#3 - More Money More Problems

This week your hosts recap a historic national championship for Michigan and evaluate the current transfer portal. They also dive deeper behinds the scenes of third party media rights sellers and how they are at the forefront of NIL negotiations. Is this structure sustainable? Who is making the decisions when it comes to players' future funds?

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

And we are live. Another episode of Future Funds here today. I'm Hallie. Walt. Back at it again. Another exciting episode. Felt like uh last week. Fit a lot in, you know. Talked coaching, talked a little portal, teased a little bit about some of the third-party conversation we'll be talking about today. Gonna do a quick recap as usual. What'd you think of the March Madness final, the Final Four, all that good stuff?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Yaxel.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Yeah, Yaxel.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

I couldn't be happier. I mean, it was cool to see somebody like that, like a JUCO kid. Yeah. Works his tail off at UAB, which is not a bad school, but like thinking of a Mecca. And then goes to Michigan. You know, Elliot Cadeau carried the team in the championship game, but they're not there without Lennon Boris. Absolutely not. So, like, and quite frankly, I was not sold on Dusty. Really? Like at FAU, I thought, okay, Cinderella story. Like, okay, this happened. George Mason. Butler. Like, it happens. That's where my mind was when he was at FAU. I'm thinking, oh, Michigan's a a step up. You know, and then he comes out and is like, doing what he's doing, doing his thing, natty in year two. Suck me. That's why. Because that's it was cool to see. It was cool. Obviously, I know you like your boy. Dude. Love Hurley. It couldn't have happened. I will say this. I like that he was like appreciative of Dusty winning it. I thought that was really cool. Yeah. And you know I'm not sold on Hurley, like as like a human being.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

But like it was really cool to see just like him be like, oh man, I mean, it's cool. It's amazing what he did. And like. Yeah. Plus, I think you mentioned it five first time ever, five transfers started.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah, it's definitely um changing the narrative and uh turning a new page and not just college basketball, but college athletics in general, with uh five transfers, all all or five starters being all transfers, um which is a good thing, is it a bad thing? I don't know. I mean, yeah, I like it. It's different. I think it shows that you know uh Yoxtel, Yoxel Yax is like you said, a great example of a guy who bat like probably 10 years ago, let's say, wouldn't be in that position. No, and honestly, his draft stock is kind of speaking for itself at this point. I I love, yes, I was on Yukon bandwagon, wanted to see Hurley secure another one. Um, frankly, at the 16-minute mark, I turned off the game because I was like, this is kind of over. I didn't see the end of the game. Regardless, um, you know, I I think Yoxel, like pulling it out with the injury, too.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Well, yeah, we were watching that together, and like I think that's another thing. Five transfers, typically older guys, when that happens. Yeah, that's the difference in mentality of a guy who's had to bust his ass for that position. Elliot Cadeau was I don't know, I don't remember if he was a five-star coming out of high school, but when he went to North Carolina, he was a coveted recruit. I'm not saying he's not tough because he's a tough kid too, you know. But like looking at our boy Yox, that dude is tough as shit. He took the injury, came back in, whether it was a decoy or not, came back in, then hits two threes on that ankle. Yeah. That is wild. Arizona stood no chance. Michigan played out of their minds, make no mistake, but I don't think they would have won even if they didn't. Like they looked really good. And I think that's what we're seeing now with these transfers and this age, and like to your point, you're giving a guy who's busted his ass a chance, and I love that. Because he just proved it. He proves why he should get obviously it's March Madness, but I'm gonna use Trinidad. I like Trinidad Chambless, I'm a fan. Yeah. So I'm glad he's getting another year to prove himself. Like he works hard, he does what he needs to do, and he plays football.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

So, yeah. Damn.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

I like it.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Elliot Cadot, uh, just to kind of like fact check you a little bit, he's the number one point guard in his class. Top 15 national prospect. Fun fact, New Jersey guy. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

So that's so that's again though, like it goes to show like I'm not he he was very good. I'm not saying he was not. I just think that if you can utilize the transfer like Lindenborg did, yeah, look at where he is now. Cadet's gonna be good no matter where he. I mean, you don't just lose fucking five-star talent.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Lindenborg created five-star talent.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

