westcoastdude said:

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What is the status of fundraising for the planned basketball training facility? After being hired in 2023, Madsen said fundraising was pretty far along and new donors would step up in the near future to complete the necessary fundraising. I haven't heard much since.

For Cal to make a big step forward, this facility is a very important element that must come to fruition.

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calumnus said:

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barsad said:

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Watch out, you'll wake The Shocky!

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Shocky and 4th Gen have different opinion than me. I agree the players need a place to practice whenever they want and designating it a "dedicated facility" as many other schools do is required, but I think building $100 million dedicated practice facilities is fighting the last war. NIL is where the war is being fought right now and into the forseeable future. It is like Trump wanting to go back to building battleships when they were made obsolete during WW2 by aircraft carriers which are both now being made obsolete by drones.

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calumnus said:

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barsad said:

---

Watch out, you'll wake The Shocky!

---

Shocky and 4th Gen have different opinion than me. I agree the players need a place to practice whenever they want and designating it a "dedicated facility" as many other schools do is required, but I think building $100 million dedicated practice facilities is fighting the last war. NIL is where the war is being fought right now and into the forseeable future. It is like Trump wanting to go back to building battleships when they were made obsolete during WW2 by aircraft carriers which are both now being made obsolete by drones.

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6956bear said:

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calumnus said:

---

6956bear said:

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calumnus said:

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Shocky1 said:

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westcoastie, madsen got straight up lied to by knowlton re: the "progress" of the practice facility during his coaching recruitment, multiple sources within the athletic dept tole me that ZERO dollars had been guaranteed at that time

and that started the monster's relentless anti jimbo campaign which is now targeting his designated anti football/basketball worthless bureaucrats jay & jenny...u could not hire 2 more unproductive, lack of visionary and unlikeable fund raisers than these 2 non berkeley grads who don't really give a **** about the revenue sports

there is ZERO chance any mcdonalds all americans are gonna come to cal until there are concrete plans for a dedicated practice facility where they can practice their craft 24/7/365...listen to 4th gen bear!!

---

Knowlton was trash, agreed.

And I agree that a dedicated court that players can use 24/7 to practice as fits their needs and whims is necessary.

However, (according to AI) Cal has had 9 McDonald's All Americans without having the $100 million facility that has not been built. If we don't get more McDonald's All Americans it will be mostly because we cannot afford the NIL they demand.

Low end McDonald's All Americans earn $500k to $1 million in NIL? Instead of spending $100 million, spend the $5 million or more annual savings on players.

---

Virtually every P4 school in the country has a dedicated practice facility. I am 100% in favor of Cal building one. But it ensures nothing. Boston College who just fired their coach and did not make the ACC tournament has a 40,000 sq ft facility for its mens and womens teams. Just opened in 2023 and is state of the art. That program is awful right now. It is called the Hoag Center. Named after the lead donor who donated $15M.

Syracuse has a state of the 54,000 sq ft facility. It is called the Carmelo Anthony Basketball Center. The same Carmelo Anthony that played there and won a NCAA title there. His kid plays there now. It is one of if not the largest dedicated practice facilities in college basketball. They have a terrific history as a basketball program. Former SU player Adrian Autry was just fired. This marks the 5th consecutive season they have not made the NCAA tournament. Despite having a great facility and history they are having trouble recruiting upper tier players. But Carmelo has a building with his name on it.

Jim Boeheim their HOF former coach and ACC network analyst said multiple times during the ACC tournament broadcasts that Syracuse was way down the list for ACC programs in NIL. He would know. He also said that BC had the worst NIL in the conference. And GaTech was also near the very bottom in NIL. These programs just fired their HC. They have buyouts to pay. New coaches to pay. Yet they do not support the program with NIL dollars.

I understand the reasons for not wanting to pay the players. But having a place for the teams to practice and work out on their own and relax etc does not mean success on the court. Good players do that. The players now get paid. And it does cost a lot of money to build a roster. And you need to do it every season now. But if you don't you will get your butt beat. Nobody goes to the games and your program becomes completely irrelevant.

