Maybe paywall
TLDR: Says athletic departments need to now spend money on players via NIL instead of spending on facilities. Does the LHF became secondary to NIL? Is he saying the quiet part out loud or is this now the loud part?
An increase in the amount of NIL funds raised to pay athletes is pivotal for the success of the University of Houston athletic department, the school’s top donor said Wednesday.
“We have to raise a bunch of money for NIL,” UH System Board of Regents chairman Tilman Fertitta said at the press conference to introduce new athletic director Eddie Nuñez. “If we don’t raise money for NIL, we’re not going to be successful. These college athletes are no different than basketball players. Why does a kid want to come out and be playing in the G-League or as a two-way player when they can make more staying in college and playing for the Houston Cougars?”
Fertitta, the billionaire UH megadonor and owner of the NBA’s Rockets, pointed out how quickly the college athletics landscape has shifted. UH broke ground last November on a $140 million football operations center — money, he said, that could have gone directly into the pockets of student-athletes.
“It’s crazy. This is how much college athletics has changed,” Fertitta said. “Now you can scratch your head and say do we really need to be spending $140 million on a football facility, or should we take that money from all those donors and use it on NIL? If you talk to the college athletes today, they don’t care about that building anymore. They care about how much am I getting paid. That ought to tell what a different world we live in such a short time. Think about it, because you know what they would all tell you: Give me that money.”
How lucrative have NIL deals been at some of the nation’s top programs?
Ohio State football players received “around $20 million” in NIL money from collectives and brand affiliates in the past year, the school’s athletic director, Ross Bjork, told Yahoo Sports in late July.
TLDR: Says athletic departments need to now spend money on players via NIL instead of spending on facilities. Does the LHF became secondary to NIL? Is he saying the quiet part out loud or is this now the loud part?
Tilman Fertitta says getting money to players a bigger priority than facilities in new college model
An increase in the amount of NIL funds raised to pay athletes is pivotal for the success of the University of Houston athletic department, the school’s top donor said Wednesday.
“We have to raise a bunch of money for NIL,” UH System Board of Regents chairman Tilman Fertitta said at the press conference to introduce new athletic director Eddie Nuñez. “If we don’t raise money for NIL, we’re not going to be successful. These college athletes are no different than basketball players. Why does a kid want to come out and be playing in the G-League or as a two-way player when they can make more staying in college and playing for the Houston Cougars?”
Fertitta, the billionaire UH megadonor and owner of the NBA’s Rockets, pointed out how quickly the college athletics landscape has shifted. UH broke ground last November on a $140 million football operations center — money, he said, that could have gone directly into the pockets of student-athletes.
“It’s crazy. This is how much college athletics has changed,” Fertitta said. “Now you can scratch your head and say do we really need to be spending $140 million on a football facility, or should we take that money from all those donors and use it on NIL? If you talk to the college athletes today, they don’t care about that building anymore. They care about how much am I getting paid. That ought to tell what a different world we live in such a short time. Think about it, because you know what they would all tell you: Give me that money.”
How lucrative have NIL deals been at some of the nation’s top programs?
Ohio State football players received “around $20 million” in NIL money from collectives and brand affiliates in the past year, the school’s athletic director, Ross Bjork, told Yahoo Sports in late July.
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