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BU's new NIL collective- GXG Elite

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boognish_bear
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boognish_bear
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https://www.on3.com/nil/news/gxg-elite-launches-nil-membership-program-baylor-bears-startup-waco/

GXG Elite launches as NIL membership program for Baylor fans

Pete Nakos
Baylor is one of the few Power 5 markets that went through Year 1 of NIL without a dedicated collective.

The Bears now have GXG, which serves as a non-profit organization that partners with donors to provide NIL options to Baylor athletes. Run as a wing of StartUp Waco, since its launch this summer, the platform established a local marketplace and accepts donations, evolving into an NIL collective.

Now it is introducing GXG Elite, which will serve as an NIL membership program for Baylor fans and donors. The program will offer a range of exclusive benefits, including access to special events, behind-the-scenes content and unique merchandise and memorabilia. Plans are in place for the program to fully launch later this year.

The hope behind GXG Elite is to provide an unprecedented level of interaction between fans and athletes. Members of the program will be able to connect with athletes through live question-and-answer sessions and in-person meetups.

"At GXG, we believe that the NIL space represents a huge opportunity to create value for fans and athletes alike," GXG COO Jacob Kehoe wrote in a letter to the advisory board provided to On3. "With the GXG Elite, we are taking our commitment to this space to the next level, offering fans and athletes an experience that is truly one-of-a-kind."

When GXG launched, the long-term goal was to strike team-wide NIL deals with each program at Baylor. That's still the plan with the announcement of GXG Elite. All funds raised are tax-deductible because of the organization's 501(c)(3) status.

GXG now dubs itself an "NIL initiative for Baylor student-athletes." The collective has partnered with a number of Waco businesses, bringing them into the GXG marketplace.

"We understand that the NIL space is still in its infancy, and there are many challenges to overcome," Kehoe wrote in the letter. "But we are confident that with the right approach and the right team, we can build something truly special that benefits everyone involved."

NIL-driven relationship between Baylor, GXG

Tuesday's announcement was made in partnership with Baylor athletics. Back in October, GXG struck a sponsorship deal through LEARFIELD, which allowed the organization to have a digital presence on BaylorBears.com, social media messaging and e-mail marketing.

The relationship between the two entities evolved in January, when the athletic department announced the formation of an NIL advisory council. The group was charged with managing Baylor's partnership with StartUp Waco CEO Jon Passavant and former Baylor quarterback Cody Carlson to manage funds directed to GXG.

Mark McCollum serves as the chair. Kevin Cherry, Jeremy Fudge, Cary Gray, Larry Heard and Dan Hord also sit on the council. All are business professionals and Baylor graduates. Because of the NCAA's NIL guidance in October, Baylor is able to endorse and promote GXG.
RegentCoverup
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boognish_bear said:

https://www.on3.com/nil/news/gxg-elite-launches-nil-membership-program-baylor-bears-startup-waco/


Mark McCollum serves as the chair. Kevin Cherry, Jeremy Fudge, Cary Gray, Larry Heard and Dan Hord also sit on the council. All are business professionals and Baylor graduates. Because of the NCAA's NIL guidance in October, Baylor is able to endorse and promote GXG.
ok, so let me get this straight.

They want us to donate money?

And they want to take the money and they promise to use it.
boognish_bear
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boognish_bear
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TellMeYouLoveMe said:

boognish_bear said:

https://www.on3.com/nil/news/gxg-elite-launches-nil-membership-program-baylor-bears-startup-waco/


Mark McCollum serves as the chair. Kevin Cherry, Jeremy Fudge, Cary Gray, Larry Heard and Dan Hord also sit on the council. All are business professionals and Baylor graduates. Because of the NCAA's NIL guidance in October, Baylor is able to endorse and promote GXG.
ok, so let me get this straight.

They want us to donate money?

And they want to take the money and they promise to use it.


I'm far from expert on this....but my original understanding of NIL was it would allow athletes to earn money from businesses that used them for promotion/endorsements. I didn't understand it to be asking fans to donate money to be given to the athletes.
RegentCoverup
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boognish_bear said:

TellMeYouLoveMe said:

boognish_bear said:

https://www.on3.com/nil/news/gxg-elite-launches-nil-membership-program-baylor-bears-startup-waco/


Mark McCollum serves as the chair. Kevin Cherry, Jeremy Fudge, Cary Gray, Larry Heard and Dan Hord also sit on the council. All are business professionals and Baylor graduates. Because of the NCAA's NIL guidance in October, Baylor is able to endorse and promote GXG.
ok, so let me get this straight.