But boy we have a nice facility with a donors name on it. The players have a place to practice. But the HC who you will pay a buyout to remove has a roster that realistically has no chance to be good. And it turns over again. Rinse and repeat.

I think both (facility and NIL) are needed to be a top program. But we know that NIL will have an immediate impact. These HCs around the nation are literally begging for NIL. Why? Because that is the new recruiting tool. A great HC with a history of producing NBA players helps. A great facility helps. But you win with players. JMO you can build the best facility ever built. but if the program is not supported with a robust NIL budget what you will have is a great building with a donors name on it and playing games before a half empty Haas. And when they play the awful OOC schedule they have to play because playing anyone better brings more losses Haas will be maybe 1/4 full.

---

If we can't dedicate a court at RSF or the gym at Clark Kerr, or Heart Gum, then build a light structure north of Haas or tear down part of the east bleachers of Edward's and build a light structure there. It really just needs to be a covered/indoor basketball court that is to be used exclusively by the men's and women's teams and is available 24/7. These structures just have to keep the rain out and are available prefab. Individuals own them. If adjacent to the RSF (or even on the toof), the players can use the RSF lockers and showers (which are nice) and is already available 24/7 (or it was).

I am also curious where the team practices now? Haas?

Anyway, my main point is to satisfy the need to have a dedicated place the players can work on their skills without building the lavish palaces schools used to use to recruit players before NIL and instead spend as much as we can raise on NIL.

---

I agree the facility need not be a palace but likely needs to be a bit better than a prefab. But NIL is an immediate need in the next 4 weeks. The portal opens on April 7 and is open for 15 days.

There is supposedly some sort of donation for a facility that has been "promised" but as of yet not made public. No idea what the donation figure is or if there really even is a promised donation. If a donor has come forth my guess is a prefab structure is not what they had in mind. But an $100M facility as has been mentioned before seems a bit more than needed and likely will cost more (maybe a lot more) by the time it gets approved and completed.

But Madsen is likely in the midst of negotiating deals for his current roster now. He needs to know what sort of budget he has. I have seen various folks say it is bigger than we may believe. I hope this is true. But I still see many saying more is needed and some suggest significantly more.

It is hard to negotiate when you do not have a budget number. And harder to go to the portal for players without a concrete budget.

I am behind the idea of Cal basketball having a truly first class facility everyone can be proud of. My concern is that if you do not start to get players in here capable of making the program NCAA tourney worthy soon (like next year) then the facility becomes what many others are around the nation. A nice building for a program that plays before mostly empty arenas because the program can not compete in building a roster.

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socaltownie said:

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6956bear said:

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calumnus said:

---

6956bear said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Shocky1 said:

---

westcoastie, madsen got straight up lied to by knowlton re: the "progress" of the practice facility during his coaching recruitment, multiple sources within the athletic dept tole me that ZERO dollars had been guaranteed at that time

and that started the monster's relentless anti jimbo campaign which is now targeting his designated anti football/basketball worthless bureaucrats jay & jenny...u could not hire 2 more unproductive, lack of visionary and unlikeable fund raisers than these 2 non berkeley grads who don't really give a **** about the revenue sports

there is ZERO chance any mcdonalds all americans are gonna come to cal until there are concrete plans for a dedicated practice facility where they can practice their craft 24/7/365...listen to 4th gen bear!!

---

Knowlton was trash, agreed.

And I agree that a dedicated court that players can use 24/7 to practice as fits their needs and whims is necessary.

However, (according to AI) Cal has had 9 McDonald's All Americans without having the $100 million facility that has not been built. If we don't get more McDonald's All Americans it will be mostly because we cannot afford the NIL they demand.

Low end McDonald's All Americans earn $500k to $1 million in NIL? Instead of spending $100 million, spend the $5 million or more annual savings on players.

