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Update on The Light The Tower Collective


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Let’s look at this realistically. We have over 200K alumni in the area….roughly another +200K wondering around the US.  
 

we have less than 200 athletes I am estimating here at good old UNT. 
 

if we can get 10K -12K to donate $500 a year to NIL. Tough for some, but doable for at least 12K alumni. We could pay each and every athlete at least $25K a year to come play for us. That is a doable goal. 
 

I hate this whole pay for play program, but we are where we are. Do we want to compete?  This included men, women, Olympic sports and all. Every athlete. That would be huge. 

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When it gets boiled down into small logical sensory nuggets like the 12,000 at $500 a year, that makes total sense. There are a lot of closet alumni who love to be part of “The Club.”

The way Dallas is SMU’s energy source. Size is UNT’s fuel. The sheer number of alumni who could be approached to contribute directly to the salary of a UNT student athlete and the pride that brings is Real.

Our on the field competitors are in the AAC. Our neighborhood involves the Ponytails, Red Raiders, Cougars and Cowboys. 

Brain gears churning.

GMG

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On 8/10/2022 at 1:23 PM, MeanGreen_MBA said:

Let’s look at this realistically. We have over 200K alumni in the area….roughly another +200K wondering around the US.  
 

we have less than 200 athletes I am estimating here at good old UNT. 
 

if we can get 10K -12K to donate $500 a year to NIL. Tough for some, but doable for at least 12K alumni. We could pay each and every athlete at least $25K a year to come play for us. That is a doable goal. 
 

I hate this whole pay for play program, but we are where we are. Do we want to compete?  This included men, women, Olympic sports and all. Every athlete. That would be huge. 

Seems simple when you break it down like this. Hopefully, our top donors sweeten the pot enough to where we only need 5K-6K people donating $500. 

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10 minutes ago, GrayEagle said:

Question, RV.  Do we designate who gets our donation or does the committee decide?

I think ideally the donations would be enough to where all the major sport athletes get a set amount like SMU and Texas Tech are doing. Hopefully eventually all athletes would get something.

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In my humble opinion, this is a disaster waiting to happen.  We will be robbing Peter to pay Paul. 

First, what makes you think 12,000 people are willing to pay $500 a month to the NIL Initiative but we never got close to that many spending that amount or less for the scholarship fund?  I would rather have those 12,000 giving to the MGSF that would benefit all players and not just those that choose to play football and men's basketball.

Second, I still believe their is great value in what these young student-athletes receive in the form of free education, free books, free living, free food, free healthcare, free tutoring, etc. in exchange for them putting on the uniform of our university and performing to the best of their abilities.

What Texas Tech, SMU and other schools that are putting together similar programs are doing is circumventing the original intent.  Is it their fault?  No, this falls squarely on the NCAA for unleashing this stupid program with zero guidelines.  The majority of these kids aren't making money off of their name, image or likeness, they are just getting paid to suit up and be a part of the team.

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2 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

I think ideally the donations would be enough to where all the major sport athletes get a set amount like SMU and Texas Tech are doing. Hopefully eventually all athletes would get something.

The objective is to retain and attract the highest level players necessary to win. Using all of the donations that come in without designation allows the Collective to maximize allotments to those players and adjust as needed from season to season. So to be most effective. donations, as is the case at most schools. should be to the general Collective.

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3 hours ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Seems simple when you break it down like this. Hopefully, our top donors sweeten the pot enough to where we only need 5K-6K people donating $500. 

And that would be awesome. Every dollar will help get us there. While we have never had that size response for any initiative, it is our hope that we get to that level of participation moving forward to meet all the needs of the athletic department over time. And again every dollar heps. Hope you will consider joining the cause.

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2 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

In my humble opinion, this is a disaster waiting to happen.  We will be robbing Peter to pay Paul. 

First, what makes you think 12,000 people are willing to pay $500 a month to the NIL Initiative but we never got close to that many spending that amount or less for the scholarship fund?  I would rather have those 12,000 giving to the MGSF that would benefit all players and not just those that choose to play football and men's basketball.

Second, I still believe their is great value in what these young student-athletes receive in the form of free education, free books, free living, free food, free healthcare, free tutoring, etc. in exchange for them putting on the uniform of our university and performing to the best of their abilities.

What Texas Tech, SMU and other schools that are putting together similar programs are doing is circumventing the original intent.  Is it their fault?  No, this falls squarely on the NCAA for unleashing this stupid program with zero guidelines.  The majority of these kids aren't making money off of their name, image or likeness, they are just getting paid to suit up and be a part of the team.

Just to be clear, are you criticizing the system (or lack thereof) or this particular initiative?  I sure hope the former.  

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3 hours ago, Glad To Be Green said:

And that would be awesome. Every dollar will help get us there. While we have never had that size response for any initiative, it is our hope that we get to that level of participation moving forward to meet all the needs of the athletic department over time. And again every dollar heps. Hope you will consider joining the cause.

Absolutely. And I have some friends who are eager to donate as well. I hope people can get over their negative feelings toward NIL and understand that as long as it exists in its current form having a well funded collective, like Light the Tower, should be the #1 priority for every program. 

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3 hours ago, tmjerm said:

Just to be clear, are you criticizing the system (or lack thereof) or this particular initiative?  I sure hope the former.  

Both.  They need to set up specific guidelines and also let the NIL serve as intended, players making money off of their name, image and likeness and not just paying them to be part of the team.  Right now, teams are just buying, or attempting to buy, players.

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37 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Both.  They need to set up specific guidelines and also let the NIL serve as intended, players making money off of their name, image and likeness and not just paying them to be part of the team.  Right now, teams are just buying, or attempting to buy, players.

Because right now it’s 100% legal. You’d rather UNT fall behind everyone because paying players makes you feel icky? 

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7 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

In my humble opinion, this is a disaster waiting to happen.  We will be robbing Peter to pay Paul. 

First, what makes you think 12,000 people are willing to pay $500 a month to the NIL Initiative but we never got close to that many spending that amount or less for the scholarship fund?  I would rather have those 12,000 giving to the MGSF that would benefit all players and not just those that choose to play football and men's basketball.

Second, I still believe their is great value in what these young student-athletes receive in the form of free education, free books, free living, free food, free healthcare, free tutoring, etc. in exchange for them putting on the uniform of our university and performing to the best of their abilities.

What Texas Tech, SMU and other schools that are putting together similar programs are doing is circumventing the original intent.  Is it their fault?  No, this falls squarely on the NCAA for unleashing this stupid program with zero guidelines.  The majority of these kids aren't making money off of their name, image or likeness, they are just getting paid to suit up and be a part of the team.

Antiquated thinking. The NCAA makes billions of dollars off these athletes. You’re focusing on the term NIL as if it actually literally just means that. It makes no logical sense for one entity to make billions while another gets zero and told you get a free education. The athletes put their bodies on the line and make millions for their schools. They deserve more than just a scholarship and some lunch money. 

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2 hours ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Absolutely. And I have some friends who are eager to donate as well. I hope people can get over their negative feelings toward NIL and understand that as long as it exists in its current form having a well funded collective, like Light the Tower, should be the #1 priority for every program. 

Yes. The game has changed, adapt or fall behind…..further behind. 

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