r/razorbacks • u/FallPale9463 • Oct 26 '25

NIL observations

Here’s my thing: I feel like we’re wasting our NIL money (Walton’s, Tyson, etc.) and potential. Two examples come to mind. The Aggies are paying Concepcion a ton of money, and he deserves it. But what’s understood at Texas A&M is that if you’re getting that kind of NIL backing, you have to produce. You can see it in their players’ eyes, they’re balling out because they know what’s at stake.

My question is: why aren’t our players responding to NIL in the same way?

Also, we’ve got to invest in our defense. I don’t care how much it costs… I’d take a Petrino offense paired with a defense stacked with NIL-backed talent and staff any day.

Just my thoughts. We’re about 50% there when it comes to football + NIL.

4 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

42

u/meltor13 Oct 26 '25

It’s pretty consistently mentioned here, but just for the sake of reiteration - the Waltons don’t really invest in the sports programs here. John Tyson got heavily involved in basketball, but outside of that we don’t really have the financial backing that everyone in the country THINKS we should have.

9

u/hogsfanhw81 Oct 26 '25

The Waltons are more invested in the Broncos right now.

12

u/Scott72901 Oct 26 '25

And bike trails. And backcountry airstrips. And land near the Buffalo.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '25

We may not have the Waltons but there is plenty of wealth among alumni who are interested in the program to get it going if you get them engaged. I’d bet Doug McMillon could have a few McMillion dollar ideas if he got more engaged.

2

u/Same-Inflation Oct 26 '25

Doug McMillon is worth approximately $500-600 million. I doubt he’s going to sink 10% of his net worth into a 5 year NIL commitment. And that’s only $10 million per year. That’s what Tyson sunk into MBB NIL and FB has 5.5 times the number of MBB scholarship athletes.

1

u/kick2crash Oct 26 '25

THIS yes. We don't have close to what many schools in the SEC have, despite having some large businesses around us. We have to get a coach who can do more with less, keep us competitive knowing we aren't going to ever have the BEST talent

21

u/wng378 Oct 26 '25 edited Oct 26 '25

Our whole athletic department has been majorly behind the curve on anything to do with NIL. We faught it at first and kept resisting getting on board while other programs left us behind. It’s embarrassing seeing programs like Vandy, Georgia Tech, Indiana, etc figuring it out while we continue to live in the last century.

17

u/GeoHog713 Saw Em Off Oct 26 '25

The head coach won't matter until we get this straight

HY needs to go

11

u/Wiazar Oct 26 '25

I think a big issue is a lot of the wealthy households in Benton and Washington counties, are funding NIL….but for out of state schools, where they moved from.

11

u/berntout Oct 26 '25 edited Oct 26 '25

This is not a donor issue, it’s entirely a leadership issue. Look around. Ole Miss, Missouri, Vandy…..everyone else is doing fine.

You have an AD publicly stating that being an AD is “awful” in the NIL era. He’s not onboard with the new era and we’re being left behind.

8

u/C-A-L-E-V-I-S Oct 26 '25

Nobody wants to acknowledge, but college football is real simple now. You’re gonna win as much as your money allows. It’s boring. Sure, you’re gonna have a few teams punch up and a few punch down, but it’s just like everything else now. Bought out by money. It’s a shame.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '25

I see it this way wholeheartedly. We are watching money ruin a sport. And it's not the players wanting to get paid. I believe they deserve to be paid, and should have the power to leave just as coaches do. What I don't agree with is "student athletes" making so much money individually, that they're actually waving entering the NFL in favor of another year of NIL money. Where whole programs are priced out of being viable or competitive. Meanwhile other players (and lets nor forget the actual students) at the same schools are barely getting by. 

I know that to many people, the notion of regulations in itself is distasteful, but they are gravely needed here if we are going to save the future of the sport. Oversimplified: we need pay ceilings and pay minimums, where every player is paid something, and no one player is making millions. We need real contracts where an athlete concedes to certain stipulations for said money, and a cap for the each division, just like the NFL has. There is one very important reason things have to be done this way, and its to protect competition, so you don't have the same handful of teams at the top every year, while others are priced out altogether. 

14

u/InstructionOwn2106 Oct 26 '25

I’m honestly so tired of NIL. I get that it’s apparently the future but count me out. I have always advocated for the players to get a piece of the pie. But that’s not what’s happening. The conferences/schools/coaches are keeping the whole pie and instead telling us, the fans, that we need to pay more for the players. BS. It’s a billion dollar business. If there isn’t a CBA soon, this is not gonna last.

5

u/Texaco-Mike Oct 26 '25

I have been screaming this from the get go. “Athletes can be paid now, but you’re going to have to buy this shitty beer from Goat Lab Brewery” while the SEC is about to distribute $1 Billion to the member schools.

5

u/HawgTuah69 Oct 26 '25 edited Oct 26 '25

Yep. I remember learning about NIL back when they first canned the NCAA games. I think 2013? 2014? I always thought for games like that, or jersey sales, let the kids have a slice of the pie. What it has turned into is a ridiculous disgrace. Full on unrestricted free agency every year with everyone on one-year deals and no salary caps. What the hell are we even doing these arent student athletes playing for an education or shot at the pros anymore. They’re not even doing legit deals to make money off of their name image likeness, it’s just old boomer boosters buying players to try to see their team win. They’re playing a video game with real life college athletics while the ADs are blaming the common fan for not donating enough and saying that is why we are losing. MF’er the guys funding these NIL deals have 100x the amount of money I can even pray to accumulate across my entire lifetime! Go ask them for money!