---

Virtually every P4 school in the country has a dedicated practice facility. I am 100% in favor of Cal building one. But it ensures nothing. Boston College who just fired their coach and did not make the ACC tournament has a 40,000 sq ft facility for its mens and womens teams. Just opened in 2023 and is state of the art. That program is awful right now. It is called the Hoag Center. Named after the lead donor who donated $15M.

Syracuse has a state of the 54,000 sq ft facility. It is called the Carmelo Anthony Basketball Center. The same Carmelo Anthony that played there and won a NCAA title there. His kid plays there now. It is one of if not the largest dedicated practice facilities in college basketball. They have a terrific history as a basketball program. Former SU player Adrian Autry was just fired. This marks the 5th consecutive season they have not made the NCAA tournament. Despite having a great facility and history they are having trouble recruiting upper tier players. But Carmelo has a building with his name on it.

Jim Boeheim their HOF former coach and ACC network analyst said multiple times during the ACC tournament broadcasts that Syracuse was way down the list for ACC programs in NIL. He would know. He also said that BC had the worst NIL in the conference. And GaTech was also near the very bottom in NIL. These programs just fired their HC. They have buyouts to pay. New coaches to pay. Yet they do not support the program with NIL dollars.

I understand the reasons for not wanting to pay the players. But having a place for the teams to practice and work out on their own and relax etc does not mean success on the court. Good players do that. The players now get paid. And it does cost a lot of money to build a roster. And you need to do it every season now. But if you don't you will get your butt beat. Nobody goes to the games and your program becomes completely irrelevant.

But boy we have a nice facility with a donors name on it. The players have a place to practice. But the HC who you will pay a buyout to remove has a roster that realistically has no chance to be good. And it turns over again. Rinse and repeat.

I think both (facility and NIL) are needed to be a top program. But we know that NIL will have an immediate impact. These HCs around the nation are literally begging for NIL. Why? Because that is the new recruiting tool. A great HC with a history of producing NBA players helps. A great facility helps. But you win with players. JMO you can build the best facility ever built. but if the program is not supported with a robust NIL budget what you will have is a great building with a donors name on it and playing games before a half empty Haas. And when they play the awful OOC schedule they have to play because playing anyone better brings more losses Haas will be maybe 1/4 full.

---

If we can't dedicate a court at RSF or the gym at Clark Kerr, or Heart Gum, then build a light structure north of Haas or tear down part of the east bleachers of Edward's and build a light structure there. It really just needs to be a covered/indoor basketball court that is to be used exclusively by the men's and women's teams and is available 24/7. These structures just have to keep the rain out and are available prefab. Individuals own them. If adjacent to the RSF (or even on the toof), the players can use the RSF lockers and showers (which are nice) and is already available 24/7 (or it was).

I am also curious where the team practices now? Haas?

Anyway, my main point is to satisfy the need to have a dedicated place the players can work on their skills without building the lavish palaces schools used to use to recruit players before NIL and instead spend as much as we can raise on NIL.

---

I agree the facility need not be a palace but likely needs to be a bit better than a prefab. But NIL is an immediate need in the next 4 weeks. The portal opens on April 7 and is open for 15 days.

There is supposedly some sort of donation for a facility that has been "promised" but as of yet not made public. No idea what the donation figure is or if there really even is a promised donation. If a donor has come forth my guess is a prefab structure is not what they had in mind. But an $100M facility as has been mentioned before seems a bit more than needed and likely will cost more (maybe a lot more) by the time it gets approved and completed.

But Madsen is likely in the midst of negotiating deals for his current roster now. He needs to know what sort of budget he has. I have seen various folks say it is bigger than we may believe. I hope this is true. But I still see many saying more is needed and some suggest significantly more.

It is hard to negotiate when you do not have a budget number. And harder to go to the portal for players without a concrete budget.

I am behind the idea of Cal basketball having a truly first class facility everyone can be proud of. My concern is that if you do not start to get players in here capable of making the program NCAA tourney worthy soon (like next year) then the facility becomes what many others are around the nation. A nice building for a program that plays before mostly empty arenas because the program can not compete in building a roster.

