ualbany mbb Danes of Greatness - NIL Collective

[cwdickens]

I saw this Instagram posting concerning MBB and its own N-I-L Collective:

ualbany_mbb

It’s here ‼️

Introducing 𝘿𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 - The new NIL Collective for men’s basketball ✒️

Danes of Greatness will embrace NIL opportunities in an effort to amplify the voices and aspirations of UAlbany basketball student-athletes, helping them fulfill their potential as champions 🏆

Everything you need to know can be found at the link in our bio 🔗

[cwdickens]

Danes of Greatness NIL Collective Launched for Men’s Basketball

[cwdickens]

Opinion:  Long time in coming, however likely too late to save Killings career at UAlbany unless the MBB Team has a winning AE Conference record and wins a couple games in the AE Tournament.

[UAlbany09]

I’m hoping they can team up with a local brewery and create a UAlbany themed beer to sell and help fund the NIL program. A lot of schools seem to be doing this. 

[dslyank]

IMHO the only thing NIL is saving, is me from donating to GDAC.🤑🤑

[cwdickens]

The Danes of Greatness - NIL Collective annonced their first event, received an email..

Join us to kickoff the UAlbany men’s basketball collective in style! We will have food and drinks, live DJ,  giveaways, live and silent auction. Let's learn about where NIL (name, image, and likeness) is heading in college athletics and what it means for your Great Danes. This exclusive event will allow you to meet your 2024-25 University at Albany men’s basketball team and Danes of Greatness collective. We look forward to seeing you at this VIP experience! 11 SEPTEMBER 2024 Wednesday | 6:00 - 9:00pm _________________________ THE SCENE 1671 Western Ave., Albany Please RSVP below. We kindly suggest a donation of $50 per person to help support and launch our collective. Your contribution will greatly assist us in getting things started and is much appreciated. Amar’e Marshall, Class of  2026 Student Athlete Christopher Wyatt, ‘05, Founder Former UAlbany Team Captain Lauren Mayhew Celebrity Host featuring DJ Trumaster RSVP Order your official Danes of Greatness gear from our clothing partner NOVUS Clothing.     ABOUT:  Danes of Greatness is the collective focused on providing resources and tools for our University at Albany student-athletes to accelerate their brands. We activate empowering opportunities for their name, image, and likeness. We are a community based organization that focuses on financial literacy, mentorship, youth reading programs, and touching underserved communities.  Make a donation to the Danes of Greatness here.

[cwdickens]

From Times-Union.com: https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/ualbany-men-s-basketball-nil-collective-moving-19745195.php

[cwdickens]

The article referenced above, has appeared in today's Times=Union:

‘Danes of Greatness’ collective sets sail

The collective to support UAlbany men's basketball hosts a launch party this week UAlbany coach Dwayne Killings will be in attendance when the program's NIL collective hosts a launch party this week. BY MICHAEL KELLY ALBANY —

Danes of Greatness, the name, image and likeness collective launched recently in support of University at Albany men’s basketball, takes its next step forward this week. It’s an important one. “Because,” UAlbany coach Dwayne Killings said Monday, “I think a common question, right now, is: What is a collective?” Explaining that will be a focus of Wednesday evening’s launch party for Danes of Greatness, which announced its formation in late August.

This week’s launch party takes place at The Scene, where Danes of Greatness Amar'e Marshall, right, is shown during this past year's Albany Cup game against Siena. founder Chris Wyatt said the expectation is that approximately 100 season-ticket holders, university athletic supporters and donors, and community business leaders will be on hand to learn about the new endeavor to help the UAlbany’s men’s basketball program.

“The goal for Wednesday night is to educate those individuals that are attending on what the NCAA says about NIL, on what collectives are, and where things are going with college athletics and athletes being paid,” said Wyatt, who played for UAlbany from 2001 to 2005. “A big part of doing this is because not many people are aware of what a collective is and what they’re doing.”

College athletes have been able to pursue NIL deals since 2021. Athletes are able to do that on their own, but collectives — which operate independently from an aligned college or athletic program — offer a path for donors and fans to pool together funds to support a program, and also are able to help facilitate money-making opportunities. At danesofgreatness.com, there are ways to connect with, and contribute to, the collective.

