Good stuff from @DanielFair.
It's no secret that Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) is one of the most important factors in a college athletics department nowadays. Teams have to be competitive with their pocketbooks if they hope to be competitive on the field or court.
The University of Arkansas partnered with Blueprint Sports back on Nov. 28 to help manage its newest official NIL collective — Arkansas Edge — which was announced on the same day that reports came out saying Arkansas was hiring former head coach Bobby Petrino to be offensive coordinator of the football team.
Fans may also recall the UA's former NIL collective, OneArkansas, which was retired when Arkansas Edge was announced.
Blueprint Sports can be complex to understand, but at its core, it is a company that manages the collectives of several different schools. Things like Arkansas Edge's websites, fundraising drives, merchandise, memberships, etc. all look similar to the other schools Blueprint Sports represents.
RELATED: Company powering Arkansas Edge could be 'operating in gray area'
Zeroing in on the fundraisers, Arkansas Edge is currently working on its "Drive for Five" campaign, which began March 27. The effort aims to gain 5,000 Arkansas Edge members before football season kicks off in 58 days. As of July 2, there are 782 members, which is 4,218 short of its goal with a deadline that is coming quick.
Doing a little math, that means Arkansas Edge would need to average a little over 71 new members every day in order to reach the goal of 5,000 members before the Razorbacks kick off their season against UAPB at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
To be fair to Arkansas Edge, when the Drive for Five was announced, Arkansas wasn't set to kick off its season until August 31. That game was moved up to Thursday night on August 29.
So in that regard, for Arkansas Edge to reach its goal of 5,000 new members by August 31 — when the original date was scheduled — it would need to average 69 new members per day.
So, is it an Arkansas problem? Arkansas Edge is not the only school tied to Blueprint Sports that is working on some kind of fundraiser for their respective athletic departments.
Currently, Blueprint Sports lists 12 Power 4 schools in its portfolio, and 28 total schools. Of those schools, four are hosting some form of a drive for fan membership, according to HawgBeat's research — Arkansas, Penn State, Kansas and Wichita State.
What makes Arkansas Edge's fundraiser different from those, however, is that its campaign is working to gain members as opposed to also a total number of funds.
Penn State has a goal of $500,000. Kansas has a goal of $1 million. Wichita State's goal is similar to Arkansas in that it wants 5,000 members, but is looking for an annual donation of $500 or more.
Because it runs on memberships that start at $25 per month and go as high as $250 per month, Arkansas Edge's fundraiser — if the goal is reached — could net the school anywhere from $125,000 per month ($25 x 5,000) to $1.25 million ($250 x 5,000).
The reality is, it's extremely unlikely Arkansas Edge will have $1.25 million per month in NIL revenue through memberships, however unless some kind of legislation is passed by Congress, it's unlikely we'll ever know for sure.
So, how are other schools comparing when it comes to their respective fundraisers? We take a close look at each school's NIL efforts below.
From the Happy Valley United website:
"Retain The Roar, a campaign powered by Happy Valley United and State Media, aims to raise $500,000 to ensure championship-level talent returns and thrives under Head Coach James Franklin and his Penn State Football staff.
"Tuesday, April 16 marked the opening of the transfer portal for Division I football in the spring window. In a new era of college athletics that requires exceptional NIL support, Happy Valley United and State Media are committed to doing their part."
The total progress toward their goal is viewed similarly to Arkansas Edge's. It's a graphic of a thermometer and fills as it grows. Right now, as of July 2, Penn State is 42% of the way to the goal with a total amount of $211,898 raised so far.
Kansas' NIL collective is named after Mass Street, which can best be described as the KU equivalent of Dickson Street in Fayetteville.
It's worth noting that at the same time Mass St. Collective is working on its "March to a Million" fundraiser of $1 million, the school is also working on building a new stadium, which is forcing the team to play its home games at Arrowhead Stadium and Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City.
Mass St. Collective's website says 94% of the $1 million raised will go directly to their student athletes with 6% going toward operating costs. From Mass St. Collective's website:
"The fundraiser will roll out in four phases, each one celebrating the rich history of KU athletics across various sports. Upon reaching each phase’s key fundraising milestone, Mass St. Collective will be giving away special prizes and experiences including tickets to post-season championship events, sideline passes to KU’s 2024 Spring Showcase, an Olympic baton signed by Jayhawk track legends, KU memorabilia signed by Jayhawk champions, and an all-inclusive trip to KU’s game vs the Colorado Buffaloes at Arrowhead Stadium next season."
