Paul’s VB NIL post from the FB board

[PittMBA]

Just copying over Paul’s VB NIL post from the football board

Wonder if this is just A412 ? I’m encouraged to see Pitt’s in the game - but the $600k for Stafford is incredible.

Assuming this does not include future revenue share - it seems Pitt will be competitive- Babcock must have her own deal- I think I recall she has NIL deals outside of Pitt as well.

***

Someone asked about Pitt’s volleyball NIL…

Top players make $125-$150 K
Good returning players $75-$90 K
Freshman $60-$85 K

One player also got a car on top of her money

And Pitt distributes this as a monthly payment not a lump sum

But just to show where they are at, the kid they lost to Texas got $600 K from them

So there is that…

Like I said, it is amazing the money being tossed around

 

[DixonsSlickback]

Women’s VB numbers seem believable. He also says the women’s basketball team has a $1.8 mill NIL budget. Why on earth would women’s bball have a higher budget than vb? Either false info or insanity if you ask me.

 

[TWPitt]

Women’s VB numbers seem believable. He also says the women’s basketball team has a $1.8 mill NIL budget. Why on earth would women’s bball have a higher budget than vb? Either Faldo info or insanity if you ask me.

Question is why does Pitt WBB have a higher payroll than WNBA teams.

WNBA salaries: Who has the highest, league average, more

Heres everything you need to know about WNBA salaries, from who has the highest, the league average and more.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[Thee Jackie Treehorn]

Do we have an idea what Babcock's total compensation is?

How much NIL would she get outside of Pitt?

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

That number can't be right for women's basketball. There wasn't anyone on the team last year that would have commanded any sort of big money. The transfers were all players who didn't play a lot who were looking for more playing time, not players who were stars elsewhere that would have required a lot to bring in.

I mean if you want to tell me that there are other women's teams paying that much NIL to their players (and some even higher), then yeah, sure, I believe that. I just don't think that there is any way that Pitt was one of them.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Just copying over Paul’s VB NIL post from the football board

Wonder if this is just A412 ? I’m encouraged to see Pitt’s in the game - but the $600k for Stafford is incredible.

Assuming this does not include future revenue share - it seems Pitt will be competitive- Babcock must have her own deal- I think I recall she has NIL deals outside of Pitt as well.

***

Someone asked about Pitt’s volleyball NIL…

Top players make $125-$150 K
Good returning players $75-$90 K
Freshman $60-$85 K

One player also got a car on top of her money

And Pitt distributes this as a monthly payment not a lump sum

But just to show where they are at, the kid they lost to Texas got $600 K from them

So there is that…

Like I said, it is amazing the money being tossed around

If Pitt is paying a dime from the revenue share to non-revenue sports then ADAG should be fired. 100% should go to football and basketball. If volleyball or the other sports have specific donors for those sports then more power to them. But this is very discouraging.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Women’s VB numbers seem believable. He also says the women’s basketball team has a $1.8 mill NIL budget. Why on earth would women’s bball have a higher budget than vb? Either false info or insanity if you ask me.

Where did he say that? I am going to lose my mind if women's basketball has more than 250K NIL let alone $1.8 million. What are we doing?

To answer your question, women's basketball is the #3 NCAA sport based on many metrics. Women's volleyball is growing but is pretty far behind women's basketball and is probably closer to baseball and softball. So, if they are paying the women's basketball players more than volleyball, it's probably because Pitt feels there is a higher upside to potentially being good at women's basketball. Either that or it's an ACC directive to fund women's hoops.

Personally, if I gave anything at all to a non-revenue sports, it would be volleyball and then the 2 soccer teams before women's basketball.

 

[vantheman1976]

If Pitt is paying a dime from the revenue share to non-revenue sports then ADAG should be fired. 100% should go to football and basketball. If volleyball or the other sports have specific donors for those sports then more power to them. But this is very discouraging.

Been waiting for you to dive into this......and here you are.

 

[Las Panteras]

They are drawing 5 digit crowds to VB. Its gotten to the point where they MUST drop a ton of coin on VB NIL.

Whats the avg attendance of WBB?

 

[Chaos]

They are drawing 5 digit crowds to VB. Its gotten to the point where they MUST drop a ton of coin on VB NIL.

Whats the avg attendance of WBB?

3 digits

 

[pittdan77]

If Pitt is paying a dime from the revenue share to non-revenue sports then ADAG should be fired. 100% should go to football and basketball. If volleyball or the other sports have specific donors for those sports then more power to them. But this is very discouraging.

AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

 

[pittdan77]

Do we have an idea what Babcock's total compensation is?

How much NIL would she get outside of Pitt?

Hard to say. I know she has a deal with Red Bull. Right now, she's the most recognizable female athlete at the school. Maybe the whole school. Pitt would be silly to not invest in her popularity.