---

I hope not an either/or. My main concern is to not close off avenues _IF_ NIL changes. Do any of you really think the current model is sustainable? Everything I know about fundraising - that raising money for "operational" activities from individual donors is hard and even harder is operational activities for very highly compensated talent. You see it around the country, as lots of voices (not just advocates for returning to a system where coaches were the few place to spend the oodles of cash) are not convinced this status quo is permanent. My own crystal ball suggests that players get paid from the TV and tix rights but that Congress puts in place guard rails are put in place for the essential "pay to play" scheme. I think this will be particularly true if (school might be wrong) the LSU players successful challenge the clearing houses rulling. Then we are right back to not even the myth that these are real endorsement deals.

Now that is the future. IN the present we are FULLY in alignment that we need to spend the $$$ for NIL., But we want the AD to keep a marker on the land and site and donor for the building. DOn't give up on that in case the ground shifts. Because you don't want NIL to get guard rails and then wake up and see a new biology building where you hoped to build your gym and your lead donor having switched focus to helping UCSF with a cancer center.

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6956bear said:

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socaltownie said:

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6956bear said:

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calumnus said:

---

6956bear said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Shocky1 said:

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westcoastie, madsen got straight up lied to by knowlton re: the "progress" of the practice facility during his coaching recruitment, multiple sources within the athletic dept tole me that ZERO dollars had been guaranteed at that time

and that started the monster's relentless anti jimbo campaign which is now targeting his designated anti football/basketball worthless bureaucrats jay & jenny...u could not hire 2 more unproductive, lack of visionary and unlikeable fund raisers than these 2 non berkeley grads who don't really give a **** about the revenue sports

there is ZERO chance any mcdonalds all americans are gonna come to cal until there are concrete plans for a dedicated practice facility where they can practice their craft 24/7/365...listen to 4th gen bear!!

---

Knowlton was trash, agreed.

And I agree that a dedicated court that players can use 24/7 to practice as fits their needs and whims is necessary.

However, (according to AI) Cal has had 9 McDonald's All Americans without having the $100 million facility that has not been built. If we don't get more McDonald's All Americans it will be mostly because we cannot afford the NIL they demand.

Low end McDonald's All Americans earn $500k to $1 million in NIL? Instead of spending $100 million, spend the $5 million or more annual savings on players.

---

Virtually every P4 school in the country has a dedicated practice facility. I am 100% in favor of Cal building one. But it ensures nothing. Boston College who just fired their coach and did not make the ACC tournament has a 40,000 sq ft facility for its mens and womens teams. Just opened in 2023 and is state of the art. That program is awful right now. It is called the Hoag Center. Named after the lead donor who donated $15M.

Syracuse has a state of the 54,000 sq ft facility. It is called the Carmelo Anthony Basketball Center. The same Carmelo Anthony that played there and won a NCAA title there. His kid plays there now. It is one of if not the largest dedicated practice facilities in college basketball. They have a terrific history as a basketball program. Former SU player Adrian Autry was just fired. This marks the 5th consecutive season they have not made the NCAA tournament. Despite having a great facility and history they are having trouble recruiting upper tier players. But Carmelo has a building with his name on it.

Jim Boeheim their HOF former coach and ACC network analyst said multiple times during the ACC tournament broadcasts that Syracuse was way down the list for ACC programs in NIL. He would know. He also said that BC had the worst NIL in the conference. And GaTech was also near the very bottom in NIL. These programs just fired their HC. They have buyouts to pay. New coaches to pay. Yet they do not support the program with NIL dollars.

I understand the reasons for not wanting to pay the players. But having a place for the teams to practice and work out on their own and relax etc does not mean success on the court. Good players do that. The players now get paid. And it does cost a lot of money to build a roster. And you need to do it every season now. But if you don't you will get your butt beat. Nobody goes to the games and your program becomes completely irrelevant.

