GWRising,
If you have any contact or involvement with FOG I would suggest you tell them that a very easy email, similar to what you just detailed, would go a long way to helping. No corporate secrets need to be spilled. Just a hey we're still here and we hope to get back to you in the next x months with a more detailed update. Just my thoughts. Keep those who jumped to donate immediately informed before you lose some of the most loyal fans. Literally any update would have helped. Aka an update to say we have no update would have worked .

 

Florida Colonial wrote:

GWRising,
If you have any contact or involvement with FOG I would suggest you tell them that a very easy email, similar to what you just detailed, would go a long way to helping. No corporate secrets need to be spilled. Just a hey we're still here and we hope to get back to you in the next x months with a more detailed update. Just my thoughts. Keep those who jumped to donate immediately informed before you lose some of the most loyal fans. Literally any update would have helped. Aka an update to say we have no update would have worked .

 

+1

trops_fc wrote:

I grew up as a UConn fan, and I'm curious to see why we can't do something as (seemingly) simple as their NIL store (read: merch) or even get some of the guys set up on Opendorse (once we have more than two active players on the roster lol). Happy too to learn more about how this all works, as I get that it's very much a whole new world for everyone involved.

To the extent there is any governing law for NIL, it is primarily through state law.  Connecticut passed an NIL bill in the summer of 2021, but restricted use of university IP and then amended it in 2022 to lift the restriction (probably also need to resolve our moniker issue too!). 

DC has allowed HS athletes to collect NIL, but broader legislation has not yet been passed by the DC City Council (probably still figuring out how much they should tax it).  

Don't look for federal relief without also bringing labor/employee law into place.  Basically, it's not going to happen.

So FOG is trying to move forward as best as it can, subject to potential legal changes that could alter its plans. 

Notwithstanding mid-major success this year in the tourney, my love for college basketball has always been based on watching annual recruiting of a few players and watching them grow and develop. When understanding your team requires a near full-time occupation in understanding the transfer portal, NIL rules, and seeing a wholesale turnover in rosters year after year, it's too exhausting to be a fun escape.  I don't blame the players, but longstanding NCAA greed that couldn't figure out a way to get more cash in players' hands years ago.          

NIL Incoming: Comparing State Laws and Proposed Legislation - Opendorse (as of 1/31.23)
 

RyanPuleo wrote:

You are saying a lawyer has to approve a simple email that says "We are actually doing stuff"? This whole thing has been a giant mess and the fact that not a single person has said anything from FOG in months is hilarious

Ryan,
As ridiculous as it sounds it may not be that far off lol. Conservative approach + fuzzy NIL laws might actually have us there.. Maybe they can send smoke signals or a secret handshake to say all is ok and moving forward

squid wrote:

Just got an email from FOG!! It's amazing how much better that makes me feel. I emailed general@fogcollective.com and got a response in 2 days

Did it shed any light on what is going on???

A Minnesota article highlighting NIL issues for a late-comer P5 school.
Gophers men’s basketball issue: Where will NIL money come from? (startribune.com)

Bribing kids to come (or stay) at your school...there is just no way that this is good for college basketball.  

Despite my negative feelings toward Dan Hurley, I'll paraphrase the one thing he said after the game which I did like:  "these kids are here because they wanted to play for me.  Not the NIL money."

I can only hope that young players heard that and retained the message.  Play for a coach who is going to help you develop as a person and a player.  NIL money is nice but make sure the highest bidder doesn't automatically win if he and his staff are not the right personalities or fit.  At the same time, it would be incredibly naive to think that some players don't desperately need the money right now.  Many players will end up with the highest bidder because they are looking out for themselves and their families.  Hard to be critical of that, even if it may be short-sighted in some cases.

There is an obvious need to regulate or control NIL but one problem is identifying whose responsibility this should be.  The NCAA has washed its hands of NIL as all payments are made independent of the schools themselves.  This will soon look very much like certain professional sports franchises looking to "buy" championships via exorbitant payrolls.

Last edited by Gwmayhem (4/05/2023 9:45 am)

GWRising wrote:

If RJ Luis was set to get $100k over two years (11.5 ppg) and goes portallng all I have to say is Hartford here we come. Yikes!

I wonder how much the $ figure is true vs. putting a number like that out there as a way to entice others to consider UMass.  Like a GM saying "we offered a free agent xyz" after the player signs somewhere else.

Regardless I agree I don't see us being anywhere in the ballpark of $100k to any one player here at GW.

Last edited by GW0509 (4/05/2023 11:08 am)

Hopefully it's just a technical issue and not a sign of things to come, but is the site down for anyone else today? http://fogcollective.com/