I think that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Yeah, no, no, definitely uh awesome. And props to Dusty.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Old Dusty Gooch.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Dude, he's only gonna go off from here and to circle back to a conversation we had last week, and uh we'll continue to kind of dive into the world of college coaching and the ever never-ending roller coaster as we described it last week. Um, UNC finds their guy in Michael Malone. What's your take? I loved, I think the first thing I heard was they asked Jay Williams about it before the national championship. And him being a Duke guy, I'm like, ah great, some garbage is gonna spew out of his mouth because you never know what him and um Billets are gonna say. Not that, not to diss them, but like they're Duke guys, right? When they're at Cameron indoor for college game day, they very clearly have a bias. Like, they're not hiding it. And again, great, I I I think they're great, but he was like, this is not UNC. And I thought it was a negative at first, and he's like, this is awesome. They played a wild card here, did something no one was expecting, and he described it as he coaches with friction, you know, and either you're gonna succeed or you're not, which I think is what is the case regardless, right? Regardless of who you hire, it's you don't know until they get to that level. But uh I actually saw his like press conference this morning. I don't know if you watched it. I had no clue. His daughter goes to UNC.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah, I watched a little bit of it. I think it's I think it's a home run hire. My boy is a big UNC fan. And uh he was like, ah, I don't know, like the recruiting. And I'm like, look, I think it's weird. We don't know what happened with the Nuggets. I do think there was some player disagreement. Jokic does not seem to be the guy who had player disagreement or Jamal Murray. It seemed to be some others and some front office shit from like context clues. Yeah. If you can coach those guys, you're pulling recruits. I don't care who you are. Like, I know a lot of the time Billy Donovan's a good example of college to pro doesn't work. Pro to college. Here's a name for you. Yes, he started in college. Uh Cal. Yeah. Rick Petino. Nick Saban. These guys went to pro, came back and dominated. Yeah. So I I he's a younger coach. I love the pro ties. I think he's gonna have a four and I look for UNC to be back. Really? Yeah, maybe not year one. Like maybe that it's a tourney run, and I think fans should be happy with that because it's like first year coach tourney run, that's pretty damn impressive. I'm telling you, when he gets going on that train, because think about it, what has college athletics become? Transfer portal. A business. Yeah. What was he just in? A business. Yeah. Who better to understand what that looks like than a guy like that? Understand quote unquote cap space. True. I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

I'm just got a guy who knows that stuff. Donors gotta be happy too because he knows how to manage that. And, you know, other college coaches, maybe coming from a Kentucky or a Michigan or uh UCLA, where maybe the donors are like, we just want to be back up there. We want to be winning. I don't care what the price tag is, I will write a check because I can. Um, so I I think they gotta be smiling, like, okay, like, yeah, we're gonna spend money, but I'm sure this guy knows how to manage everything. I guess my question to you is you said you you see maybe a 20-run year one. What's the time frame like? Because that's what we talked about so much last week. Of you've got Duke, you've got Kentucky, you've got Cal at Arkansas. Now Dusty, year two, is winning a championship, which is the flip side of the argument. Do you set the timeline reassessing, reevaluating at year three? Is that too soon? Is it too late?

SPEAKER_00 9:50

I think at a school like that, with what's going on, one, if I'm alone, I'm like telling donors, this is where your future funds are going to. Like, for real, at the end of the day, I'm I'm sitting them down and I'm like, here's the cap. Here's what we know we can clear through the clearing house. This is what we could work with. I can allocate XYZ amount towards this player, this player, this player, this player. Go get three dogs. Yeah. And then fill around them. He's gonna have that plan of attack. Right? He's not filling needs, he's having a plan of attack. Coming from the pro world, I feel like that's what he's gonna have. Whereas a lot of guys are just like, oh, we gotta scramble and build a team. Right? So he's gonna have a plan of attack, which I think is good, but you have to. It is a very real thing now. They do it in the pros, which he's used to. So I think that's kind of cool too. How many times do they fire people in the pros after two years? He's used to that pressure, and he still won with that pressure. One championship. With a franchise, won a championship. Yeah, with a franchise, by the way, that was it hasn't seen Carmelo Anthony in a while. So it's like, you know, but nowadays, man, uh as much as I hate it, year three is a reevaluation year. Oh, absolutely. And year four, you're fired if you're not getting there. Absolutely. Right? Like, look, look at Kentucky. They're calling for Pope's head. Right? This is year three. What would we consider it? A re-evaluation year. Is he gone? Now there's some stipulations at a school like that, AD change, things like that.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Nonetheless, like you kind of look at it and go, well, that's the nature of the beast. Shire's no danger. He he's also in danger. I think he has a little bit more like claim to stay because Final Four, Elite A.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Frankly, we we talked about it last week. I do not understand where it's coming from because, like we said, Coach K was not successful right off the bat, obviously, different day and age. Um, but I mean, it's it's gonna change a lot too. Not just at UNC, everywhere. Uh definitely wanted to talk about this, but Trump potentially signing the executive order to put some more rules and guidelines in um college athletics eligibility-wise, transfer portal, stuff like that. Uh, just a brief overview. I'll kind of pull it up here if my computer wants to load.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