But boy we have a nice facility with a donors name on it. The players have a place to practice. But the HC who you will pay a buyout to remove has a roster that realistically has no chance to be good. And it turns over again. Rinse and repeat.

I think both (facility and NIL) are needed to be a top program. But we know that NIL will have an immediate impact. These HCs around the nation are literally begging for NIL. Why? Because that is the new recruiting tool. A great HC with a history of producing NBA players helps. A great facility helps. But you win with players. JMO you can build the best facility ever built. but if the program is not supported with a robust NIL budget what you will have is a great building with a donors name on it and playing games before a half empty Haas. And when they play the awful OOC schedule they have to play because playing anyone better brings more losses Haas will be maybe 1/4 full.

---

If we can't dedicate a court at RSF or the gym at Clark Kerr, or Heart Gum, then build a light structure north of Haas or tear down part of the east bleachers of Edward's and build a light structure there. It really just needs to be a covered/indoor basketball court that is to be used exclusively by the men's and women's teams and is available 24/7. These structures just have to keep the rain out and are available prefab. Individuals own them. If adjacent to the RSF (or even on the toof), the players can use the RSF lockers and showers (which are nice) and is already available 24/7 (or it was).

I am also curious where the team practices now? Haas?

Anyway, my main point is to satisfy the need to have a dedicated place the players can work on their skills without building the lavish palaces schools used to use to recruit players before NIL and instead spend as much as we can raise on NIL.

---

I agree the facility need not be a palace but likely needs to be a bit better than a prefab. But NIL is an immediate need in the next 4 weeks. The portal opens on April 7 and is open for 15 days.

There is supposedly some sort of donation for a facility that has been "promised" but as of yet not made public. No idea what the donation figure is or if there really even is a promised donation. If a donor has come forth my guess is a prefab structure is not what they had in mind. But an $100M facility as has been mentioned before seems a bit more than needed and likely will cost more (maybe a lot more) by the time it gets approved and completed.

But Madsen is likely in the midst of negotiating deals for his current roster now. He needs to know what sort of budget he has. I have seen various folks say it is bigger than we may believe. I hope this is true. But I still see many saying more is needed and some suggest significantly more.

It is hard to negotiate when you do not have a budget number. And harder to go to the portal for players without a concrete budget.

I am behind the idea of Cal basketball having a truly first class facility everyone can be proud of. My concern is that if you do not start to get players in here capable of making the program NCAA tourney worthy soon (like next year) then the facility becomes what many others are around the nation. A nice building for a program that plays before mostly empty arenas because the program can not compete in building a roster.

---

I hope not an either/or. My main concern is to not close off avenues _IF_ NIL changes. Do any of you really think the current model is sustainable? Everything I know about fundraising - that raising money for "operational" activities from individual donors is hard and even harder is operational activities for very highly compensated talent. You see it around the country, as lots of voices (not just advocates for returning to a system where coaches were the few place to spend the oodles of cash) are not convinced this status quo is permanent. My own crystal ball suggests that players get paid from the TV and tix rights but that Congress puts in place guard rails are put in place for the essential "pay to play" scheme. I think this will be particularly true if (school might be wrong) the LSU players successful challenge the clearing houses rulling. Then we are right back to not even the myth that these are real endorsement deals.

Now that is the future. IN the present we are FULLY in alignment that we need to spend the $$$ for NIL., But we want the AD to keep a marker on the land and site and donor for the building. DOn't give up on that in case the ground shifts. Because you don't want NIL to get guard rails and then wake up and see a new biology building where you hoped to build your gym and your lead donor having switched focus to helping UCSF with a cancer center.

---

I think it is a both. But right now NIL needs to be priority. But it is possible to do both. But the next 4 to 6 weeks is where next years basketball roster will take shape. If the lead donor is all in on a facility but not NIL that is not the end of the world. But you need to find a way to get a strong NIL budget so Madsen has a chance. It won't be what Duke or UNC have but you have to take real steps to building a strong roster. Winning tends to get more folks excited.