They want us to donate money?

And they want to take the money and they promise to use it.


I'm far from expert on this....but my original understanding of NIL was it would allow athletes to earn money from businesses that used them for promotion/endorsements. I didn't understand it to be asking fans to donate money to be given to the athletes.
I think all possibilities seem to be on the table, LOL.

No worries, I don't think the release tells you enough to guess.
Mr Tulip
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NIL = Name, Image, Likeness. In short, you own your ability to make money promoting yourself. The same way stars earn fees from appearing at promotions or ComiCons, NCAA athletes can earn money from promoting products or businesses.

We understand how something like, say, a car dealership sponsorship would work. The athlete gets paid for appearing in a commercial. Earns a fee for being at the dealership signing autographs on Saturday or what-have-you. An athlete could promote his own line of products with his brand, name, or image on it. That's easily understood.

Well, charities pay celebrities to endorse them, too. exactly what it takes to establish a non-profit entity is beyond this posting, but those charities do exist. If an athlete promoted the Salvation Army or March of Dimes, they could get paid for it. That's long time established.

Now, a group of Baylor fans could get together, contribute seed money, and establish the "Green-n-Gold Forever" charity. They could set up boards, bylaws, officers, and everything else legally required. All that stuff is public and auditable. Nothing illegal or unethical on its face if it's done by the rules.

This charity will compensate Baylor athletes for promoting or working with the charity. Usually the charity will have to make disbursements to its stated goal, like cleaning up communities or reading to shut-ins, I don't know. Just follow the rules.

This is all, of course, a not-at-all veiled plan to get money into the hands of Baylor athletes. I want to emphasize that it's all very public, very transparent, and does have some measure of public good when the charity makes its necessary contributions. It does, however, require more than a little bit of startup money. You don't want to promise payouts of $5,000 per year to 100 students, then discover your $1 million startup drive only funded the first couple of years. You need donors that can fund buildings, fund projects, AND kick out scads of cash to endow a charity to the mid 8 figure range to make it credible.
JP1037
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NIL is no longer based on the intended use. I don't know if there was ever even an attempt to make it legit.

It's the wild west now and coaches and schools are funneling a pool of money to recruits and current players to keep them from transferring. Anyone saying schools and coaches don't guide the big money is lying to themselves.

I honestly don't see how this can sustain itself. I also don't see how one can take pride in their team winning just because their fans paid a lot more money for players. It a blow to all mid level schools. Kids used to come to Baylor because we were a unique school of faith vs. the average state school. That doesn't matter nearly as much now for 4 star players and above. It's just about money.

I don't blame the players of this game. I blame the game.

parch
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I still don't understand our NIL approach. The way all this was and is worded is that they're targeting average fans for a donation pool. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that, but that still appears to be all we're doing, or at the very least the vast majority of it. Failing that, Startup Waco and Baylor by proxy are just not doing a very good job explaining what all this is and how they're organizing efforts.

No major program is going to their rank-and-file fan base for their NIL strategy. Those collectives are set up explicitly for major donors to pull strings behind closed doors - the only things they're announcing is how much the players get paid, not who can give.

I know all this is new but I just think we're fumbling our NIL approach.
RegentCoverup
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parch said:

I still don't understand our NIL approach. The way all this was and is worded is that they're targeting average fans for a donation pool. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that, but that still appears to be all we're doing, or at the very least the vast majority of it. Failing that, Startup Waco and Baylor by proxy are just not doing a very good job explaining what all this is and how they're organizing efforts.


Good characterization, Parch.

It looks like three accountants and a lawyer drafted a press release. They have grand ideas and want YOUR money.

No description of the customer, benefits or value proposition.
Mr Tulip
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I agree that that's what I'm seeing. It looks like sort of a launch pad for "regular" fans that want to get involved. I don't think there's anything nefarious (unless the creators are pocketing a subjectively unfair piece of the donations in their roles), but this approach isn't going to keep Baylor in the NIL game.

In my role as a Texas fan, I see the donors that cut six figure donations to the Longhorn Foundation for the privilege of retaining the half-million dollar sky boxes. There's a waiting list for them. Getting a a couple dozen of these guys in play means putting together a $30million 501(c) charitable endowment which earns a couple million per year in returns. With those returns, you're free to promise $50,000 annual contracts to multiple levels of Texas athletics - not just football. The money will always be there.

Obviously, Texas is an extreme case. Most programs cannot leverage that kind of cash. It's exactly the kind of unbalanced field that the NCAA sought to prevent. Over time, though, college athletics made commercial entities like Nike, Gatorade, etc billions of dollars per year while simultaneously denying the athletes an extra sandwich. Before you start devising a reasonable middle ground, recall that the US Supreme Court warned the NCAA that the next lawsuit they get will lead to the dissolution of the NCAA.