We are going to. I don't know, man. Like, I think, does it pass? I don't think it does. I I well, it's an executive order, though. Yeah, I know, but it can still get overturned.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Okay. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

So I I like, I mean, it kind of kicks it back old school. Question is this, and this is kind of where my head goes if you're passing that, are you still letting the NIL be the Wild West? Like no salary cap almost? You can't have it every way. You'll get sued into oblivion, or like we've said before, players will lock out. They just won't play. And then you're gonna get a shitty product. Because the ones that will play are the ones that are good ball players but not great ball players. You're getting a bunch of guys that you don't really know, and like the pros. Do the pros go back to the 18 rule where you can come out of high school if you're ready and go to the NBA? There's a lot of what ifs on the money side. I think if you sign the five and five rule, I'm for it. But then you have to unfortunately let it be the Wild West with money. Because or you're not gonna retain guys. They'll just go pros they can.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Yeah, right now it's really just put putting structure around the transfer rules. Um, like like you said, five years of eligibility, one-time transferring. My question is I don't know this too much, and and you might have a better grasp of it, but players declaring for the draft but retaining eligibility.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

I hate it.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

I really don't get what you just can declare for the draft, but say, Oh, if I don't like where I get drafted, I can come back. Which I'm not a so it's like the MLB coming out of high school pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

But that's the you just said it. That's high school. Yeah. These guys made a decision. And and this here we go, down this fucking rabbit hole of NIL, but you look at it from a sense of, oh, I don't I don't look at that and go, oh man, like, oh, it's okay, dude. Like, you gave it your best shot, come back to school. I don't look at it like that. And I know it's probably a 50-50 split take, and feel free to, you know, drop a comment below the podcast or whatever you want to do. I'd love to discuss it because like some people are like, oh, but it's you know, hey, like, let them come back. Like, let's uh fuck that. You just told me you want to leave me.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

To try to go to the NBA. Go. If you don't make it, join the millions of other people who didn't make it. Like, I know that sounds crazy, but now here's why I don't like it. It's a launching point for people to try to get more NIL. That's all you're doing. True. Hey, my draft stock isn't high enough, so I'm gonna hit the portal, enter the draft. Now people know I'm available. And if I grade in the second round, you're getting a pro. I can ask for more when I come back to college. That's what it feels like to me with NIL. That's what it feels like when you talk about this draft. That's why I'm like, if you're gonna do the five and five rule, I'm for it. Because you're gonna have to, you have to stay. Sure, you might get that one transfer, but then if you try to go again, you have to sit out a year and you've just hurt yourself.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

So now what? You're either going pro or you're done. Like, God, man, NIL has changed so much shit, dude. So much. Because back in the day, man, you used to just be a grad guy. Here's your extra year of eligibility, and you can transfer because you're a grad guy. But if you transfer any other way, unless a coach leaves, then you have to sit out a year.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Yeah, I mean, just talking about like the draft and all that. You got Moreno out of Kentucky, you've got the guard out of Nova both declaring but keeping their eligibility. Who knows? Like, I mean, Jaden Quayton's out of Kentucky as well as another one who I could very well see entering the draft, but retaining his eligibility, had was injured all year, had a one good performance out of the two games he played. Um, and I mean, there's still really I can't think of anyone off the top of my head big that has been like, yeah, I'm going to the draft. Probably because they're getting paid more money. Now, I think another name uh out of BYU, Diabot, however you pronounce that, um, his boy, the guard there, right, I think.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

The point guard, Rob Wright.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Yeah, Rob Wright. Yeah, here we go. Robert Wright III hit the portal, averaging 18 points, almost five assists, and 41% from three. So now, if you're AJ, are you looking at that? Like, alright, I'm already down a guard. Do you might be throwing a lot of money at me, but do I really want to come back and ha because in my mind, that also I don't want to say it sets him up for failure, but like you're the guy.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

That that was far and away your number two. So you're taking that away.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

And um Yeah, who had him going number one?

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Really?