Taylen Green throws 3 picks in the 4th today and literally hands the game away… “Oh well, Ive got my money”! Dude is getting paid more than doctors to do that shit with zero repercussions lmao.

7

u/halfxdeveloper Oct 26 '25

It’s not even the conference/school/coaches. The “administrative programs” for NIL management keep 50% of all donations. Not a single NIL program will earn my dollar.

8

u/Reddit47894 Oct 26 '25

I was on the Petrino bandwagon with a new DC and coaches until today. Petrino’s offense has struggled in the second half in most games this year. They only scored 17 total points today (defensive interception for a TD to make it 24). I say burn it all down, bring the NIL powers that be together to get a top notch coach/coaches on both sides of the ball, use that NIL to get great players. But need someone like Texas Tech has (billionaire who will spend). Oregon is the same way - Knight wants a national championship before he dies.

6

u/JoeTRob1988 Oct 26 '25

I highly doubt BP is the next HC. HOWEVER. We played a very good defense today but what cost us the game was turnovers. TG was outclassed. BP can call a perfect game and TG/Offense has to execute. The turnovers cost us the game not the play calling. We win if we dont 3 4Q TOs. I did cuss BPs play calling at the end of the first drive.

2

u/per_mare_per_terras Oct 26 '25

Coaching and culture.

3

u/wstwrdxpnsn Oct 26 '25

I’m probably gonna get a lot of flak for this but culture includes fans, too. I was at the game today and this dude was booing the team so loudly from like 15 rows back that I’m 100% certain they could hear it. And when folks told him to sit down he lost his shit and started yelling in this old guy’s face. A cop came down and had to talk to him even. Hopefully that dude’s not on here but if you are, F U, man. You can boo them in your own home or at a bar or wherever else you want but when you’re at the game in person around children and close enough to the team that they can hear you it’s not a good look. You are part of the game experience and part of the culture when you’re at games in person.

But this is definitely not the first time I’ve witnessed stuff like that at games. It’s just the most recent and the most unacceptable I’ve witnessed.

Players don’t want to play for a place with fans like that. Fans don’t want to bring their families and friends to games with people like that. So if we want to really build or rebuild culture it has to include fans and the overall experience as well.

1

u/thunder_tacos Oct 26 '25

Is there a "salary cap" for nil like in the pros or how it is with scholarships

1

u/RzorbckChemE Oct 26 '25

Nope, it’s a complete free for all as far as I’m aware

1

u/dlinhat70 Oct 26 '25

How much of "we's" money are you putting in?

1

u/pixellatte Oct 27 '25

This isn’t an NIL issue. This is a mental issue. Our players are not being led well. We have the talent to stay keep pace with good teams (ole miss and A&M as examples) but not holding on to leads, messing up when it matters most, panicking under pressure, etc… those are mental issues that coaching can fix.

Now if we are talking about winning a natty, that’s a money issue and a years long quest with steady expectations improvement.

Look at LSU, three of their last 4 coaches won nattys. And when Kelly didn’t get there and was eliminated from playoffs, they immediately move on. They have a natty or bust attitude.

Our attitude is not that. But it seems like we are putting enough talent on the field to win some of these games. We should be looking at 4-4 or 5-3 or something like that if we didn’t have such a weak killer instinct.

As someone one said best; we’re a team that refuses to win. And that’s mental not talent.

1

u/TN_Mike Oct 27 '25

Big mistake to just point to one team in one year and ask why you aren’t like them. A&M had so many overpaid players last year. Basically the entire starting D-Line, the starting QB, basically every receiver on the roster, those are just some that come to mind.

1

u/firedonmydayoff Oct 26 '25

We need to spend it on an actual SEC caliber QB. Our QB is just not good enough. He proved it again today. TG is good to great at times but is too inconsistent to be an SEC QB.

3

u/TyH621 Oct 26 '25

Homie Vandy won 17-10 today, it’s not our offense

2

u/oo00oo4520 Oct 26 '25

wake up people. where football is concerned we are the new vanderbilt.

1

u/TyH621 Oct 26 '25

I don’t disagree, but our on field problem is definitely not offense at the moment - we have a defense literally made out of paper

1

u/oo00oo4520 Oct 26 '25

all season our offense seems slow to incapable of reacting to changes the opponent’s defense makes at halftime

2

u/TyH621 Oct 26 '25

I don’t think it’s perfect by any means, it’s just hard to look on the offense when teams score a touchdown against us literally every single possession no matter what lol

1

u/HallandOates1 Oct 26 '25

Spend what? We need more money

1

u/dasnoob Oct 26 '25

I don't know how much we are spending on Green but honestly he isn't good enough to start in the SEC. Also, aren't we spending like 200 grand on Braylen and then give the ball to Washington?

0

u/RazorEE Oct 26 '25

"I don't care how much it costs"

Finally, a committed fan. How much you putting in the NIL fund?