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- Thread starter ScriptOhio
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
The Weekender: Confidence in Luke Fickell Wanes in Wisconsin, Billy Napier Era at Florida Circles the Drain, and Michigan State Players Nearly Walked Out on the Team Last Year
Voices of displeasure with Luke Fickell begin to mount in Wisconsin, Billy Napier appears on his way out of Florida, and details emerge of a near-walkout by Sparty last year.
Details Emerge of MSU Player Response to Sparty NIL Collective Collapse
Last year, two days after Michigan State fired Mel Tucker for cause, news broke on the night before the Spartans' road game against Iowa that the MSU NIL collective Spartan Dawgs 4 Life planned to cancel payments for all but less than five players on the football team. The group claimed it had failed to break a 100-subscriber threshold since its founding, making its continued existence unsustainable.This week, more details emerged in an article from Bloomberg regarding how Michigan State players responded to the news while preparing for their meeting with the Hawkeyes in Iowa City. According to the report, several Spartan players threatened to sit out of the game upon hearing the news and one even demanded to return to the airport after learning of the payment suspensions from an email received during the team's flight.
What threatened to become the first mass walkout over pay in modern college football unfolded on Sept. 29, 2023, at a Marriott in Iowa City, Iowa. As team members from the visiting Spartans of Michigan State University gathered in the lobby the evening before their game against the Iowa Hawkeyes, the mood was charged with anxiety. “Man, they pulled all the money from us,” one player said, according to a person who was there and who asked for anonymity to protect their relations with the team. “Take me to the airport, I’m going back,” another announced. Soon, others began to discuss sitting out the game.
During the short flight from East Lansing, Michigan, around three dozen of the team’s players had received a stunning email from a booster group that had committed to paying them. The group was called Spartan Dawgs 4 Life. Backed by some of the university’s deepest-pocketed alumni, including the mortgage loan billionaire Mat Ishbia and technology entrepreneur Steve St. Andre, the Spartan Dawgs had raised $6 million, according to a spokesperson for the group. At least one football player had been getting $10,000 a month. Now the group told some Spartans it was ending those payments—dawgs for life no more. As the players angrily processed the news, coaches tried to calm them, and a school athletic official made a frantic call to another fundraiser, from a second booster group, to try to secure their money. The clock was ticking toward kickoff.
The hotel drama, which hasn’t been previously reported, illustrates the promise and the perils of a new era in college athletics, one in which groups like the Spartan Dawgs control the fate of players and teams—while being accountable to no one. There have always been wealthy people supporting college teams, in ways both legal and illegal. There’s not much that’s illegal now.
— Peter Robison and Noah Buhayar, Bloomberg
Just sayin': The entire Bloomberg article is pretty interesting, clink on the above link.
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calibuck
Too soon old, too late smart
Don't know what to say. Was it possible, certainly. Was it probable, nope. But it happened. We saw it with that (a) Florida QB, who signed, and transferred because their NIL reneged on his payout. But to happen in the B10? Too close to home. Having this happen will set the MSU program back decades. Who will want to trust these guys? Given that NIL gifts can be mostly one-time money, fund raising is continuous, to replace that which is given out. Kinda wonder if the Oregon golden goose (Phil Knight) will dry up when he passes. Nike cannot make the payments, as it's a public corporation, and subject to SEC (Securities Exchange Commission), and shareholder scrutiny. Anyways, it's a big hurt for MSU, and a warning to all the HS kids clamoring for cash to play a game. Guess that's a risk these kids take.
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The Weekender: Confidence in Luke Fickell Wanes in Wisconsin, Billy Napier Era at Florida Circles the Drain, and Michigan State Players Nearly Walked Out on the Team Last Year
Voices of displeasure with Luke Fickell begin to mount in Wisconsin, Billy Napier appears on his way out of Florida, and details emerge of a near-walkout by Sparty last year.www.elevenwarriors.com
Details Emerge of MSU Player Response to Sparty NIL Collective Collapse
Last year, two days after Michigan State fired Mel Tucker for cause, news broke on the night before the Spartans' road game against Iowa that the MSU NIL collective Spartan Dawgs 4 Life planned to cancel payments for all but less than five players on the football team. The group claimed it had failed to break a 100-subscriber threshold since its founding, making its continued existence unsustainable.
