't the 20th century anymore - they don't *need* espn/fox/cbs/etc.
Also, college sports were not created with the purpose of having them be an entertainment product to sell. They were created with the intent of giving the students fun activities outside of class (that were sponsored/provided by the schools).
February 9th, 2022 at 2:02 PM ^
You can't just "mandate schools provide the broadcast for free" because producing the broadcast costs money, uses infrastructure, etc. You would have to literally ban for-profit broadcasts of games.
But remember, most of the key players here are technically nonprofit. The B1G, the schools, the NCAA, most of the individual bowl committees - all "nonprofit". Of course, they get a huge amount of revenue, which they spread lavishly among themselves to everyone except the players.
So banning "for-profit broadcast" doesn't fix the problem because literal "profit" is only a small part of the giant slush fund. You'd have to have the government price fixing the "reasonable cost" of broadcasting a game and somehow making it illegal to sell any more advertising than required to offset that. This would be a giant pain in the ass, inefficient, and without wading too deep into politics, arguably something the government really ought not be in the business of directly regulating.
college sports were not created with the purpose of having them be an entertainment product to sell
Doesn't matter. They are an entertainment product that there is clearly a demand for, to the tune of billions of dollars a year. You can't just make that demand disappear - somebody is going to want to realize that value. With a lot of regulatory effort, you can make it too legally troublesome to realize that value, and it will get left on the table, but then that's a bunch of work and cost to avoid producing something that people want, leaving everyone worse off.
The bottom line is that there are millions of people to whom "watching college football" (or "enabling other people to watch football in between advertisements") is worth more than the dollar bills they are willing to exchange for that privilege. You can't wish that away, and it's not clear that you should want to. What you can do is more equitably distribute a chunk of that value to the people who produce it, and that's all NIL is doing.
February 9th, 2022 at 5:28 PM ^
First, it actually *is* possible to mandate that public universities provide video (and/or other media) of the games. These are still state institutions and could be compelled by state law or executive order (not that I am saying any of this is remotely likely - I'm just saying it *is* possible). This has nothing to do with ESPN or any other commercial network production - the university could easily provide a free online stream (or on university television channels) if they were so inclined (or compelled)... in fact, many universitiesalready provide other live broadcasts (such as student concerts and even some non-revenue sports in this fashion). So let us stop proclaiming things "impossible" that are instead simply "unlikely".
As far as revenue, I am acutely aware of the limitations of non-profit organizations. Again, simply because that they currently charge exorbitant fees for the re-production rights, that does not mean it *must* occur that way (and keep in mind it was not long ago at all - still in living memory of many here on the board - that the television revenue was a relative nonfactor for most programs... yet the fared just fine). You are throwing out strawmen by claiming that I am advocating for some form of ban against all for profit productions - my point is that *public institutions* can be compelled to follow policies that other organizations/companies would not.
And yes, the intent does matter here. It is irrelevant (to the operation of the university) if there is strong demand to view a university sport - whether the market value is in the thousands or trillions. That is not the purpose of a public university - this was made abundantly clear during portions of the pandemic when many universities canceled all sports without necessarily canceling all classes (remote) or university operations. Modern administrators may be addicted to the athletic revenue, but it is not strictly needed to perform the chartered mission of the schools.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:25 AM ^
i don't think it's wrong to question whether capitalism is compatible with public education and / or what used to be called amateur athletics.
i love college sports, and if it is going to exist in its current form, with Billions of dollars being bandied about, the athletes should get a cut. but it's not wrong to question whether that current form should exist.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
What makes a student-athlete legitimate? I would like your definition for the sake of discussion. I don't think anyone should get to pass that kind of judgement on someone whom they have never spoke too or walked in their shoes. You are honestly just making general assumptions about a group of students. Would you advocate for families who can afford the education to not receive any sort of scholarship (either academic or athletic)? Because if we want things to be FAIR, that would certainly be more fair.
Also, how do you determine fair and equitable salaries for tenured professors who treat their own courses like blow-off courses? Just like those "student-athletes" you mention, there must be SOME professors who aren't worth what is being spent on them.
The system isn't perfect, but STOP blaming the "student-athletes" and place the blame where it firmly belongs, with the adults in control of the money!
February 9th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
I touched on some of this in previous comments, but sure - let's dig into the weeds.
For me, a "legitimate" student-athlete is exactly as it is a worded: someone who is a student first and athlete second. Now what does this mean? It means someone who made their school & major choice primarily with the focus of getting a degree and a job *using* that degree... not with the intent of getting to a professional sports club. It also, more than likely, means that they are spending more time on their school-work than their sports training.