At the moment, that takes shape in facilitating monetary donations, while it’s also possible to purchase merchandise in support of the collective, and players Amar’e Marshall and Aaron Reddish. Wyatt said the collective’s plan is to provide some support for each of the men’s basketball players and that more money-making offerings — such as appearances or clinics — will soon be available.

“The goal is to create an infrastructure to house these opportunities for the athletes,” Wyatt said. Danes of Greatness launched with a three-person advisory board that includes former UAlbany players Brian Lillis, Jamar Wilson and Wyatt. At Wednesday’s event, which goes from 6-9 p.m., the featured speakers will include UAlbany athletic director Mark Benson, Killings and Wyatt, while members of the team will also be present.

“The goal is to educate on what we’re doing and where we’re going,” Wyatt said. “I think people are very curious about what is going on right now in college athletics,” Killings said. “We have an opportunity to explain where we were last year, here’s where we are this year, here’s why — and, now, in the next year, here’s the opportunity, but that we need support and we need partnerships.” Wyatt didn’t disclose a dollar figure that the collective is trying to raise in its first year and said that “any donations and sponsors is great, everything helps right now,” but that the focus moving forward will be on establishing corporate partnerships that could provide “sustainable income streams” for the collective.

Like he did back in May when discussing the impending launch of Danes of Greatness, Wyatt said this week the goal is for the collective to grow to support the UAlbany men’s basketball team as a “baby NBA team.” While that means helping players gain monetary compensation, Wyatt said the collective also wants to offer other programs — such as one that teaches financial literacy — to the team’s players as soon as this season.

“I want them to have a great experience while they’re in Albany and help them take advantage of their brands from a variety of angles,” Wyatt said

[jimbo]

No. Not contributing a nickel to this….or GDAC. They want to make money, get a job….sell themselves. If a person or a company wants to sponsor them, good on them. Free enterprise. But not on my dime. They’re getting a free college education and 90% of them will not make a pro roster of any kind. The free education ought to be enough. No. No. And no. 

[godanesgo99]

10 minutes ago, jimbo said:

No. Not contributing a nickel to this….or GDAC. They want to make money, get a job….sell themselves. If a person or a company wants to sponsor them, good on them. Free enterprise. But not on my dime. They’re getting a free college education and 90% of them will not make a pro roster of any kind. The free education ought to be enough. No. No. And no. 

While many may agree with you, that just isn't the world we live in any more. There are now High School kids with NIL deals, actually it wouldn't surprise me if there were middle school kids getting contracts. It's where we are. We can evolve and support, or we can ignore and move on forgetting about college athletics. 

In my mind, the entire point of high end college athletics is to build brand recognition for colleges. Syracuse University is not that great of a school, but if you have that on your resume, people recognize it. Babson University is one of the best business schools in the country, but outside of certain circles, most people have never heard of it before. UA almost beating UConn was the number one conversation piece I had with recruiters when I was looking for a new job in the summer of 2006. Recruiters from across the country now knew the UA name because they just saw it on TV. This along with building meaningful long term relationships with students and alumni is why D1 sports exist.

If that is the goal, then we need to evolve and embrace the market and make the investments in marketing that we need to. College sports are commercials for the college! The cost of effective marketing has now increased just like the cost of a Big Mac has increased. 

If you don't want to support it, that's up to you. Good for you for taking a stand. Hopefully you decide to give back to the university in other ways, as their reputation is important to your future - assuming you are an alumni or at least a local person that benefits from UA's success as an intuition. 

[cwdickens]

41 minutes ago, jimbo said:

No. Not contributing a nickel to this….or GDAC. They want to make money, get a job….sell themselves. If a person or a company wants to sponsor them, good on them. Free enterprise. But not on my dime. They’re getting a free college education and 90% of them will not make a pro roster of any kind. The free education ought to be enough. No. No. And no. 

 

22 minutes ago, godanesgo99 said:

While many may agree with you, that just isn't the world we live in any more. There are now High School kids with NIL deals, actually it wouldn't surprise me if there were middle school kids getting contracts. It's where we are. We can evolve and support, or we can ignore and move on forgetting about college athletics. 