 

[vantheman1976]

Hard to say. I know she has a deal with Red Bull. Right now, she's the most recognizable female athlete at the school. Maybe the whole school. Pitt would be silly to not invest in her popularity.

Exactly…..the entire VB team should have an NIL deal with the cosmetic company Ulta Beauty products. It’s a no brainer IMO.

 

[pittdan77]

Exactly…..the entire VB team should have an NIL deal with the cosmetic company Ulta Beauty products. It’s a no brainer IMO.

Haha. That's not too far from what a few women have done. I remember my daughter watching the little redhead DS that played for Louisville do her makeup and she was definitely selling it. Cat is still doing things with a local clothing store. I think in some ways, the women are a little more marketable just because they seem to be able to build a lot of engagement on social media.

 

[PittMBA]

Haha. That's not too far from what a few women have done. I remember my daughter watching the little redhead DS that played for Louisville do her makeup and she was definitely selling it. Cat is still doing things with a local clothing store. I think in some ways, the women are a little more marketable just because they seem to be able to build a lot of engagement on social media.

Not that it’s the end all - but Pitt VB instagram has about 85k followers, Pitt MBB 43k , Pitt WBB 11.5k, Pitt FB 144k…. For perspective Louisville VB has 129k followers.

It’s arguable that Pitt VB has more national reach than Pitt basketball and more fan engagement.

It’s objectively true that PittVB was a more valuable and in demand ticket than Pitt MBB last season .

Olivia Babcock is probably the most nationally recognized athlete ( and probably student ) on campus.

Pitt would be foolish to not invest in growing Pitt VB .

 

[pittdan77]

Not that it’s the end all - but Pitt VB instagram has about 85k followers, Pitt MBB 43k , Pitt WBB 11.5k, Pitt FB 144k…. For perspective Louisville VB has 129k followers.

It’s arguable that Pitt VB has more national reach than Pitt basketball and more fan engagement.

It’s objectively true that PittVB was a more valuable and in demand ticket than Pitt MBB last season .

Olivia Babcock is probably the most nationally recognized athlete ( and probably student ) on campus.

Pitt would be foolish to not invest in growing Pitt VB .

That's an excellent point.

Look, if you want to help women's VB, go follow each player and each account on all of their social media platforms. Their NIL value improves with numbers.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Olivia Babcock is probably the most nationally recognized athlete ( and probably student ) on campus.

I'm assuming this is a joke. Pitt/Lou drew 1 million viewers for a Final Four game. 2.5 million people watched the Pitt/Toledo football crap-fest. College football is the #2 sport in America behind the NFL. Women's college volleyball is growing but still very nice. Julian Dugger is more nationally known than Olivia Babcock.

This partly explains why Pitt shouldn't be paying Olympic sports athletes a dime. If a booster wants to pay them, that's fine. Pay the pro athletes. If our investment into the pro teams are consistently enabling those teams to be nationally good, then scale some back and give to the Olympics.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Julian Dugger is more nationally known than Olivia Babcock.

That's ridiculous. Literally, outside of some Pitt fans and probably a very few Toledo fans, no one nationally has ever heard of Julian Dugger. And 98% of those people that have heard of him couldn't pick him out of a lineup if their life depended on it.

 

[vantheman1976]

I'm assuming this is a joke. Pitt/Lou drew 1 million viewers for a Final Four game. 2.5 million people watched the Pitt/Toledo football crap-fest. College football is the #2 sport in America behind the NFL. Women's college volleyball is growing but still very nice. Julian Dugger is more nationally known than Olivia Babcock.

This partly explains why Pitt shouldn't be paying Olympic sports athletes a dime. If a booster wants to pay them, that's fine. Pay the pro athletes. If our investment into the pro teams are consistently enabling those teams to be nationally good, then scale some back and give to the Olympics.

Julian Dugger is more nationally known than Olivia Babcock. This partly explains why Pitt shouldn't be paying Olympic sports athletes a dime.

Wow.....you've outdone yourself.....that was a doozy! You are embarrassing yourself. Stop before you make it worse.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

That's ridiculous. Literally, outside of some Pitt fans and probably a very few Toledo fans, no one nationally has ever heard of Julian Dugger. And 98% of those people that have heard of him couldn't pick him out of a lineup if their life depended on it.

Do you realize how much more popular college football is than college volleyball? We are talking the #2 American sport vs the #21 American sport. And I listed the 53rd most popular player on Pitt football. I could have listed Des Reid, who is 10-100 times more nationally known than Olivia Babcock. Olivia Babcock is a good player in a micro-niche sport, known by about the same number of Americans, as yes, Julian Dugger.