SPEAKER_00 18:05

AJ. I mean, you don't pass that up. Quite frankly, if you're in the top five, you go. Why would you not? I'm gonna be real with you. Like, watching him play, I think he's a good basketball player. He's nothing like, I'm like, oh, whoa, holy shit. He's not like Jokic. He's not somebody that I go like, wow. I'll be honest, hot take. And I love him as a basketball player. I think he's a really good basketball player. I don't think Cooper Flag's that good. He's just an athletic guy who can get to the cup. He's very hard to stop getting to the cup. His shot is okay. His ball handling skills, okay. His defense, okay. I mean, in reality, that's what we're getting now in the NBA. Your Kevin Durant, your LeBron James, your James Harden of the world. I'll even go younger. Your Anthony Edwards, your Tyrese Maxis. Those guys who want to go out and play basketball are starting to not exist. It's starting to become a contract war. And guess where that's starting, though? College. College. It is. It really is. This is gonna have to be something we discuss, I think, later on in a future episode. The influx of foreign players to college. It's ridiculous. It's gotta be NIL, man, because like this is this is the most I've ever seen. Yeah. And it's gotta be something. I I'd be curious. I'd be curious about the numbers behind it. That's why I think it's it's a NIL topic for sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

What? So you kind of said like top five, you're not. There's no amount of money that's bringing you back to school. Where in the draft do you think you gotta be for like a five million? We'll ballpark park it at five, a five million dollar offer to come through from a blue blood, and you'd be like, okay, yeah, I'm I'm gonna go back.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Me personally, if I'm a fringe lotto pick, so one through fourteen, if I'm fringe and I'm like sitting at that 20 to 25 mark, and I know coming back to the right team, could you get me into that one through 14 and be a lotto pick, and I know that, or I'm going to the NBA and I'm playing on a roster, I would come back. If the right blue blood, if Kansas calls me with Adidas money and goes, six mil is easy for you. One year, that's all we need.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Yeah. Yeah. Sign me up to wear those shitty sunflower uniforms that you made. Sure. Put them over my nips. I don't care. I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

Which it's funny too, because they've got Mullins going 13 to the Warriors out of can can Connecticut.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

I would say that's an interesting one because we talked about that as we watched in this past weekend. I would maybe, if I'm him, I would actually maybe think about coming back. I think you can milk that. Which I hate saying because obviously that that's what we're talking about at the end. I don't know what it's doing in sports, but we watched the same guy. Yeah. I didn't see a 13 pick.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Like Final Four and championship game, I'm not gonna lie, I kind of started to see it. Some of those boards he was grabbing, like down low up against Michigan. I was like, okay, I could see the athleticism.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

I'm gonna throw a name out there. You ready for this? Ooh, I'm so ready. And all our funders listening. Sam Decker. How'd I know that's where you were going? Regular season. Good. Blew up in the tour. Unstoppable. Where'd he go? Was he not like a top 10?

SPEAKER_02 22:12

He was like uh he was, I think, just outside the lottery.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

I do not think he's in the NBA. I do not think he's there anymore.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

American basketball small forward. Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Considering the first picture that pops up on Google is him wearing a jersey I don't recognize.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Pro ballers.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Overseas guy.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

I guess.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

What's nothing wrong with that?

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Toronto? That was in 21-22. But he didn't even play. Yeah, that's a great example, though. I mean.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Except Sam didn't get to capitalize on NIL. So of course you're gonna go. Makes sense. That's that's just the weird thing. I just think like if I'm that guy, Mullins, I'd think about it. That's all I'm saying. I'd think about it. Because we live in a world. You know? We live in a world.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Yeah, and I mean if uh if Yukon's willing to pay for Hurley and his crazy wife to stick around, then might as well at least give it a try. But yeah, I mean he was 18th overall in the 2015 NBA draft to the Houston Rockets. Which is interesting. But yeah, that's a that's a great point. Also, like just going back to Yoxel, like shows he was a guy who, when all eyes were on him, it's like I'm gonna play through this injury. I think there's like some people. Did Mikel Brown end up playing for Louisville? I don't think so. No, I don't think so. Did Peterson play? Yes. They didn't go far though.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

No.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

So like you got some and honestly, you could tell because I didn't even know if Peterson played or not. But you can tell, like, some players now the money or the draft stock is like, okay, never mind, I'm good. I think Cal was great at it, like watching videos and hearing about how he approached that because so many people criticized him for the one and done and him just kind of talking to his players, and if he felt you were ready.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