In my mind, the entire point of high end college athletics is to build brand recognition for colleges. Syracuse University is not that great of a school, but if you have that on your resume, people recognize it. Babson University is one of the best business schools in the country, but outside of certain circles, most people have never heard of it before. UA almost beating UConn was the number one conversation piece I had with recruiters when I was looking for a new job in the summer of 2006. Recruiters from across the country now knew the UA name because they just saw it on TV. This along with building meaningful long term relationships with students and alumni is why D1 sports exist.

If that is the goal, then we need to evolve and embrace the market and make the investments in marketing that we need to. College sports are commercials for the college! The cost of effective marketing has now increased just like the cost of a Big Mac has increased. 

If you don't want to support it, that's up to you. Good for you for taking a stand. Hopefully you decide to give back to the university in other ways, as their reputation is important to your future - assuming you are an alumni or at least a local person that benefits from UA's success as an intuition. 

I have spoken to a small number of UAlbany alumni that are GDAC contributors, like me.

The concern expressed among this group, including myself is that the Danes of Greatness NIL and GDAC are chasing the same group of people for contributions to fund their operations.  In addition, I would like to hear from the Danes of Greatness business plan without the blare of DJ music, a celebrity host and drink.

Just tell me how you are going to raise funds for the NIL, outside just asking the GDAC contributors to give more.

I have seen suggestions on the forum for raising funds for the NIL.  How involved the Capital District business community, the UAlbany communities and the GDAC contributors will become in the Danes of Greatness is unknown.  For me and perhaps others, Chris Wyatt will need to approach us in a different manner.

Just wondering, how is is the Siena Basketball NIL doing?  After a bit of fanfare....radio silence.   

[UAlbany09]

I thought it would be interesting to add some perspective on this. I currently live in Iowa, (my wife and I both work for the University of Iowa) so I follow Iowa athletics pretty closely. The NIL collective here is struggling with getting members and donations. They expected 10,000 members and only have about 2,900 after two years in business. If a Big Ten school with a passionate fan base is struggling like that with NIL, I can imagine UA’s NIL will have a much harder time getting buy in from the fanbase. 

[godanesgo99]

I'm gonna guess we will struggle mightily. Especially with attitudes like Jimbo's being extremely prevalent. Hell, I kinda feel that way myself, but I'm trying to jump on board and support and do what I can. I can't make it to the event, but I'm beyond curious to see how it shakes out. I know from some conversations with people at the college that the fear is that this will take away from GDAC and the normal fund raising activities. 

The message is clear though. If we want to compete, we need to support GDAC and the NIL programs, or we should move to D2 or D3. We won't be able to compete on this new world without it.

The Albany MSA is pretty darn large. I think it was like #63 last time I checked, and it is a top 50 market in the USA if you include Glens Falls and Amsterdam as part of the MSA. The only major sports teams competing for marketing dollars are Siena basketball, UA Football, and UA basketball. This means that there should be plenty of supporters and $$ to do so if it's done correctly.

Edited September 11 by godanesgo99

[jimbo]

I fully understand that this is the new normal, but I don’t like it and don’t have to participate in it. Who are we supporting? At one time you’d expect a recruit to stay for four years. It’s clearer and clearer that the top players in the major sports are little more than hired guns, mercenaries if you will. They have little or no regard for the institutions they represent, the fans that support them or the scholarships they receive. That’s why it’s so hard to support any effort to enrich them for the benefit of a few wins. I’ve thought long and hard on this and that’s the way I feel. I don’t blame the players for taking advantage of the new rules and new system, I’m just unwilling to support it financially in any way. 

[Eli]

49 minutes ago, jimbo said:

I fully understand that this is the new normal, but I don’t like it and don’t have to participate in it. Who are we supporting? At one time you’d expect a recruit to stay for four years. It’s clearer and clearer that the top players in the major sports are little more than hired guns, mercenaries if you will. They have little or no regard for the institutions they represent, the fans that support them or the scholarships they receive. That’s why it’s so hard to support any effort to enrich them for the benefit of a few wins. I’ve thought long and hard on this and that’s the way I feel. I don’t blame the players for taking advantage of the new rules and new system, I’m just unwilling to support it financially in any way. 

Same. This has ruined college athletics. I still watch and give Flo/CAA their cut, but I likely will never be a season ticket holder for a college athletics program again. It's no longer about STUDENT athletics, it's turned into Semi-Pro athletics.