So far, Mass St. Collective is 57% of the way toward its goal of $1 million, at $570,195. What makes Kansas' even more lucrative is the addition of a $1 million match, so the total amount raised will be $2 million.
Wichita State is a smaller school than the others mentioned, and doesn't have as many sports to provide NIL to as Arkansas does. There's no football team, so NIL can be focused on basketball, baseball and softball.
Wichita State's NIL fundraiser actually looks similar to Arkansas', though, as it is looking for 5,000 members who are donating $500 minimum per year.
The Shockers fans have taken to it and are currently at 772 total members. That means the school is generating, at a minimum, $386,000 per year for a smaller athletic department than the UA's.
Wheat Shock Collective is also working on a one-time donation fundraiser of $50,000, which unlocks a match of the same amount. They are currently 70% of the way there with $35,096 raised.
Outside of a second-round NCAA Tournament win over Kansas in 2023, a 2022 Liberty Bowl win against the Jayhawks and a 2021 Outback Bowl win over Penn State, those schools are not the ones Arkansas is competing against week in and week out.
Being in the toughest conference in college football — the SEC — Arkansas' NIL efforts are going to need to raise dramatically. Again, unless some kind of legislation is passed by Congress, higher numbers are going to be hard to come by, but it's difficult to look at the current Arkansas Edge website and feel good about where the Hogs are at.
The current count of 782 members is actually lower than it was three weeks ago. According to a report from Best of Arkansas Sports on June 10, Arkansas Edge was sitting at 793 members. That means the collective has lost 11 members when it's trying to get to a generous goal of 5,000 members.
To make matters worse, unless there's some form of a delay in adding new members and adjusting the website, Arkansas Edge hasn't added a new member since at least June 20.
There are innovative ways that Arkansas Edge is working to change things, such as working with credit card processor Echo Pay to bring a portion of each processing fee to NIL. But if Arkansas wants to remain competitive in the most competitive conference in sports, it's going to need to do a whole lot more.
Some of the latest updates include the hiring of Emma Janes as "membership and communications coordinator" and the signing of freshman five-star Boogie Fland from the men's basketball team. They also recently ran a promo that entered members in a contest to win a signed basketball from first-year men's basketball head coach John Calipari
It's no secret that Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) is one of the most important factors in a college athletics department nowadays. Teams have to be competitive with their pocketbooks if they hope to be competitive on the field or court.
The University of Arkansas partnered with Blueprint Sports back on Nov. 28 to help manage its newest official NIL collective — Arkansas Edge — which was announced on the same day that reports came out saying Arkansas was hiring former head coach Bobby Petrino to be offensive coordinator of the football team.
Fans may also recall the UA's former NIL collective, OneArkansas, which was retired when Arkansas Edge was announced.
Blueprint Sports can be complex to understand, but at its core, it is a company that manages the collectives of several different schools. Things like Arkansas Edge's websites, fundraising drives, merchandise, memberships, etc. all look similar to the other schools Blueprint Sports represents.
RELATED: Company powering Arkansas Edge could be 'operating in gray area'
Zeroing in on the fundraisers, Arkansas Edge is currently working on its "Drive for Five" campaign, which began March 27. The effort aims to gain 5,000 Arkansas Edge members before football season kicks off in 58 days. As of July 2, there are 782 members, which is 4,218 short of its goal with a deadline that is coming quick.
Doing a little math, that means Arkansas Edge would need to average a little over 71 new members every day in order to reach the goal of 5,000 members before the Razorbacks kick off their season against UAPB at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
To be fair to Arkansas Edge, when the Drive for Five was announced, Arkansas wasn't set to kick off its season until August 31. That game was moved up to Thursday night on August 29.
So in that regard, for Arkansas Edge to reach its goal of 5,000 new members by August 31 — when the original date was scheduled — it would need to average 69 new members per day.
So, is it an Arkansas problem? Arkansas Edge is not the only school tied to Blueprint Sports that is working on some kind of fundraiser for their respective athletic departments.
Currently, Blueprint Sports lists 12 Power 4 schools in its portfolio, and 28 total schools. Of those schools, four are hosting some form of a drive for fan membership, according to HawgBeat's research — Arkansas, Penn State, Kansas and Wichita State.
What makes Arkansas Edge's fundraiser different from those, however, is that its campaign is working to gain members as opposed to also a total number of funds.
Penn State has a goal of $500,000. Kansas has a goal of $1 million. Wichita State's goal is similar to Arkansas in that it wants 5,000 members, but is looking for an annual donation of $500 or more.
Because it runs on memberships that start at $25 per month and go as high as $250 per month, Arkansas Edge's fundraiser — if the goal is reached — could net the school anywhere from $125,000 per month ($25 x 5,000) to $1.25 million ($250 x 5,000).