Aliceinbubbleland
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Mr Tulip,

I remember the 1960 UT game in Waco before 50,000 (unfortunately we lost) and paid $4.00 for tickets and the game was played without advertisement delays.

Games were either played at 2pm or 8 pm and over in about 2 1/2 hours.

We've moved so far backwards from that date and continue to retreat.

The drawback was UT could sit an unbelievable amount of talent on the bench while the rest of the SWC was limited until aggy opened up Fedex and SMU bought Pony Express. I prefer those days.
boognish_bear
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Ghostrider
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Incredible. Finding a way for fans to pay players while the university keeps all the $$$. What a scam.
fredbear
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I don't like NIL, but it is the new universe. I would be cautious before I throw stones at this idea or their board. Given the names, these guys seem to be very successful business persons who have ALREADY donated very much to BU athletic causes. They are givers not takers and are trying to broaden the tent to let us all step in and participate. I appreciate their efforts to put BU in the race. We can't sit back and carp if we don't engage in new avenues that promote better recruiting. Suspicion might not be the best starting position, perhaps gratitude works better.
Mitch Blood Green
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RegentCoverup said:

boognish_bear said:

https://www.on3.com/nil/news/gxg-elite-launches-nil-membership-program-baylor-bears-startup-waco/


Mark McCollum serves as the chair. Kevin Cherry, Jeremy Fudge, Cary Gray, Larry Heard and Dan Hord also sit on the council. All are business professionals and Baylor graduates. Because of the NCAA's NIL guidance in October, Baylor is able to endorse and promote GXG.
ok, so let me get this straight.

They want us to donate money?

And they want to take the money and they promise to use it.


I see them the same way I see Tiger's girlfriend. She's not sank a 14 foot put on 18 at Augusta. Why should she get money?
PartyBear
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Baylor's approach is like the approach it took when the facility wars broke out 30-35 years ago. (It took Baylor about 20 years in before it figured out it really did need to join the facility wars and that is when Baylor's athletic fortunes took off). It seems to show a thinking that rather than it being a new world they better jump into, they view it as a temporary fad during which they can get away with doing the bare minimal.
boognish_bear
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boognish_bear
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Surely the feds can fix this

boognish_bear
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Russell Gym
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Baylor Football's NIL plan is to provide each player with a basic "something." Beyond that, any additional NIL income will come from whatever the players seek out individually.

Huge, university-led payments to players will not happen at Baylor like they are happening at some other P5s.

The head coach is comfortable with the plan.
Ghostrider
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Russell Gym said:

Baylor Football's NIL plan is to provide each player with a basic "something." Beyond that, any additional NIL income will come from whatever the players seek out individually.

Huge, university-led payments to players will not happen at Baylor like they are happening at some other P5s.

The head coach is comfortable with the plan.


Hence, forget about top players coming to bu or the CFP.
bear2be2
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Ghostrider said:

Russell Gym said:

Baylor Football's NIL plan is to provide each player with a basic "something." Beyond that, any additional NIL income will come from whatever the players seek out individually.

Huge, university-led payments to players will not happen at Baylor like they are happening at some other P5s.

The head coach is comfortable with the plan.
Hence, forget about top players coming to bu or the CFP.
Baylor has won three Big 12 championships and played for another without recruiting "top players." We've never swam in that pool.
Ghostrider
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bear2be2 said:

Ghostrider said:

Russell Gym said:

Baylor Football's NIL plan is to provide each player with a basic "something." Beyond that, any additional NIL income will come from whatever the players seek out individually.

Huge, university-led payments to players will not happen at Baylor like they are happening at some other P5s.

The head coach is comfortable with the plan.
Hence, forget about top players coming to bu or the CFP.
Baylor has won three Big 12 championships and played for another without recruiting "top players." We've never swam in that pool.
Had a QB whisperer though....
boognish_bear
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T-REX
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boognish_bear said:


non-story. Guy is clout chasing
DFW Baylor Social Media Promoter
Baylor MBA 2023
THE BAYLOR APOLOGY TOUR IS OVER!!!
Twitter: T_REX1991
Instagram: t_rex_bu
T-REX
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DFW Baylor Social Media Promoter
Baylor MBA 2023
THE BAYLOR APOLOGY TOUR IS OVER!!!
Twitter: T_REX1991
Instagram: t_rex_bu
boognish_bear
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