I can't believe this is even a debate. Like I am sure that LSU baseball has some stud 1st Round Baseball player but nobody outside of the micro-niche college baseball fan base knows him. So yes, Dugger is more known than that guy too.

Guys, I'm sorry, volleyball is a huge money loser for Pitt. I get that you guys like it bleeds money and under no circumstances should we be using university funds to pay players when we need to fund the 2 pro teams. Start charging $50-$100 per seat and start making money then we can talk about paying the players.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I can't believe this is even a debate.

I can't believe it's even a debate either. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would know that literally Julian Dugger is a complete unknown nationally. Completely unknown. If you had actually used Des Reid for your example then you'd actually be on to something. But if you pick a player that, like I said, a vast majority of Pitt fans wouldn't be able to pick out of a lineup let alone people who aren't actually Pitt fans, no one, literally no one, is going to know who Dugger is.

Of course the problem here is that I said anyone with an ounce of common sense.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I can't believe it's even a debate either. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would know that literally Julian Dugger is a complete unknown nationally. Completely unknown. If you had actually used Des Reid for your example then you'd actually be on to something. But if you pick a player that, like I said, a vast majority of Pitt fans wouldn't be able to pick out of a lineup let alone people who aren't actually Pitt fans, no one, literally no one, is going to know who Dugger is.

Of course the problem here is that I said anyone with an ounce of common sense.

Nationally means the United States. More people in the United States know who Julian Dugger is for 4 reasons:

- more people in WPA know who he is compared to Babcock because Pitt football fans have probably 10-20 times the amount of people interested in their team compared to volleyball. Also, I would think a high percentage of people in the East Hills know who he is since he was a local HS star.

- he is on EA's highest selling video game of all time. Sure, he is a backup but the game is massively popular. What kids do nowadays is different than when we used to play. They pick random teams and do "rebuilds."

- he played in a game that watched by 2.5 million people, 1.5 million people more than Babcock's highest rated game.

- outside of WPA, almost no one knows who either of them are. You may say that Pitt volleyball is nationally known but although ratings are improving, they aren't football ratings and many of these people are tuning is as fans of the sport, not because they are Diehard college volleyball fans. They may see her play but then forget who she is 2 days later just like we do for these March Madness players from small schools.

 

[pittdan77]

Nationally means the United States. More people in the United States know who Julian Dugger is for 4 reasons:

Yes, the whole planet is a buzz about the 17th best dual threat QB in the country.

I've been waiting for you to weigh in and throw a tantrum. It's beautiful.

 

[vantheman1976]

Yes, the whole planet is a buzz about the 17th best dual threat QB in the country.

I've been waiting for you to weigh in and throw a tantrum. It's beautiful.

Did you ever wonder when there is a thread on the Pitt VB team and you see that SMF has commented.....you mutter to yourself 'shut up' before you've even read what he has to say?

 

[HOF Coach]

Did you ever wonder when there is a thread on the Pitt VB team and you see that SMF has commented.....you mutter to yourself 'shut up' before you've even read what he has to say?

What I mutter to myself after reading an SMF posting, volleyball or any other topic, is "What a dumb a**!"

It's really sad that he feels so compelled to comment on things that he has little interest in and even less knowledge.

 

[pittdan77]

It's really sad that he feels so compelled to comment on things that he has little interest in and even less knowledge.

He even blows it when he does know a little something. Remember, Pitt is the Alabama of college soccer.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

He even blows it when he does know a little something. Remember, Pitt is the Alabama of college soccer.

They were ranked #1 for much of the season so again I am right

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

Do you realize how much more popular college football is than college volleyball? We are talking the #2 American sport vs the #21 American sport. And I listed the 53rd most popular player on Pitt football. I could have listed Des Reid, who is 10-100 times more nationally known than Olivia Babcock. Olivia Babcock is a good player in a micro-niche sport, known by about the same number of Americans, as yes, Julian Dugger.

I can't believe this is even a debate. Like I am sure that LSU baseball has some stud 1st Round Baseball player but nobody outside of the micro-niche college baseball fan base knows him. So yes, Dugger is more known than that guy too.

Guys, I'm sorry, volleyball is a huge money loser for Pitt. I get that you guys like it bleeds money and under no circumstances should we be using university funds to pay players when we need to fund the 2 pro teams. Start charging $50-$100 per seat and start making money then we can talk about paying the players.

Yeah. Gotta charge a lot more $5 or $8 a game to really gauge attendance.

 

[vantheman1976]

What I mutter to myself after reading an SMF posting, volleyball or any other topic, is "What a dumb a**!"

It's really sad that he feels so compelled to comment on things that he has little interest in and even less knowledge.

So it seems what you’re saying is that SMF’s comments on anything are turd droppings.

