MGN Weekender: 1.17.24

Attendance, Department of Education, and More

The big news of the day was the nine-page memo from the Department of Education on the issue of Title IX implications on the House settlement. Recall that the settlement includes some back pay for student’s who were determined to have lost out on NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) money and to allow universities to pay for the use of student’s NIL going forward. Recently some programs have shuttered their collectives as they want to funnel the pay directly to the departments for issuance directly to the players.

That really breaks down to “hey if you were thinking of giving some money to a collective for ultimate distribution to a player for their ‘NIL’ (wink, wink) just give that money here and we’ll pay the player for their NIL directly”

It does follow that the proposed distributions are along existing popularity lines. You and I and the average fan knows the average football player. We do not know the average LaCrosse player. I couldn’t tell you the very best LaCrosse player in the nation. I have hot sports opinions on the best CFB player, however.

So it goes. It also makes sense that the schools would say “Yeah the football players are the most popular, and giving them a generous deal for use of their NIL (which are more valuable as people know them) is good business.”

The Department of Education memo seems to push back on that at first glance, but subsequent readings of it by prominent social media lawyers suggests that it is more saying something along the line of “Hey don’t forget to consider your (already existing) Title IX obligations when structuring these deals and the like”

For me, it is as simple as saying that we want to make sure that we aren’t artificially keeping women’s sports hidden because we *think* they won’t be popular. It has been shown that when resources are devoted to these programs they can shine brightly.

Furthermore, the new administration will likely have their own opinion on these rulings and guidelines in a space that has been filled with change.

There is a lot of money in college football MGN has been on the side of professionalization for a long time. The reason is simple: it protects the game, it protects the players, it protects the coaches, and protects the fans and supporters of the game.

I want the starting QB to be able to move on if another school presents a bigger check for him. I just don’t want to have that during bowl season. I want the coaches to be able to move to another program if they feel that’s right. I just want them to be able to coach up the bowl, or conference title game. I want the players to be able to earn a check, but not get scammed by mystery agents, coaches, and collectives. I want the coaches to be able to have a little bit of a life and not have to host transfers during the holidays while preparing for a bowl game.

That last part is how you get good family-first guys out of the profession and only promote an environment where the most unscrupulous, cutthroat guys are running your program. To do that we need enforceable agreements. For that, we need collective bargaining. For that we need some professionalization.

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Why do you not go to basketball games? This current hoops squad is probably the second best team in the AAC. You can get great seats for orders of magnitude cheaper than going to a Maverick’s game. The games also mean more on a per-game basis than the Mavs. 1/30(ish) is a greater percentage than 1/82. The game is shorter, more focused on the product, and also fairly easy to get to (and out of). Seems like a good deal.

College hoops across the board is still a great value for your money. If you watched CUSA 2018-2022, you saw about 10 future NBA players. Sure, there were no super-stars but you saw quality. You saw some good basketball night-in, night-out. You just had to appreciate it. I tried to advertise it. I started cusareport and wrote about every team. I went to the games, and watched a lot of it and wrote about it. I podcasted about it. The response was tepid. La Tech fans cared. UAB fans too, but mostly stuck to their own fan-sites (understandable).

Now, I’ve scoped out the readership of this site. I know you would go, have gone, will go, and all that. I get that. I can’t peak for a 20-year old dude out there, nor can I say that if I were 20 that I would be any different. I came up playing basketball and I appreciate the game, and I like seeing it played in front of me. I’ve been trying to find an old-man league to jump into here at MGN HQ. I don’t know that I’m the target demographic but maybe I am.

Where are the die-hard hoopers in Denton, and the surrounding area? Can we try to get them to the games and interested in the basketball on display? What are we doing to make sure that the next generations will like basketball and play it, and watch it? I know the Night on Elm Street was cool and fun. We don’t always need to trot out the players for that kind of thing, but we just need more basketball-enjoyers in general.

MGN enjoying season tickets, in the distant past

People used rent money to go see Taylor Swift and Beyonce. People do what they want to do. We just need them to want to like basketball, and UNT basketball specifically. It very well could be that it is out-of-sight, out-of-mind. A local television broadcast (free streaming for the non-old) would do wonders. That costs money, thought. ESPN paid good money for the right to put these broadcasts on ESPN+ and understand that. But it takes intentional steps to make that happen. One of the cool things about the olden days was that flipping through the channels to find something to watch allowed you to find something new that you weren’t planning on. “Oh look, UNT is playing.”

It seems counter-intuitive to spend the money you’ve been given but maybe each season ticket comes with an ESPN+ subscription. Maybe if you buy a ticket you get a sub. I don’t know the financials. For me (again, me specifically) as a kid, I was first exposed to sports fandom by watching it on television. “That looks fun” I thought, and then asked my dad if we could go to a game. I don’t know if the young fan has the attention span between all the tik-toking and whatnot to care about the game. But it needs to be on their radar for them to think going to a game would be fun.

For families, I know it can be a gigantic headache to get to and from a game. I know that per-seat fees add up, and parking can be annoying. I power through it and make my family do the same (because I am a dictator) but going to games is a much easier sell to my wife and children if the headaches are few. Snacks? Delivered to seats, please. Would be awesome. Hey maybe a person that asks if you want snacks while you are at your seat? Even awesome-er. More family restrooms. Cheaper bulk-ticket discounts. Parking discounts for clown cars family parking or “HOV” if you want to be inclusive. Like, yeah parking is $20 or whatever, but if we see you have more than one person in there, it is $5 cheaper. Or whatever. Maybe get a deal with a restaurant/bar/Greek life and have a charter ready to deliver people to-and-fro the game. Maybe a special bus route for game days. Maybe a special park-and-ride bus route for game days — I took the park-and-ride to San Antonio Spurs games a handful of times when I first had young kids. Totally worth it. I don’t know. Is there an easy way to get from the train station to the Pit? Can we make that happen? Do we have to talk to Denton County or something?

I don’t have all the answers. I know the budget is small, and must be spread across getting existing students to games, letting season ticket holders get value for their dollar, and also attracting new fans from likely areas. It doesn’t make sense to run a bus if no one will show up. It sucks. This is why I think getting people to want the product is the most effective method. People will do anything for something they want.

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On that note, I will get back to regular work. I wrote this at lunch instead of doing other things. I wanted to do this. I forewent a few other things. So it goes. GMG.