What was at college that wasn't in the NBA? You have to go and take care of your family too. And now you can take care of your family off of the money you're getting paid in college. But back then, it was like, what am I doing for you here?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Football, the goat. What did he used to tell recruits? Do not worry about now in the NIO. Worry about the next 40 years in the NFL. Nick Sabin would tell him that. Like, you're worried about NIO. I'm trying to get you to a place where you make that money for 20 years. That's out the window. Now, everybody, to your point, is worried about how much can I make now? Yeah, I want to go to the NBA, but in reality, like I can make a shitload here. Now, do I think there's still some kids that like our dream, like I want to go to the NBA? Caleb Wilson, I hate that he broke his hand again. Yeah. Because he came back way earlier than people to play, and he actually played and hurt his hand. Like, I give credit where credit's due, you know? Whereas some of these kids are kind of like, like I saw a video, one of my favorite college ball players this year, LeBaron Phylon. Right? He posted it, I don't know if you saw it, of you know, everybody who follows sports and basketball. JQ was a huge Jake Quainks was a big issue. All over the news, didn't play, knee swelling, whatever this reports are coming out of Kentucky. That's for Kentucky to decide. But like hammering some dunks in a workout with LeBaron was there. And I'm just like, huh. You're fine now. And maybe he's not, you know, or how much this is where the NIL piece comes in, because how much sway did his dad have? Was his dad up his ass? Was a family member? Was an agent? See, it sucks because we don't know. I'm not him. Yeah. We he could have really wanted to play. And they were like, uh, let's not risk anything. Yeah, well, by not risking it, you were a lotto pick to start the year. You are now, I think, last pick in the first round. And that's just for now.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

They have them 14, actually. Which one? That was ESPN. So I don't know how up to date. Da. Da, ya.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Very good, yeah. I'd take Yaxel over him. Oh, absolutely. I want a guy who can almost break his ankle and come back and hit two threes.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Yeah. I think Yoxel is just amazing. Yoxel is just a better ball press. I get I guess to who's in the room making that decision for JQ? Is it is it him? Is he the one saying, I want to prioritize? Because we touched on it last week. You've got the agent in the room now. You've got parents, which more often than not, I will say the parent is not the issue. They are like, I just want what's best for you. Yeah. I'm sure, as most parents in the world are. But when you get into these money situations, you notice, and especially with social media, parents have a platform now, and it's like, okay, I can pretty much I'm half I'm a pseudo celebrity. Yeah. So, you know, you get in a a room with the player, their family, the coach, and uh the agent, and I'll I'll throw in our our other favorite people in the world, third party. Who is sitting there and saying, Yep, this is the money. This is which side, like, what do you think goes down in one of those negotiation rooms?

SPEAKER_00 28:51

Let's throw agents, family, player out window. I think now it starts with the third party sponsorships. That's where I think it starts. They're the ones in college athletics that have a huge piece and a huge play in a lot of different. It's no longer just multimedia rights. It's not. It's a business model. NIU. I just saw NIU posting pictures of how cool would it be to have your business on this jersey. Jersey patches, dude. NIU. Yeah. Decalb, Dcab, Illinois. Don't even know where the fuck it's. Like, that's crazy. Where's that starting from? Them. Start there. JMIs, IMGs, Peak, all that. All those different companies out there, Van Wagner, like, there's so many different sponsorship companies for college athletics. They are the ones that are being tasked with this NIL. They're the ones. Yeah, okay, the school has a cap to hit through the settlement that came out. Absolutely. Not ignoring that. Where these deals are coming from, if you if you keep up with it and you follow it, what we're kind of talking about is that new clearing house that you got to send a deal through there, players can get approved or denied. It's all over the news. If you want to go look into it and be a fucking nerd, feel free. But like they are running it. The question is, how well we know what about commissions. Like any place, you hit your goal, you can kind of take your foot off the gas because you've done what you need to do, and anything over that you're gonna get paid out on, right? Yeah. Is that what's happening? I was like, I was thinking about that. Is that what's happening? They're pushing really hard, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, deal, deal, deal, deal, deal to make their nut. And then anything after that gets paid back to the school. So why do they care? They've made their money. And if you go over that, right? I'm about to blow minds. If you go over that and you're paying back to school, what does a lot of people not want to do? They don't want to work harder. So if you continue to go over, what's your goal look like next year? Even higher. What is the incentive for them to get these deals done? Especially when you're in a business now that is signing you to extensions. Because of the brand, they're in the news all the time. This is why we bring them up so often, because again, we work in the industry, so we see this name all the time. But Kentucky signs the JMI group to that massive extension. I'm sure there's stipulations we don't know about behind that. Oh, absolutely. Like I'm not in the room with those kinds of things going down. I'm just saying, like, you see it on ESPN. These are news that you can find. Alright, funders. If you want a really good site to get all this shit in college athletics, D1 Ticker's great. D1 Ticker will pump shit through your feed on like breaking news stories and stuff like that. So all you gotta do is subscribe. And you you know, we're not affiliates of that place. If you want to get nerded out, that's a good place to go. Sponsorships, man.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

