UK to Donate 45% of NIL Revenue-Sharing to Men's Basketball

[KYWILDCAT41035]

The only chance I think we have in football is if we get rid of Stoops and hire someone like we did with Pope for the basketball program. That guy would be Jon Sumrall the man bleeds blue he played here 2002 -2004 and got his coaching start here as GA 2005-2006 plus he coached ILB 2019 - 2020 and was CO/DC and ILB coach here for 2021.

[takmashfan]

If this number is true I think it is a Mitch power play. Why would Stoops want to stay if he's getting less money than every other SEC football team. He leaves and poof your buyout problems are over.

[Joneslab]

MJ has already said this isn't true.

I also agree with people saying we can put 100% to football and still won't outbid alabama or UT or Texas and so on.

This isn't all the NIL stuff anyways so can always make up more n either sport there too.

Interestingly I believe Norlander was making some claims about Kentucky's NIL back when the portal was in full swing, and IIRC Jones also said those numbers weren't true back then.

Norlander has historically been pretty rock solid in the college basketball reporting game. And also pretty uncontroversial, by and large.

For Jones to say twice the numbers Norlander got are wrong is interesting.

[WeWant9]

I want UK to do well in all sports, but at the end of the day we’re a blue blood in basketball. I do not see why that shouldn’t be the main priority here.

[KCKUKFan]

Interestingly I believe Norlander was making some claims about Kentucky's NIL back when the portal was in full swing, and IIRC Jones also said those numbers weren't true back then.

Norlander has historically been pretty rock solid in the college basketball reporting game. And also pretty uncontroversial, by and large.

For Jones to say twice the numbers Norlander got are wrong is interesting.

Jones has a financial interest to keep people interested in football. It's why he is remaining "cautiously optimistic" on his show, even though he knows the ship hit the iceberg two years ago.

Norlander usually is rock solid on his info. He's not "just another guy."

[UKWildcats1987]

The only chance I think we have in football is if we get rid of Stoops and hire someone like we did with Pope for the basketball program. That guy would be Jon Sumrall the man bleeds blue he played here 2002 -2004 and got his coaching start here as GA 2005-2006 plus he coached ILB 2019 - 2020 and was CO/DC and ILB coach here for 2021.

Sumrall isn't getting a giant truck of money backed up to him every season like Pope is though. Big difference.

[EKYCat]

The only chance I think we have in football is if we get rid of Stoops and hire someone like we did with Pope for the basketball program. That guy would be Jon Sumrall the man bleeds blue he played here 2002 -2004 and got his coaching start here as GA 2005-2006 plus he coached ILB 2019 - 2020 and was CO/DC and ILB coach here for 2021.

You're assuming a level playing field between basketball and football. That doesn't exist. I don't know that any coach is going to come here and magically turn anything around. Compared to other SEC schools, the resources and funding just aren't there. Could someone bring a more exciting brand and be more entertaining? Absolutely. But UK football isn't going to ever contend on a national level like we want them to unless Nick Saban or Urban Meyer come out of retirement to coach at UK.

[Supafuzz]

Jones has a financial interest to keep people interested in football. It's why he is remaining "cautiously optimistic" on his show, even though he knows the ship hit the iceberg two years ago.

Norlander usually is rock solid on his info. He's not "just another guy."

I've not saw Mitch or anyone from UK dispute the numbers.. Just hearsay saying the number isn't correct..

[KCKUKFan]

Mitch should be getting out ahead of this. But it is Mitch we're talking about.

[bthaunert]

Bad move imo if this number is true. The cash cow is and will always be football. The thought that you would put 25% - 30% less revenue sharing than your counterparts in the SEC is crazy. There is so much unknown about the future of college football...a good way to end up on the wrong end of future structural shifts is to starve the program and then not have the revenue coming in to support revenue sharing across the board. I don't think that number is correct. I could see a little more (maybe 20% - 25%) but I do not see 45%.

[KCKUKFan]

Bad move imo if this number is true. The cash cow is and will always be football. The thought that you would put 25% - 30% less revenue sharing than your counterparts in the SEC is crazy. There is so much unknown about the future of college football...a good way to end up on the wrong end of future structural shifts is to starve the program and then not have the revenue coming in to support revenue sharing across the board. I don't think that number is correct. I could see a little more (maybe 20% - 25%) but I do not see 45%.