 

[pittdan77]

So it seems what you’re saying is that SMF’s comments on anything are turd droppings.

Let's just say he's Pitt's version of the Onion but he's not doing it for the sake of humor.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Let's just say he's Pitt's version of the Onion but he's not doing it for the sake of humor.

Heather got fired for prioritizing non-revenue sports. Its not 2018 anymore. These sports exist solely because they have to. They lose six figures annually. I get that you guys like volleyball. I'd like to see Pitt win a NC there too. I just don't think they should pay a dime for the players. Pay the coach and if a booster wants to pay the players, that's fine. It would be absolutely insane if the university decides to pay women's volleyball players directly when they only have $20 million to spend and have 2 pro teams.

This is America. This is capitalism. When the volleyball team generates a profit, then we can discuss spending university dollars on the players. Until then, we cant afford to lose even more money funding women's volleyball. I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings and that you guys don't understand business.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

you guys don't understand business

It's comments like this from you that are the ones that are likely to win the "most unintentionally funny" post of the year award.

 

[pittdan77]

Heather got fired for prioritizing non-revenue sports.

No, she was replaced because she couldn't figure out how to fundraise. NIL or otherwise.

This is America. This is capitalism. When the volleyball team generates a profit, then we can discuss spending university dollars on the players. Until then, we cant afford to lose even more money funding women's volleyball. I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings and that you guys don't understand business.

Nothing about this statement applies to college sports. If you think a single, solitary CFB blue blood is doing what they do for a profit then you know nothing about business or how profits are evaluated. Anyone that lives in Pittsburgh and sees how the pro franchises work here can't possibly make an argument for college sports operating to make a profit.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

No, she was replaced because she couldn't figure out how to fundraise. NIL or otherwise.


Nothing about this statement applies to college sports. If you think a single, solitary CFB blue blood is doing what they do for a profit then you know nothing about business or how profits are evaluated. Anyone that lives in Pittsburgh and sees how the pro franchises work here can't possibly make an argument for college sports operating to make a profit.

They do what they do for a profit because they have to pay for the non-revenue sports.

 

[HOF Coach]

They do what they do for a profit because they have to pay for the non-revenue sports.

Please stay out of any Pitt Volleyball thread, now and in the future.

We are allergic to stupidity...

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Please stay out of any Pitt Volleyball thread, now and in the future.

We are allergic to stupidity...

I feel sorry for you guys. I can't even imagine how anyone can be THAT stupid to think paying players to play for a team that loses hundreds of thousands of dollars per year is a smart thing to do when we have 2 pro teams to fund. This belief you guys have defies all logic.

 

[PittMBA]

I feel sorry for you guys. I can't even imagine how anyone can be THAT stupid to think paying players to play for a team that loses hundreds of thousands of dollars per year is a smart thing to do when we have 2 pro teams to fund. This belief you guys have defies all logic.

By this logic - Pitt should drop to D 3. Major college sports is not a cash cow. I’m sure Pitt - and most major college athletic programs are subsidized across the board by the schools and donors.

the program exists to drive donations, enrollment, and fan / student / alumni engagement with the school .

There is a reason ADG lumped VB w FB and MBB as the schools 3 flagship programs.

The idea that Pitt would divest from the flagship women’s program - one that is clearly extremely popular with young women and growing is just very short sighted.

Pitt is not selling widgets , it’s selling a brand. That’s the investment.

 

[HOF Coach]

By this logic - Pitt should drop to D 3. Major college sports is not a cash cow. I’m sure Pitt - and most major college athletic programs are subsidized across the board by the schools and donors.

the program exists to drive donations, enrollment, and fan / student / alumni engagement with the school .

There is a reason ADG lumped VB w FB and MBB as the schools 3 flagship programs.

The idea that Pitt would divest from the flagship women’s program - one that is clearly extremely popular with young women and growing is just very short sighted.

Pitt is not selling widgets , it’s selling a brand. That’s the investment.

Save your breath. SMF (Mr. Logic) will never understand this.

 

[ThePanthers]

It’s your guys fault you engage with him.

 

[Thee Jackie Treehorn]

By this logic - Pitt should drop to D 3. Major college sports is not a cash cow. I’m sure Pitt - and most major college athletic programs are subsidized across the board by the schools and donors.

Pitt is not selling widgets , it’s selling a brand. That’s the invinvestment.

Yes. Thank you. Nicely stated. College athletics are big business by the standards of normal person finances, but more or less peanuts in overall revenue/spending of major institutions. And not especially profitable. I think even the biggest volleyball fanatics understand it's never going be more than a small fraction of athletic/NIL spending, but these idiots who insist that Pitt shouldn't spend a single penny on volleyball really enjoy showcasing their lack of understanding.