I agree that a facility is likely needed. Size and cost and timeline are crucial. Sooner is best but cannot be in place of NIL. It really needs to be both if you want a top hoops program

The school challenging the clearing house I think is Nebraska, but no doubt many others will as well.

I think we can see where all this is headed. But can Congress actually do something that can get passed and meet the needs of all involved? The SEC is already talking about leaving the NCAA for football and forming their own governance and eligibility rules.

Donor fatigue is a real thing and the system as is very likely is not sustainable. But for now Cal hoops has a small window to improve the roster.

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socaltownie said:

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6956bear said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

6956bear said:

---

calumnus said:

---

6956bear said:

---

calumnus said:

---

Shocky1 said:

---

westcoastie, madsen got straight up lied to by knowlton re: the "progress" of the practice facility during his coaching recruitment, multiple sources within the athletic dept tole me that ZERO dollars had been guaranteed at that time

and that started the monster's relentless anti jimbo campaign which is now targeting his designated anti football/basketball worthless bureaucrats jay & jenny...u could not hire 2 more unproductive, lack of visionary and unlikeable fund raisers than these 2 non berkeley grads who don't really give a **** about the revenue sports

there is ZERO chance any mcdonalds all americans are gonna come to cal until there are concrete plans for a dedicated practice facility where they can practice their craft 24/7/365...listen to 4th gen bear!!

---

Knowlton was trash, agreed.

And I agree that a dedicated court that players can use 24/7 to practice as fits their needs and whims is necessary.

However, (according to AI) Cal has had 9 McDonald's All Americans without having the $100 million facility that has not been built. If we don't get more McDonald's All Americans it will be mostly because we cannot afford the NIL they demand.

Low end McDonald's All Americans earn $500k to $1 million in NIL? Instead of spending $100 million, spend the $5 million or more annual savings on players.

---

Virtually every P4 school in the country has a dedicated practice facility. I am 100% in favor of Cal building one. But it ensures nothing. Boston College who just fired their coach and did not make the ACC tournament has a 40,000 sq ft facility for its mens and womens teams. Just opened in 2023 and is state of the art. That program is awful right now. It is called the Hoag Center. Named after the lead donor who donated $15M.

Syracuse has a state of the 54,000 sq ft facility. It is called the Carmelo Anthony Basketball Center. The same Carmelo Anthony that played there and won a NCAA title there. His kid plays there now. It is one of if not the largest dedicated practice facilities in college basketball. They have a terrific history as a basketball program. Former SU player Adrian Autry was just fired. This marks the 5th consecutive season they have not made the NCAA tournament. Despite having a great facility and history they are having trouble recruiting upper tier players. But Carmelo has a building with his name on it.

Jim Boeheim their HOF former coach and ACC network analyst said multiple times during the ACC tournament broadcasts that Syracuse was way down the list for ACC programs in NIL. He would know. He also said that BC had the worst NIL in the conference. And GaTech was also near the very bottom in NIL. These programs just fired their HC. They have buyouts to pay. New coaches to pay. Yet they do not support the program with NIL dollars.

I understand the reasons for not wanting to pay the players. But having a place for the teams to practice and work out on their own and relax etc does not mean success on the court. Good players do that. The players now get paid. And it does cost a lot of money to build a roster. And you need to do it every season now. But if you don't you will get your butt beat. Nobody goes to the games and your program becomes completely irrelevant.

But boy we have a nice facility with a donors name on it. The players have a place to practice. But the HC who you will pay a buyout to remove has a roster that realistically has no chance to be good. And it turns over again. Rinse and repeat.

I think both (facility and NIL) are needed to be a top program. But we know that NIL will have an immediate impact. These HCs around the nation are literally begging for NIL. Why? Because that is the new recruiting tool. A great HC with a history of producing NBA players helps. A great facility helps. But you win with players. JMO you can build the best facility ever built. but if the program is not supported with a robust NIL budget what you will have is a great building with a donors name on it and playing games before a half empty Haas. And when they play the awful OOC schedule they have to play because playing anyone better brings more losses Haas will be maybe 1/4 full.