I it's just so interesting. Because I'll go back to game day. They had Cal on and they were talking, and Cal's in the mindset of this is an amateur amateur basketball. And J Bell has had a great point where he's like, it's not. It has not been amateur since what was it, 1984 when they started selling the media rights. Because now there is it's a business model. To your point, it's it's a business model. How well it's run, you don't know. And I don't think anyone frankly really knows what direction it's going in. That's why the Trump piece with the executive order could change so much, whether he goes full blown, like you said, whether it's just putting regulations on how many years you can play, if he starts touching on an NIL and putting the salary cap, well, now we have to unionize. Now the players get a voice, now the coaches get a voice. Now it's all this other stuff. Now there's lockouts, like there's all this extra stuff that could potentially, I don't want to say go wrong, but could change the landscape at any given moment, which makes what makes it so interesting and so fun to be a part of because it's like you never know, like tomorrow there could be a breaking story in I don't know, like SMU or TCU or UCLA or insert school here, and it changed not only changes that school, but changes the way every other school looks at how things operate.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

And honestly, just a kind of a personal piece for me, I remember coming out of school looking for a job and seeing a ton of openings. Every single day, at least five from these multimedia right negotiators, NIL solutions coordinators, NIL, senior NIL coordinators, all this structured around NIL. And I remember turning to one of my mentors and being like, you know, you used to work for this company, he worked at an Ivy League school for them, and that was probably 10 years ago. So it was truly sponsorship. None of the NIL existed. And I asked him, I was like, do you know anything about these positions and what they entail? And he gave me some of the best advice because I didn't really ask his personal opinion, but we got went, started going down the path of like what you think. And he's like, honestly, I have nothing. Personally, I would stay far away from that because I don't think anyone knows what that job really looks like. I think it's just a title, and frankly, five years down the road, do you even have a job?

SPEAKER_00 35:10

No, because you don't have one now. There's a couple people that I have seen throughout hiring processes that that's on their resume. And it's not because they're trying to get into something different, it's because they've lost their job. You can't identify it. What is it? What are you doing? Right? I it's just the old school days. I remember back in the day when I kind of first got going in my career, like a big deal that pissed a lot of people off was naming a basketball stadium, like those rights. Yeah. Uh, and people were like, what are we we're selling out? And like, that's way you wish that was what we were dealing with now. Yeah. Like as a fan. Now it's like, oh, Ford wants to give a guy at UCLA five hundred thousand dollars to sit on the tailgate and say, get some. Like, it's crazy. That's where we're at. And sponsorships is behind a ton of it. Speaking of sponsorships, Ghost, Jim Reapers, any of those guys, if you want to sponsor us, feel free to throw us some.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Especially Ghosts. If you want to give me some free stuff, I would be more than happy to shout you out.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

He will get the logo tattooed on him if you sponsor us right now. Fat forehead, maybe even a teardrop. But like I think a bit of a stress. We are living in a day and age. Imagine your favorite team. Imagine your favorite team. For all you Minnesotan golden gophers out there. Imagine you're stoked. Maybe you hired a coach of a century for your basketball team. And here they come. They're about to take the court. And what's that on their jersey to help with NIL? A fresh, sweet patch for Summer's Eve douche.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

Imagine that. Is that not crazy? A Trojan logo. For USC. That would be sick.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

But you see what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 37:24

I want to get paid commission if that happens.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

Like, I don't know. It's just crazy, man.

SPEAKER_02 37:35

I think, as we've always done in this country, we've kept pushing and pushing, and we've never really clearly drawn that line of okay, once we we don't go over this. And now you're seeing it in college athletics. I mean, I think the day it will truly, I'll I'll say I don't want to be a part of it. There's only one place that has broken this, but SEC football stadiums. Once you start getting away from now, you've got Krogerfield at Kentucky, but you look down the board, and honestly, let's go to the Big Ten too. You don't, you do not sponsor those stadiums. And it's I guarantee you, people come, companies come with giant offers.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Oh, I guarantee you they do. That's what back in the day the big deal was like nobody wanted to sell out the naming rights. And like the fans were pissed about it because it went to a beer company. And they were like, are you kidding me? Like, that's not what it's been for XYZ amount. Look, I'm gonna let everybody know allegiance is wise. Like, okay, clear in the air, I'm an Alabama fan. So, like, if you took Bryant Denny away and made it fucking Checkers and Raleigh Stadium, up in arms. They would burn it to the ground. It would be gone, Kyle Field at Texas AM. Gone. All those dudes who like to touch each other and whatever they do with their fingers, like they're gonna go yell that place to the ground. Like when that day comes, inevitably, I think you'll agree we're heading there quickly, at a rapid pace to try to keep up with the funds that schools need to pay these players. Sponsorships are gonna be the least to fear problems. Because that means we've completely Where is academia? That's a topic we can dive into another place, but like at some point, you're literally splitting away from what started college athletics in the first place and they could get a degree for free. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