The reality is, it's extremely unlikely Arkansas Edge will have $1.25 million per month in NIL revenue through memberships, however unless some kind of legislation is passed by Congress, it's unlikely we'll ever know for sure.
So, how are other schools comparing when it comes to their respective fundraisers? We take a close look at each school's NIL efforts below.
Penn State — Happy Valley United
Happy Valley United is the name of Penn State's NIL collective managed by Blueprint Sports. Rather than focusing on a number of members to the collective each month, the collective is focused on an overall cash number for its "Retain the Roar" campaign.From the Happy Valley United website:
"Retain The Roar, a campaign powered by Happy Valley United and State Media, aims to raise $500,000 to ensure championship-level talent returns and thrives under Head Coach James Franklin and his Penn State Football staff.
"Tuesday, April 16 marked the opening of the transfer portal for Division I football in the spring window. In a new era of college athletics that requires exceptional NIL support, Happy Valley United and State Media are committed to doing their part."
The total progress toward their goal is viewed similarly to Arkansas Edge's. It's a graphic of a thermometer and fills as it grows. Right now, as of July 2, Penn State is 42% of the way to the goal with a total amount of $211,898 raised so far.
Kansas — Mass St. Collective
Kansas' NIL collective is named after Mass Street, which can best be described as the KU equivalent of Dickson Street in Fayetteville.
It's worth noting that at the same time Mass St. Collective is working on its "March to a Million" fundraiser of $1 million, the school is also working on building a new stadium, which is forcing the team to play its home games at Arrowhead Stadium and Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City.
Mass St. Collective's website says 94% of the $1 million raised will go directly to their student athletes with 6% going toward operating costs. From Mass St. Collective's website:
"The fundraiser will roll out in four phases, each one celebrating the rich history of KU athletics across various sports. Upon reaching each phase’s key fundraising milestone, Mass St. Collective will be giving away special prizes and experiences including tickets to post-season championship events, sideline passes to KU’s 2024 Spring Showcase, an Olympic baton signed by Jayhawk track legends, KU memorabilia signed by Jayhawk champions, and an all-inclusive trip to KU’s game vs the Colorado Buffaloes at Arrowhead Stadium next season."
So far, Mass St. Collective is 57% of the way toward its goal of $1 million, at $570,195. What makes Kansas' even more lucrative is the addition of a $1 million match, so the total amount raised will be $2 million.
Wichita State — Wheat Shock Collective
Wichita State is a smaller school than the others mentioned, and doesn't have as many sports to provide NIL to as Arkansas does. There's no football team, so NIL can be focused on basketball, baseball and softball.
Wichita State's NIL fundraiser actually looks similar to Arkansas', though, as it is looking for 5,000 members who are donating $500 minimum per year.
The Shockers fans have taken to it and are currently at 772 total members. That means the school is generating, at a minimum, $386,000 per year for a smaller athletic department than the UA's.
Wheat Shock Collective is also working on a one-time donation fundraiser of $50,000, which unlocks a match of the same amount. They are currently 70% of the way there with $35,096 raised.
To sum it up: Arkansas' NIL needs to get better
Outside of a second-round NCAA Tournament win over Kansas in 2023, a 2022 Liberty Bowl win against the Jayhawks and a 2021 Outback Bowl win over Penn State, those schools are not the ones Arkansas is competing against week in and week out.
Being in the toughest conference in college football — the SEC — Arkansas' NIL efforts are going to need to raise dramatically. Again, unless some kind of legislation is passed by Congress, higher numbers are going to be hard to come by, but it's difficult to look at the current Arkansas Edge website and feel good about where the Hogs are at.
The current count of 782 members is actually lower than it was three weeks ago. According to a report from Best of Arkansas Sports on June 10, Arkansas Edge was sitting at 793 members. That means the collective has lost 11 members when it's trying to get to a generous goal of 5,000 members.
To make matters worse, unless there's some form of a delay in adding new members and adjusting the website, Arkansas Edge hasn't added a new member since at least June 20.
There are innovative ways that Arkansas Edge is working to change things, such as working with credit card processor Echo Pay to bring a portion of each processing fee to NIL. But if Arkansas wants to remain competitive in the most competitive conference in sports, it's going to need to do a whole lot more.
Some of the latest updates include the hiring of Emma Janes as "membership and communications coordinator" and the signing of freshman five-star Boogie Fland from the men's basketball team. They also recently ran a promo that entered members in a contest to win a signed basketball from first-year men's basketball head coach John Calipari
