Since we appear to be destined to be Aztec Lite, I took the time to read about their NIL program, called Mesa Foundation. They started with a $350,000 budget in 2022 but it has shot past $1,000,000 for 2024. All MBB scholarship players made about the same amount, veterans making more than freshman and sophomores. HC doesn’t want to bring in one or two players who make huge amounts more than the rest of the team. (I like that philosophy.) There is not one or a few big donors - there are a little over 500 members who contribute to this. Simple math tells you a simple average of $2,000 per member.

I know LBSU doesn’t have this kind of support but this is a good framework to develop one, if it hasn’t already. If we had 200 supporters donating $1,000 each, that would provide roughly $1,250 per month to each scholarship player. Chump change in the world of NIL, but still something. If NIL is the way of the world for college athletics going forward, we have to start somewhere or plan for our eventual move to D2.

So, three questions. 1) would LBSU prefer donors to financially support the NIL or the school athletic program? 2) does or will Title 9 eventually force programs to cover women athletes equally for NIL? 3) Do we even have 200 supporters willing to pay $1,000 annually?