This week, more details emerged in an article from Bloomberg regarding how Michigan State players responded to the news while preparing for their meeting with the Hawkeyes in Iowa City. According to the report, several Spartan players threatened to sit out of the game upon hearing the news and one even demanded to return to the airport after learning of the payment suspensions from an email received during the team's flight.
What threatened to become the first mass walkout over pay in modern college football unfolded on Sept. 29, 2023, at a Marriott in Iowa City, Iowa. As team members from the visiting Spartans of Michigan State University gathered in the lobby the evening before their game against the Iowa Hawkeyes, the mood was charged with anxiety. “Man, they pulled all the money from us,” one player said, according to a person who was there and who asked for anonymity to protect their relations with the team. “Take me to the airport, I’m going back,” another announced. Soon, others began to discuss sitting out the game.
During the short flight from East Lansing, Michigan, around three dozen of the team’s players had received a stunning email from a booster group that had committed to paying them. The group was called Spartan Dawgs 4 Life. Backed by some of the university’s deepest-pocketed alumni, including the mortgage loan billionaire Mat Ishbia and technology entrepreneur Steve St. Andre, the Spartan Dawgs had raised $6 million, according to a spokesperson for the group. At least one football player had been getting $10,000 a month. Now the group told some Spartans it was ending those payments—dawgs for life no more. As the players angrily processed the news, coaches tried to calm them, and a school athletic official made a frantic call to another fundraiser, from a second booster group, to try to secure their money. The clock was ticking toward kickoff.
The hotel drama, which hasn’t been previously reported, illustrates the promise and the perils of a new era in college athletics, one in which groups like the Spartan Dawgs control the fate of players and teams—while being accountable to no one. There have always been wealthy people supporting college teams, in ways both legal and illegal. There’s not much that’s illegal now.
— Peter Robison and Noah Buhayar, Bloomberg
Just sayin': The entire Bloomberg article is pretty interesting, clink on the above link.
Another reason why rules and guardrails need to be put in place, and how the NCAA dropped the ball on this entire situation. But to the situation at hand, this shouldn't be surprising, I was just waiting for the 1st team to actually do it. If a team is losing, what incentive do some of these boosters have to continually donate. That's why I've always thought that NIL would create a bigger talent in CFB. CFB has always been a game of haves and have nots, but when money is involved it makes that gap that much larger. Why would a booster for Purdue, Cal, Duke, etc or any other 3rd tier program with no chance of ever winning their conference, let alone an NC continue to give to a football team's NIL when they have nothing to show for it? Since MSU was first, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some other teams do the same. It sucks for the kids in the end, but its no different than any of these young men working for a company and that company has a mass layoff, or a merger and acquisition and they lay off the company that was acquired.
The Portal will also make life for HS players much more difficult to find spots on rosters as well. Why would an MSU take some 3star from Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids, when they can take a RS Soph from say Miss St or Rice who's already been in a college system?
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calibuck
Too soon old, too late smart
Said very eloquently Pnut. Seem to remember that over 1,000 college players went into the portal, with about 250 (?) spots available. Believe that when they declared, their scholarship vanished, and could only be resurrected at the whim of the university. By my count, that left 3 times the number out in the cold. Harsh lesson I'm thinking. If t'were me, I'd do some sniffing around to see if my old schools recruiting me were interested. Even then, they could change their minds, as you mentioned, to a kid from a 'better' school/position before I jumped. Not sure the Bryson Rogers of the world (who declared and then recanted) are in the majority.
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cincibuck
You kids stay off my lawn!
At a time when we are all waiting for the NCAA to do something, it's interesting to note that the NCAA was formed in 1906 because the schools could not/would not police themselves. The NCAA fought professionalism for more than a century supported BY the schools. Now that NIL is reality, schools need the NCAA to provide guidance for a problem they both created.
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