hodedofome said:
Big guy said:
hodedofome said:
I don't see how anyone can compete with Oregon on NIL.
....... or Texas or aggy or Michigan or Ohio St.....
Oregon is completely different because of Nike and Phil Knight. They can throw ridiculous millions at college athletes and expect a real ROI. They've been doing it for decades with pro athletes, and can use the same playbook at Oregon. Nobody else has the backing of one of the largest companies in the world like that.
I understand and somewhat agree with your general premise - Knight is a very generous donor to Oregon - how can anyone compete with that? However it is not that simplistic.
No business is going to just throw money at a person unless they feel there is a high percentage of likelihood that they get a great return on it.
Nike's all-time move was getting MJ to sign on. Sure they bent over and agreed to pay him per shoe - no other company had ever done that and no one else was even offering that. However, MJ was a once in a lifetime athlete and he alone sent Nike's stock to the moon. Jordan's are still the #1 basketball shoe and he's been retired for what, 2 decades now?
Oregon is not going to be able to just dip in the Nike money well to get anyone they want.
Throwing money at high school kids who have no obligation to stay and who may transfer a year later, isn't a successful business model. Plus, football is a lot different than basketball. Football shoes don't fly off the shelves and make up the majority of the sneaker market. It's basketball shoes that own it. Nike isn't going to sign up some WR or OL or QB out of high school to a multi year mega deal to get them to play for Oregon because the risks are too high and no one is going to give a **** about a kid who hasn't even stepped on the playing field yet. That is - people aren't going to rush out and buy the shoes - even if the kid has a good freshman season at Oregon.
Now, if Knight just wants to blow a bunch of
his personal money because he is bored and thinks that will help out the football team - I guess that's a possibility. But that's not what I would be worried about. What we need to worry about is when TV revenue gets shared with players and there isn't a CBA / salary cap and a fair structure across the board (unlikely). The Big 12 and ACC is making half of what the B10 and SEC makes. It will end up being akin to baseball. The b10 and sec will be the majors and the acc and Big 12 will be AA ball.