I’d say fairly well. Attendance was probably about 125-150, and I was fairly impressed with the speakers. I’ve heard Sark, CDC, and the boosters involved speak before except Wheels, but I thought they all had very compelling speeches that were geared towards people who might have in the past been hesitant to support NIL. I would say I walked in with zero expectations on what this would be, and came out thinking that a lot of people will support NIL moving forward in some small amount at least. They definitely geared their pitch towards the idea of tapping our massive living alumni group towards a subscription model like Burnt Ends, as well as establishing a baseline for most of the roster.
One speaker who has shelled out a ton of money so far made a fairly passionate defense that these kids aren’t wasting this money on cars and grills, but flying parents to games or paying off their high interest debt occurred during Covid, and this guy would know. And in that sense the pitch was very much honed to The Olds. The more I reflect, the more I think it went really well. I’d be shocked if this kind of road tour doesn’t shake loose some bigger regular supporters to OneFund.
one personal concern of mine was also addressed, which was the tax instruction these kids are getting is legit, above and beyond what is legally required. Other things I learned but didn’t know is that if a kid tests the portal, he is not welcome back, and he’s fully aware of that in advance. Sark has had very frank conversations with the team on that level. He is highly, highly protective of the culture and the way he handles NIL with kids reflects that.
It feels like we’re in good hands. Still a long way to go in terms of funding and spreading the word, but these guys seem to have a good handle on the real world, and aren’t shying away from it. They need dollars and support staff, imo. Plenty of things to work on, and improve, but I feel good about what we have to work with compared to other schools, and hopefully we keep moving forward. People just need to buy in and pay up.
also some good and well deserved shots at aTm and the sec for their behavior for decades and their current hand wringing. I also met @Enchubben and @Okcool and to my surprise, they were both normal, cool guys. I was naturally expecting both to be 5’4” and approximately 300 lbs with high decibel lisps, which is how I envision most of you reprobates.