Unless you're at I actually saw an athlete when I was at my apartment for lunch.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Like, middle of the day. What are you doing, bro? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

And like I again, some are gifted and they're gonna go no matter what. Oh, yeah. And I'm not knocking that. Here's the other side though. Some of them want to go get a degree for free because they know that's their future. And they can go play four years and then go into a great job and start a family and do things that way and become a future donor of the program to help athletes and get another degree underneath somebody's belt. Why are we penalizing those kids? Yeah. Why are we penalizing them? You're shutting schools down with NIL. That's a topic for another day, but sponsorships ultimately all ties into that. Yeah. All ties into it. Because these companies, these third-party companies that are running sponsorships, could give a shit about fucking hand, foot, and mouth college and university. Like they don't care, man. Yeah. What their AD is doing sponsorships there. Yeah. Imagine that. Closing doors, Birmingham Southern and Birmingham, Alabama no longer exists. It's gone. D3 school. See ya. They used to win nattties in men's basketball. Gone. So like I'm just saying, it's a big topic. Sponsorships, and we'll definitely be covering it. Definitely be covering it a lot more because to Howie's point, it's changing. And there will be another news article in a week, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

I would not be honest, like, we were gonna talk almost exclusively about it this week, and then like two days after we recorded the last episode. The the Trump news came out about him signing this executive order. Obviously, the final four happened. There's always something happening. I wouldn't be surprised if we come back next episode. And I was saying the exact same thing, where it's like we had a plan, guess what? Shifted, completely changed.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

And guys, that's what that I think that's a big thing we want, you know, our funders to know is like we are doing this almost as live as possible, I would say, because it is changing so much. You're not going to get a pre-recorded podcast. No. Because regardless of what we're doing, we want to bring it to you as it's week by week. Because I think that's where a lot of people are like, well, we can just record ahead and get ahead and do these things. And like, that's great, and it works for a lot of models, but that's not what we want to do. We want to bust our ass, work hard, bring you the news as it's coming out, and talk about the things that people aren't seeing right away. Timelines on Twitter change so fast there's something you're missing.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Not here, not with future funds. No way.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Hot off the press. Fully erect. Definitely. Fun funding dreams. But yeah, I mean, we're we're gonna wrap it up here soon. Uh really just wanna I get I guess we'll we'll end on. Do you we we touched on it at the end of last episode? I want to kind of solidify what we both think. But I'm gonna ask you first do you think these multimedia rights companies, one, are negotiating contracts, and two, what validity do they have given we talk we mentioned it last week? Don't have law degrees. Like age, most agents have law degrees or have a law background, or someone in their company looks over the legal documents. And now we're signing these deals, and they're not contracts because it's just, oh, we're gonna pay you this money. So at a certain point, it kind of feels like, well, we should be saying this is a one-year deal for X amount. You will do X amount of appearance. Like, what do you think that looks like? Do you think they have any validity? Do you think there needs to be a lawyer in the room?

SPEAKER_00 44:39

Yeah, yeah. I think. Well, we see there's I think some are valid, some aren't. It's 50-50. Because players wouldn't back out of schools if every deal was valid. There's a lot of players saying, I'm not getting paid my money.

SPEAKER_02 44:57

Really?

SPEAKER_00 44:58

Yeah, like I mean, we just saw at uh oh gosh, I mean, Tarleton, my boy Dior Johnson. Like, there was more to that story than meets the eye. There was rumors out there in the world on Twitter and everywhere that they their three best players didn't play for over, like, whatever it was, a month or something like that, because they were in a contract dispute with how much they were actually going to get. It happens all the time. So, how valid the deals are, I think the bigger schools know how to do it better because they kind of have to. Their namesake is on that. Oh, yeah. But I also think some of these other competitors are I'd be shocked if Ruckers is giving out valid deals. Those fuckers are in debt, dude.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