Football will be the cash cow whether we are good or not.

It's about whether or not you thinking dumping more money into football for 6-6 struggles every year is worth it. We are never going to win 10 games in a season again.

[bthaunert]

Football will be the cash cow whether we are good or not.

It's about whether or not you thinking dumping more money into football for 6-6 struggles every year is worth it. We are never going to win 10 games in a season again.

My fear is that college football goes through another split like it did in 1978 when it divided into I-A and I-AA. If UK puts so few resources into college football and they are a 3-9 team year in and year out, who knows what will happen and then the revenue from TV diminishes drastically, impacting the entire department. There is 100% a world where college football splits off into it's own thing and if UK isn't careful, they become Rice, Washington State and Oregon State wondering what the hell just happened and where all the money went.

[KCKUKFan]

My fear is that college football goes through another split like it did in 1978 when it divided into I-A and I-AA. If UK puts so few resources into college football and they are a 3-9 team year in and year out, who knows what will happen and then the revenue from TV diminishes drastically, impacting the entire department. There is 100% a world where college football splits off into it's own thing and if UK isn't careful, they become Rice, Washington State and Oregon State wondering what the hell just happened and where all the money went.

To be fair, we have a lot more in common with Rice, Washington State and Oregon State historically than we do our SEC brethren.

We could put 100% of our money and resources into football, hire prime Nick Saban, and we will still struggle to win 8 games a year going forward. We don't have the recruiting landscape, we don't have the money, we don't have the collective, we don't have the fan enthusiasm. The weaker east that we benefitted from under Stoops is only getting better, and they're going to expand the league schedule. It just isn't happening.

Kentucky is a bedrock of the SEC. We could go 0-12 for the next decade and we wouldn't be kicked out of the league. The TV money is there. It's a guarantee. The football program fed the athletic department for decades while they were bottom-feeders.

So the question is this: do we want to spill endless dollars and resources into a bad product that will only rise above average once in awhile, at the expense of our flagship program that actually has the opportunity to compete for championships? It's a fair debate. I want to see Kentucky win every game they play in every sport, but I'm also a realist.

[WeWant9]

My fear is that college football goes through another split like it did in 1978 when it divided into I-A and I-AA. If UK puts so few resources into college football and they are a 3-9 team year in and year out, who knows what will happen and then the revenue from TV diminishes drastically, impacting the entire department. There is 100% a world where college football splits off into it's own thing and if UK isn't careful, they become Rice, Washington State and Oregon State wondering what the hell just happened and where all the money went.

It'll be interesting to see what other bball blueblood schools do in this situation.

I know it's all about money, but it doesn't seem like it would be in UK's best interest to follow the same pattern of the Bamas and OSUs of the sport.

[bthaunert]

To be fair, we have a lot more in common with Rice, Washington State and Oregon State historically than we do our SEC brethren.

We could put 100% of our money and resources into football, hire prime Nick Saban, and we will still struggle to win 8 games a year going forward. We don't have the recruiting landscape, we don't have the money, we don't have the collective, we don't have the fan enthusiasm. The weaker east that we benefitted from under Stoops is only getting better, and they're going to expand the league schedule. It just isn't happening.

Kentucky is a bedrock of the SEC. We could go 0-12 for the next decade and we wouldn't be kicked out of the league. The TV money is there. It's a guarantee. The football program fed the athletic department for decades while they were bottom-feeders.

So the question is this: do we want to spill endless dollars and resources into a bad product that will only rise above average once in awhile, at the expense of our flagship program that actually has the opportunity to compete for championships? It's a fair debate. I want to see Kentucky win every game they play in every sport, but I'm also a realist.

I'm a realist about Kentucky football too. By no means do I expect that throwing tons of money into the program will make us this national power. There is absolutely the angle of return on investment. Might Kentucky luck into a 16 team playoff at some point? sure. Likelihood of that happening is very slim though. Basketball is obviously our best bet for the return on investment.

I don't think from a football perspective, we are guaranteed to be in the SEC in the future. I believe there will be conferences for all sports but football (this is where we would be in the SEC) and then football will move into their own system and, if UK isn't careful, they will be a mid major in football. This is where you have to be careful. All that money pouring into the athletic department is all of a sudden gone.

I just don't think it's as easy as saying "we will always be in the SEC and get this guaranteed money" regardless if he we are 3-9 or 7-5.