As far as generalization or passing judgement, I already qualified earlier that most true student-athletes are not the concern here - they are doing the "right" thing as far as the spirit/principle of it goes... yet these are basically your non-revenue sports athletes as well as your walk-ons on some of the revenue sports (and this is just at the major programs - it holds even truer at the lower levels). YET... my issue is when you get to the star players at the biggest school programs (you know what I mean... where the real money happens). Tell me, truthfully, that most of *these* athletes came to "play school" - that are "student athletes" mostly in name only. Sure, there are exceptions, but that is not necessarily representative.
Now you bring up financial assistance for students. So many people bring up the argument that athletic scholarships *must* happen to give a chance to underprivileged kids. I counter that why should the underprivileged kids *need* to be good at sports in order to get a full ride scholarship? Athletic talent should have *nothing* to do with 1) getting into a school and 2) how much assistance a kid should receive *from the school*. Now, if that kid wants to use their sports talent on the side in order to *pay for school* - great, more power to them! But why should two hypothetical kids, from the same underprivileged school with the same grades, receive different consideration from a university simply because of physical gifts?
Now - what is "fair" in terms of school employee compensation? You bring up the issue of *tenured* faculty - which I did *not* include as being underpaid. They are not the fair comparison here... they are practically individual contractors. The tenure system is also unjust in many respects... and I would not be surprised if it eventually disappears from higher education (since it doesn't exist at any other level of oublic education).
I completely agree with you that the *adults* are to blame for this system, but that doesn't necessarily excuse the people who take advantage of it either.
February 9th, 2022 at 1:36 PM ^
I mean, goodness, there is lots to unpack here. I don't have time for it all because I can already see no minds are going to be changed, which is totally cool. I will touch on a couple things though, that are only about the student-athletes, not the design or flaws of higher-education and compensation.
I don't think there is ever going to be a time when college athletics (big revenue) sports are separated from the university. Someone discussed earlier that as long as television is involved, there is going to be money. Those of us who are not in support of how money is being spent or earned by "student-athletes" could simply just not watch or not attend those revenue generating sports teams games. *IF* you own season tickets to attend football games, you are directly part of the problem you wish to solve.
Now, it seems as though you are a collegiate athletics purist and want it to be "school first and athletics second" and that admittance and participation on these teams should be based on your acceptance as an academic student first rather than your athletic prowess. I mean, it's a nice sentiment and it's just not possible. Especially when the majority of universities are trying to win conference championships. As early as middle school and high school, you have the better athletes playing the majority of minutes despite their being better students riding the bench. Shit man, that's life. Doesn't make it right or wrong, it just is. Schools participate in sports to be competitive and win championships. Imagine fielding a football team at Michigan that only let the best students play? LOL! Nobody is filling the Big House to watch that fiasco.
Now, I think there should definitely be something set up that pays for full-ride scholarships to EVERY student-athlete before individuals are able to earn their OWN money from NIL. On that level at least I think that can be made equitable for everyone. But, I'm not one to care (right or wrong) about regular students at Michigan and "earned vs unearned" money, etc. I was a regular student at Michigan (worked, joined clubs, etc.), and never once thought that athletes being treated differently was a disservice to me or the university. Honestly, if it ever were to matter to me, it would have been then and it didn't. Now, I have much bigger responsibilities in life than to be concerned with kids making or not making money based on their athletic ability while attending college. That isn't a shot at you CRG, that's just my opinion.
Be well my man and GO BLUE!
February 9th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
Okay, I'll buy the team with a group of limiteds.
We'll hire students to play for us. We will deal with salary cap issues when we get to it. We'll make our money the same way any team does. We'll charge whatever we need to charge for admission. Own the broadcasting rights. Syndicate with other owners of "college teams". We'll try to avoid CBA strikes but no guarantees on that. Beer in the stands? Of course, We'll let Aramark handle that and take our cut off the top.
We'll sell naming rights to the Big House, perhaps to Amazon? Their logo would look great on the new turf.
And then? I'll possibly change the name of the team to another big name sponsor (Ford or Tesla) and put their logos on our helmets and uniforms. Do a few American Express or Sony PlayStation ads with the boys. Sell live ads during timeouts on the field.
In a few years, I'll start to bring in some NFL burnouts as players, have them go for a Masters in Sports. One year rentals to replace the need for the portal. No scholarships needed.
‐---------
Burning down a village is easy. Replacing it is very hard. Be careful what you wish for.
February 9th, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
But remember how this *particular* village formed in the first place. It wasn't by attracting the *best* athletes and trying to promote the *best* fan experience. It was about a bunch of students from *your* school beating a bunch of students from another school. It was popular because the players were friends, classmates, dorm-mates, or maybe family members or someone you knew in the local college town. It was local. It was personal. Only later - when the schools started charging gate, using athletic scholarships to bring in ringers, and other forms of monetization did it start to become an entertainment product (at which time the pro leagues started to form).