Like, so like go Scarlet Knights.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Yeah, like the validity behind it. I I think it's 50-50. I really do. I think some deals are really good, and I think some are just smoking mirrors. I I don't again, I will say this sources, and no, I am not Diana Rossini jerking Brabeloff. Allegedly. Uh, I'm not doing that to get information. So, but these are people that are going back to their clients that they already have and saying, hey, I know you're doing this XYZ for XYZ amount just to get your name out there. Now I need 1.5 million. You'll want to pony up. That is where we're at. And they are not lawyers, I can guarantee you that. So that's where we're at. Are the deals valid? Maybe. Are they coming from people with legal integrity? To an extent, I feel like it definitely. There's no way it's not going through a legal team. It has to be going through a legal team. But what I will say is this the people that are asking are not in any way, shape, or form legal. They're not lawyers. They're just people that are selling stuff at a high rate with a lot of money, saying, we can get this athlete to do XYZ for XYZ amount of dollars. Do you want to do it? And that's how it's going. Are those valid? That's up for the clearinghouse to decide. That's why that's in play. And when they get shot down, that's telling you that the deal was bad in the first place, which is a scary fucking thought. Because now you're getting into a different world of like, what are you promising? How you talk about being in the room. Here's the question I pose to you. Are they promising that before talking about it?

SPEAKER_02 47:34

Are they promising it over the phone? I mean, you saw it with the football transfer portal. Several players committed to schools, and then there would be another post saying, Oh, they just officially signed. It's like, well, spring semester just started. You saw it uh with the linebacker that transferred to Clemson. And then Ole Miss cut comes back and is like, what'd they pay you? Okay, we'll tack on an F extra 500k or an extra million. Just come here. Is that not tampering? Also, where's that money coming from? All of a sudden you've got three other sponsors that are like, oh yeah, we'll fork over 300k just to get this one linebacker.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

Sadiq White. Syracuse. One of their really good players, not the one that's in the portal now. Uh I can't remember his name, but the really good one, but good ball player. He hit the portal. He's back at Syracuse. Where'd the money come from? How'd you pony up that quick? That goes into the question of validity. Are they valid or are you just throwing a bunch of shit and hoping it sticks? And then you're going back to your sponsorships, going, We promised this, you said you could deliver, go do it. Now everybody's owners, too. Or is a sponsorship team saying, damn, this will make us look bad. Uh tell them we can do this. Coach is telling the player that now sponsorships is scrambling. I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 49:06

It poses a lot of questions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:10

It's shady, dude.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

Who knows? Maybe we could get some more details, figure some stuff out. Um we'll definitely be talking about it a whole lot more on here. I don't have an up-to-date number of players in the transfer portal. There's so many like satirical tweets out here. It's ridiculous. It's like it's something like 50% though.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

It's crazy. It was 2300 last week.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

I wouldn't probably around 3,000 now. Give or take. And then when do you say the deadline is?

SPEAKER_00 49:49

So the draft to enter the draft April 26th. That's the deadline to do that. But you get two weeks?

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 50:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Because the draft is in June.

SPEAKER_02 50:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

So portal though, you only got two weeks. Basketball's only two weeks, so not this week, but the next. What is it? 26th. Oh shit. So yeah, it's just the massive deadline for everything.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

Twenty, what's that? Even before 20?

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

So yeah, we'll uh probably the next couple episodes be talking about that. Hopefully, some big names start signing places. And next week, again, could change on a moment's notice.

SPEAKER_00 50:39

It could.

SPEAKER_02 50:40

But uh hopefully we'll touch base on the way too early college football landscape, what this upcoming season looks like. I know there's been a handful of teams having their spring games and they're starting to piece together what their starting lineup is or starting quarterback, whatever it may be, looks like. So I'm personally ecstatic to get into that because there's nothing better than a Saturday SEC. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:09

I can't wait when that, depending on region you live, that October weather hits, SEC football's like crack. Might be better. Oh honestly. Yeah. Yeah. A little black tar heroin thrown in.

SPEAKER_01 51:29

Just a little sprinkle.

SPEAKER_00 51:31

But yeah, man, I'm I'm pumped. I'm pumped to talk because we got a lot. And there will be some NIL pieces next week, probably, that we'll talk about with the spring game football. But I'm just pumped to give an episode on like some fun. This is fun, but just like straight up who's gonna knock whose teeth out type shit in college football. Like there's a lot to it. But uh the NIL piece ties into the players that are now on different teams. Yeah, not your NIL piece. Who did it this way, who's doing it this way? Ohio State, shocker, the cuckeyes and fucking balls to the walls for their roster. But again, Ryan Day's a good coach. Like, I'm not knocking them. I don't hate winners. They win. End of story.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

Between that and uh the Kiffin drama, we're in Dan Hurley of football. Yeah, that that's a great comparison, but uh we've got a lot here on Future Funds. Thank you again for listening. Uh and this has been another episode of Future Funds. We'll see you next week. Peace.

SPEAKER_00 52:38

See ya.