NIL t-shirt for sale at M-Den
I hope this wasn't already posted a while ago, because I didn't see anything recently. The M Den is now selling a NIL t-shirt that will provide direct compensation to "U-M student-athletes on ALL 27 OF MICHIGAN'S MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SPORTS TEAMS." It's not cheap ($42), but for obvious reasons. Great way to get in on the NIL action!
September 23rd, 2021 at 12:29 PM ^
It’s a nice gesture but seriously this is like filling Lake Michigan with a garden hose. A garden hose from a house with terrible water pressure. Sales form a $42 tee shirt being spread over 27 men’s and women’s sports? Each student might get $0.63 by year’s end.
September 24th, 2021 at 12:49 PM ^
It’s not just money they will receive. Meijer thrifty acres is going to be giving each athlete a coupon for a bag of Bettermade chips in exchange for having their logo on the back… because they liked the design so much.
September 23rd, 2021 at 12:32 PM ^
I assume Michigan's NIL ventures will go a bit beyond this.
September 23rd, 2021 at 12:35 PM ^
I like it, but I'd go a step further and make them sport specific (in addition to specific player jerseys). Football and to a lesser degree men's bball already fit the bill for all other sports anyways.
September 25th, 2021 at 12:12 AM ^
I mean, yeah. I'd like to see some combo of name, image, or likeness of an athlete on the product.
September 23rd, 2021 at 12:44 PM ^
Thanks.
Good grief, we got the haters of the University of Michigan on the board today. (as always)
Everybody bashing the UM acceptance rate, now bashing a NIL t-shirt.
I guess it really is -- MICHIGAN VS EVERYBODY.... including OURSELVES!
Go Blue.
September 23rd, 2021 at 12:50 PM ^
Half serious question, are donations like this tax deductible? If this is marketed as NIL, but run through the University to ultimately reach the students....
September 23rd, 2021 at 1:18 PM ^
No, the University is uninvolved beyond the licensing and approval of the NIL deal. The MDen is a private business separate from the University.
September 23rd, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
I'd rather just give $42 to a random field hockey player. That's ridiculous.
September 23rd, 2021 at 1:17 PM ^
Can I just buy a "normal" shirt and paypal somebody (not a specific person) to get money to all players?
September 23rd, 2021 at 1:31 PM ^
What's next, allowing the athletes to go through the garbage cans at the stadium for returnables?
September 23rd, 2021 at 1:45 PM ^
Wait until Walter Nolen catches wind of this deal
September 23rd, 2021 at 2:12 PM ^
The look of this shirt screams, “My buddy threw up all over himself on the way to the stadium, so we hit Sears real quick so he had something Michigan to wear to the game.” Just a beautiful design.
September 23rd, 2021 at 5:42 PM ^
C'mon if you're going to drag -- at least keep with the theme.... it's WALMART, not Sears.
Go Blue.
September 23rd, 2021 at 2:34 PM ^
This will probably come off as sarcastic (it’s not). I absolutely love our fanbase’s ability to hate on and bitch about anything and everything, no matter how good or bad it may actually be.
Applications up and admissions down - mgoblog: nothing but an effort to artificially inflate the numbers/make ourselves look better. T shirt that will (in a very small way) benefit all UM athletes - mgoblog: the design sucks and is this really the best we can come up with. Undefeated football team that the fancy stats love (so far, at least) - mgoblog: i will not get my hopes up; we haven’t played anyone; ND would destroy us, no predictive value, and on, and on, and on.
Seriously, never change, any of you. This is truly what makes us, well, us.
September 23rd, 2021 at 3:09 PM ^
I’m just a cynical asshole by nature, that’s my excuse. The rest of you should be ashamed of yourselves.
September 23rd, 2021 at 3:15 PM ^
wish I could like this post 1000 times. So true. So many on here aren't happy unless they're crapping on someone or something.
September 23rd, 2021 at 2:38 PM ^
I'm glad all teams are getting paid, but where's the shirt for me to buy with all the proceeds going to lock-in our 5 star commitments?
September 23rd, 2021 at 2:54 PM ^
I appreciate the company is trying to grow its brand, but Detroit vs everybody is a special ethos. Making ____ vs everybody apparel cheapens it, IMO. They have a Gucci vs everybody t-shirt on the homepage. Really?
September 23rd, 2021 at 5:26 PM ^
True but the Detroit vs Everybody concept has been ripped off so many times by other apparel companies I’m not sure it matters.
I can see why they want to expand the vs ____s that they make money on.
September 23rd, 2021 at 4:40 PM ^
Hopefully, some Ross School graduate who did not spend too much time drinking sangria at Dominick's can correct me but some simple back of the napkin math here:
Let's say it costs $6, all in to produce the shirt. Let's double that to cover operating costs, etc. That means each sale produces $30 in revenue. Let's say M-Den takes $10 of that as profit, leaving $20 per shirt to distribute to the student athletes.
I'm guessing there are about 1,000 student athletes at any given time. So, for every 1,000 shirts they sell, each athlete gets $20.
They should have made them in Maize and sold them at the Washington Game. Each athlete could have had at least a grand in their pocket.
I'm probably missing something but sounds like a fine plan to me.
September 23rd, 2021 at 5:25 PM ^
You’re missing the part where they make a shirt they could actually sell 1000 of.
September 23rd, 2021 at 10:01 PM ^
Agreed. I would be 1000x more likely to buy a simple blue shirt with a maize block M on the breast.
September 23rd, 2021 at 11:49 PM ^
Charge $1000 for it and people will feel better about the money being spent and then have an exclusive shirt to show how much of a baller they are.