We're too busy trying to figure out how many 10s of millions we need to spend to be "competitive" in D1 football - and by competitive I mean play in the MAC Championship game every handful of years and get rewarded by playing SW Kansas Technical College in Bodunk, Wyoming at 2pm on a Wednesday in December. But it WILL be on ESPN8 The Ocho.

FWIW I completely agree with you. Pay the new HC $50k for all I care. You want to win? Pay the players. You offer the biggest paycheck, who the HC is (or isn't), how good (or not) the facilities are, how good (or not) the conference is....magically doesn't matter as much.

Alas we're poor. And we have zero room for growth minus a magical donor windfall. So good luck with that.

I mean... MAYBE.

But what evidence is there to back this up? I don't see many/any players just taking massive checks and not playing for a reputable coach. Maybe in the MAC this would be possible, but it's not happening very much in practice. Coaching salaries are getting bigger and bigger, not the other way around. Are there currently any teams of 365 in D1 having success driven by one or two big named players and me as their head coach?

Is that something you really want to briefly attempt? Because it will be quite brief. Paying Darrell from Seamens to come here and coach three $100K players - and hypothetically we DO have success, he will be gone within the hour. And then we just rotate coaches every 9 months because we don't pay them?

We spend as much money on NIL as Miami. Repeat: We spend as much money as Miami on NIL. This is not the problem.

Yes, it seems like the big issue is that they have better players and a better coach. But that's just, you know, the eye test.

But maybe that would change if people occasionally remembered to refer to the Convo as Fancy Feast Arena or whatever.

New Mexico recently signed a 10 year, 17.4 million dollar naming rights deal I just threw 2 million out there as an example.

https://www.abqjournal.com/sports/unm-nusenda-announce-10...

A scenario maybe where an alum connected to a business with a 5 year, 10 million dollar naming rights deal. I'm necessarily saying its super realistic but that money could be turned around and positioned for basketball revenue sharing since its income from the basketball arena.

Revenue sharing can be from any source to the basketball team including if the university just feels like kicking in a few million. What is needed to be spent is in reation to the going rate for a G6 basketball program. The P4 are paying more to keep up with the Big East and the Big East is already spending above its media income in men's basketball. The A10 and MVC don't have much in the way of media income so 2-3 million per year is the most they feel they can do.

A naming rights agreement for the Convo certainly wouldn't net anything in the millions, but 6 figures is very feasible. Sports Business Journal released a database of naming rights agreements last year that included multiple peer conferences and schools.

MAC (All Sports)
Akron - FirstEnergy Stadium (soccer) - $25K/yr for 20 years
Akron - InfoCision Stadium (football) - $750K/yr for 20 years

Sun Belt (Basketball in Non Major Markets)
* Georgia State and Texas State have naming rights north of $1.4M annually but are in major markets *
Arkansas State - First National Bank Arena - $455K/yr for 11 years
James Madison - Atlantic Union Bank Center - $255K/yr for 10 years
Old Dominion - Chartway Arena - $425K/yr for 10 years

CUSA
FIU - Ocean Bank Convocation Center - $250K/yr for 5 years

MVC
Illinois State - CEFCU Arena - $1M/yr for 10 years
Southern Illinois - Banterra Center - $400K/yr for 10 years
Evansville - Ford Center - $430K/yr for 15 years


Low 6 figures feels feasibly strictly by comparison but also easier said than done to find someone to pony up $200-$400K per year for 10 years in southeast Ohio. Naming rights deals tend to be local large companies, hospital systems, banks, and insurance companies. The job for OU becomes tougher when the local base is limited to hospital systems and banks that would have that level of money to spend.

Related to the naming rights discussion, the other key thing from a "how do we get more resources" perspective is the new approval for college athletic departments to sell jersey patch assets. On the professional level, these jersey patch deals almost match naming rights in annual value. ULM has already signed for a football patch that will get net them 6 figures next season.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/college-football-progra...

Would imagine Ohio like every other school is looking into jersey patch sponsorships for all sports.

We are positioned terribly for a naming rights deal in that we are both in a small town AND a mid-major. I think you can survive one or the other but not both. Show me a small town mid-major school with a remotely impressive naming rights deal anywhere in the country. No major national brand will see the value in Athens, and there aren't any local businesses big enough to see that type of value in a naming rights investment. The town is the university itself. I would be shocked if we could get a 6 figure annual deal, the only scenario being a fan/alum doing it with a charitable slant to it beyond any business value. And we talk about loaded proud alum donors just as much as America talks about Bigfoot and the Lochness Monster.

There are 2 in my original post:
Southern Illinois - Banterra Center - $400K/yr for 10 years
James Madison - Atlantic Union Bank Center - $255K/yr for 10 years

SIU is in Carbondale Illinois, a town no bigger than Athens and much further away from a major city than Athens is to Columbus. JMU is in a town a little bigger than both but far from being a true metropolitan giant.

I also have a full section at the bottom acknowledging the difficulty of finding someone to spend that type of money in southeast Ohio. I think it's more likely they land a jersey patch deal for Basketball and Football than it is to get naming rights.

It is and it gets even more nuanced with college athletics. Traditionally, it's:
1. Market Size (What is the ceiling for how many people theoretically might visit or see the logo outside the building).
2. TV Deals (How many people might see it via a game broadcast)
3. Traditional Attendance for games
4. Attendance for complimentary events like concerts, tournaments, etc.

These things are valued out by looking at how many people may see that brand on or around the venue in person, on TV, or on social media. The argument then becomes "if x million people see this each year, that is the equivalent in paying x amount of dollars through other advertising outlets". Actual impact of that spend is separate, but from my experience that's how brands justify paying for these things and how teams sell them.

For colleges, there's an added element of:
5. Size of Alumni Base
6. Wealth of Alumni Base

Small schools could theoretically get a bigger than expected number if they have an extremely wealthy alumni base and you pair it with a financial type company interested in managing that wealth. The Convo does have a large cultural reach within the region with the basketball tournaments and OU being the main local sports attraction. Downsides are the smaller market, old aging arena, no concerts, and the tradition that whatever brand might be replacing. I don't see a lot of fans being thrilled about the Convo being renamed.

If they find a buyer I would imagine it would be low six figures, but it's a pretty tough sell.

The whole discussion of cutting Boals pay is driven by pettiness. There isn't a movement afoot to reduce coaching pay either at mid majors with many paying more than ever. Saint Louis is the top mid major and they are paying their coach 2 million and probably spending at least 3 million on NIL.

The Big East IMO has driven up BB spending by the power conferences but that appears to be leveling off since their revenue streams have leveled off and more limited compared to the P4. A10 is setting the bar for non-power schools but they have more restricted revenue so I doubt the NIL market for mid majors is going to zoom up from here. Dayton has said no student fees NIL has to come out of revenue and they probably have the most in the A10.

https://www.wdtn.com/as-seen-on-2-news/ud-treading-nil-wa... /

Ohio will probably keep spending on the players to the minimum it needs to until a basketball specific deal injects money. Conference membership is also a justifier of spending and if a minimum NIL spending target is established by the MAC that would have to be followed. Revenues in the non-power world have mostly topped out and paid attendance is trending downward. NIL costs to an extent are turning out to be a one time hit rather than an arms race.

No one is trying to cut Boals pay specifically. Quite a few of us are ready to move on at this point. The idea is around splitting the next coach's salary (if we get to that point) between him personally and a lump sum towards roster construction as part of the whole NIL fundraising.