February 9th, 2022 at 1:15 PM ^
CRG - Serious question first. Regarding your financial/tax situation. Do you send out W2s, 1099s, or Form K1s? I want to know your business acumen/background, please?
If you find this too personal a question, I understand. We can drop it.
Edit: have you ever owned an entity that charged admisssion to or rented field time to a pro or semi-pro team or sport?
February 9th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
I don't feel the need to address the first issue since it is not relevant to the discussion. I do understand that you are ultimately aiming at how to responsibly run a large organization with business interests.
Yet a public university (or public library, elementary school, fire department, etc.) is not a typical business interest. They are government creations & extensions that are meant to serve specific needs - and creating (and owning) billion dollar industry entertainment products is not one of them.
February 9th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
Sure, no need to show any sort of credentials or experience background when advocating the need to or desirability of "burning down a village". /s
As much as I'd like to engage you, I think that it would not be a balanced, well-informed exchange.
Have a great day and, as always, Go Blue!
February 9th, 2022 at 3:36 PM ^
Ah - so since I refuse to divulge my personal details it renders the discussion (or any points I raise) moot? That seems a reasonable way to conduct a dialogue.
I never claimed to be an expert on either sports management or educational administration... yet that does not invalidate my arguments (philosophical or practical).
February 9th, 2022 at 4:57 PM ^
man, that's a weird bar to have to leap to have an opinion on whether high-level college football is compatible with the concept of the university or public education.
you know we're not making actual policy here, right? just sharing our thoughts?
February 9th, 2022 at 10:19 PM ^
Yes Matty, I understand that we are not "making policy" here. I also understand that we are just sharing our thoughts. It's all good.
Everyone is certainly entitled to their viewpoints; however, arguing about the roles of capitalism, socialism, etc. vis-a-vis football, compensation, and public education at the university level? I think we are probably better off agreeing to disagree about certain fundamentals, dropping this back and forth, and going back to our "regularly scheduled programming" --- Michigan sports.
I sincerely hope you and crg have a great evening.
February 10th, 2022 at 8:31 AM ^
fair enough - 'agree to disagree' is probably the best approach to lots and lots of these discussions. and go blue!
February 9th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^
He's not totally wrong. We are the ONLY country in the world with college sports on this level. Everywhere else in the world there are "Club" teams for sports and college teams are barely more than what we would call intramural. I'm not saying the players don't deserve what they're getting. I do wonder more and more whether its appropriate for Universities to be involved with this.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:14 AM ^
This is confusing. The first part of the statement says alumni, donors, and dollars. The second part says you have to have a registered business.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:25 AM ^
I think they just shortened the second part down to make it less wordy. The way I read it, you have to register through their interface so that they can vet people (make sure it isn't gambling/money laundering/etc.). Once vetted you're free to work more or less directly with the athletes.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
(make sure it isn't gambling/money laundering/etc.).
What about porn? Stripper clubs? Is UM going to shut out the lucrative flesh industry? If so, we'll always be behind the SEC.
February 9th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
You really want to watch Will Allen dancing around a pole?
I mean, NTTAWWT - whatever floats your boat, and all...
February 9th, 2022 at 10:16 AM ^
Good for them and good for us.
So I guess this puts to rest the storyline that Coach Harbaugh was looking to leave Michigan because the university wasn't taking NIL seriously. This seems pretty serious to me.
February 9th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
Does it though? This could have been precisely the result of some of the things Harbaugh wanted. No way to know for sure. Either way, I'm glad it's happening.
February 9th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
I believe this just what Coach Harbaugh was/is looking for. The "Fair Market Value Tool" has a direct line to the NCAA investigators. Are autographs worth $50k? Is each player (120 of them) at MSU worth $5k per year to Matt Ishbia's sales percentage? Is a QB who has never played a game worth a $million to Texas?
February 9th, 2022 at 10:16 AM ^
Is this a posbang?
Yes, this is a posbang.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:22 AM ^
This is a strong start and the right way to do it. Certainly allows Michigan to compete with the other schools intending to follow the rules and intent of NIL.
But does it compete for the top players where other schools are just handing over bags of money with no intention of following any type of policy? I think it comes down to there will be athletes who look at themselves as a business (and who will want Michigan's NIL program) and those who want to get rich quick,, no strings attached. Long-term Michigan wins, but it will be a few years before the Texas A&Ms of the world get shaken out (probably by the IRS).
February 9th, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
Bags of cash are nice, but if the coaches can leverage this as hey, once you're enrolled we have an entire department to make your image its own business, and such-and-such mega donor has let me know that they are wanting to work with you for X dollar range.