---

If we can't dedicate a court at RSF or the gym at Clark Kerr, or Heart Gum, then build a light structure north of Haas or tear down part of the east bleachers of Edward's and build a light structure there. It really just needs to be a covered/indoor basketball court that is to be used exclusively by the men's and women's teams and is available 24/7. These structures just have to keep the rain out and are available prefab. Individuals own them. If adjacent to the RSF (or even on the toof), the players can use the RSF lockers and showers (which are nice) and is already available 24/7 (or it was).

I am also curious where the team practices now? Haas?

Anyway, my main point is to satisfy the need to have a dedicated place the players can work on their skills without building the lavish palaces schools used to use to recruit players before NIL and instead spend as much as we can raise on NIL.

---

I agree the facility need not be a palace but likely needs to be a bit better than a prefab. But NIL is an immediate need in the next 4 weeks. The portal opens on April 7 and is open for 15 days.

There is supposedly some sort of donation for a facility that has been "promised" but as of yet not made public. No idea what the donation figure is or if there really even is a promised donation. If a donor has come forth my guess is a prefab structure is not what they had in mind. But an $100M facility as has been mentioned before seems a bit more than needed and likely will cost more (maybe a lot more) by the time it gets approved and completed.

But Madsen is likely in the midst of negotiating deals for his current roster now. He needs to know what sort of budget he has. I have seen various folks say it is bigger than we may believe. I hope this is true. But I still see many saying more is needed and some suggest significantly more.

It is hard to negotiate when you do not have a budget number. And harder to go to the portal for players without a concrete budget.

I am behind the idea of Cal basketball having a truly first class facility everyone can be proud of. My concern is that if you do not start to get players in here capable of making the program NCAA tourney worthy soon (like next year) then the facility becomes what many others are around the nation. A nice building for a program that plays before mostly empty arenas because the program can not compete in building a roster.

---

I hope not an either/or. My main concern is to not close off avenues _IF_ NIL changes. Do any of you really think the current model is sustainable? Everything I know about fundraising - that raising money for "operational" activities from individual donors is hard and even harder is operational activities for very highly compensated talent. You see it around the country, as lots of voices (not just advocates for returning to a system where coaches were the few place to spend the oodles of cash) are not convinced this status quo is permanent. My own crystal ball suggests that players get paid from the TV and tix rights but that Congress puts in place guard rails are put in place for the essential "pay to play" scheme. I think this will be particularly true if (school might be wrong) the LSU players successful challenge the clearing houses rulling. Then we are right back to not even the myth that these are real endorsement deals.

Now that is the future. IN the present we are FULLY in alignment that we need to spend the $$$ for NIL., But we want the AD to keep a marker on the land and site and donor for the building. DOn't give up on that in case the ground shifts. Because you don't want NIL to get guard rails and then wake up and see a new biology building where you hoped to build your gym and your lead donor having switched focus to helping UCSF with a cancer center.

---

I think it is a both. But right now NIL needs to be priority. But it is possible to do both. But the next 4 to 6 weeks is where next years basketball roster will take shape. If the lead donor is all in on a facility but not NIL that is not the end of the world. But you need to find a way to get a strong NIL budget so Madsen has a chance. It won't be what Duke or UNC have but you have to take real steps to building a strong roster. Winning tends to get more folks excited.

I agree that a facility is likely needed. Size and cost and timeline are crucial. Sooner is best but cannot be in place of NIL. It really needs to be both if you want a top hoops program

The school challenging the clearing house I think is Nebraska, but no doubt many others will as well.

I think we can see where all this is headed. But can Congress actually do something that can get passed and meet the needs of all involved? The SEC is already talking about leaving the NCAA for football and forming their own governance and eligibility rules.

Donor fatigue is a real thing and the system as is very likely is not sustainable. But for now Cal hoops has a small window to improve the roster.

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No disagreement. I just know you gotta keep the marker in place and state your intention to do both and that both matter.

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