Kentucky is Near the Bottom of the SEC in Athletic Donations...
- Thread starter WildcatWally-77
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There is always going to be an X factor involved but spending in the Big 10 is largely responsible why the SEC has been eclipsed by that conference.
I simply don't care. I work for my money. I'm not EVER going to donate to a kids salary to play a college sport. If this means UK falls behind because everyone has the same attitude, so be it.
Could you imagine if the Reds or Bengals started calling you asking for contributions towards a contract for resigning Elly or Burrow?
Even the pros don't have that level of unmitigated gall. I'll pay for tickets. Even parking as absurd as that is. Concessions. Over priced beers. Merchandise. But that's about it.
The big money boosters who have more money than they can spend in 10 lifetimes who want a pet project and to feel cool as an insider are who you need to pester and "shame" into kicking in.
The average Kentuckian out here working an 8-5 has family, bills, food, gas, etc to take care of. I'm not going to spend part of my salary so someone else's kid can get millions to play a game. If UK wants the average fan to kick in on that, price it into the cost of admission.
Of course, they won't do that, because then they REALLY have to be held to account for results on the field, and they know they don't want that smoke.
This new system is absolute ******* nonsense.
Could you imagine if the Reds or Bengals started calling you asking for contributions towards a contract for resigning Elly or Burrow?
Even the pros don't have that level of unmitigated gall. I'll pay for tickets. Even parking as absurd as that is. Concessions. Over priced beers. Merchandise. But that's about it.
The big money boosters who have more money than they can spend in 10 lifetimes who want a pet project and to feel cool as an insider are who you need to pester and "shame" into kicking in.
The average Kentuckian out here working an 8-5 has family, bills, food, gas, etc to take care of. I'm not going to spend part of my salary so someone else's kid can get millions to play a game. If UK wants the average fan to kick in on that, price it into the cost of admission.
Of course, they won't do that, because then they REALLY have to be held to account for results on the field, and they know they don't want that smoke.
This new system is absolute ******* nonsense.
I paid enough in tuition for my kids. I have a hard time giving them more, so an 18 year old can have millions to come and play a sport.
I live in columbus. The reason OSU has so much money is not because random Ohio guy with 3 kids is giving more money than random Kentucky guy with 3 kids. I think you guys aren’t really understanding where money is coming from. OSU has so much money because Columbus has a population of 2.5 million, is the fastest growing city in the Midwest, has an absolute metric s$it ton of businesses opening up every other day, and is headquarters to multiple massive billion dollar companies (5 of the biggest insurance companies in the world are headquartered here). There are so many small businesses and big businesses that donate to OSU and advertise it it would make your head spin. That’s the main difference. Austin is almost identical as well. Lexington or Tuscaloosa can’t compete with that. If there was a major University in Charlotte it would be the same thing. It’s also really important to have a smart AD that can organize all of that and is good at getting contributions from said businesses, but Barnhart is an absolute doofus. It’s even more critical to have a good AD when your university is in a small town.
Absolutely. I've seen many of our fans wonder why Louisville is suddenly recruiting so well and has this influx of money. It has nothing to do with the size of their fanbase compared to ours. You hit the nail on the head.
It really helps them that they are one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US with no top level pro sports teams to compete against.
Obviously people can do what they want with their money but these insane amounts going toward athletics shows how out of whack our priorities are as a country. Bread & circuses
Honestly. I still don’t understand where the money is coming from. I’m not trying to be a smart aleck. Is Lexmark or Valvoline giving millions to UK? Not a loaded question. I don’t know. It just doesn’t make since to me that a company, assuming they’re nation wide if they’re that big, would give money from the company coffers. Fred Smith giving his own money, yes. Money coming from FedEx doesn’t seem like that would fly.
What? Almost all the money comes from businesses. It’s a tax write off as it can be labeled under marketing expense, and then they say “proudly supporting OSU athletics” to make sure all the OSU fans in the city know about it. They then buy box seats and suites as a business perk to watch games for their clients and perspective hires and exes. Nationwide insurance donates millions a year. It’s all businesses. It not just some random dude sending money, even though there are a lot more of those in a city the size of Columbus than Lexington. But businesses drive the vast majority.
I mean I see people say these but since when in humanity has entertainment not been a huge part of society? From the gladiators to Michelangelo to Shakespeare to Mozart the most famous people of almost any society have been the artists and entertainers. Today’s sports figures and sports teams are our particular societies entertainment for the most part, but that’s always played a huge role in pretty much every society.
Never said it wasn't. But you seem to be saying we can't be properly entertained without pouring billions of dollars into it. But those amounts just for the SEC alone are simply obscene and one wonders what better use that kind of money could be put toward for the greater societal foos rather than an arms race to see who fields the better sports teams. I'm a huge sports fan but it's pretty grotesque if you think about it.
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Always respected your opinion Ron. Seem to be or at least try to have an objective opinion on things. With that being said, if you want to call me an idiot, just do so. Lol
Seriously though, whether right or wrong, I always thought the vast majority of the money came from wealthy boosters, fans and local businesses. I can see a Nationwide or Wendy’s paying for some commercials or social media stuff but not just chucking over $10M to buy some players. Not saying I’m right. I’d be pissed if my company did that.
I mean I guess but we pour billions and trillions into everything. We spend more than 1 TRILLION a year on our defense budget. Billions into education. Billions into healthcare. Billions into this, billions into that. Our countries deficit is in the trillions. I mean it seems to only make sense that we’d spend billions into entertainment. I think there’s probably worse things to spend money on than sports tbh
no no I’m not calling anyone an idiot lol, I just have firsthand knowledge and see it firsthand in Columbus. These companies have really smart accounting and any money they can draw down at the end of the year in sponsorship opportunities to save money on taxes they do full tilt, and they make sure shareholders understand that. Chase has their second biggest headquarters in Columbus and they employ 10s of thousands here. They have a special OSU licensed debit and credit card you can get where you get extra points and cash back if you spend at OSU events or on merchandise, special deals in game day etc. You might think that sounds dumb but if you’re one of the millions of OSU fans in Columbus or Ohio that might make you choose Chase as your bank over another bank so Chase will give OSU millions of dollars to work with them. Well then Huntington bank (another billion dollar company that was started and is headquartered in Columbus) did the same thing to not lose potential customers also paying OSU millions for the rights etc etc. Multiply this by thousands of businesses and a really smart AD for OSU coordinating all of this and all of a sudden OSU and Texas have more NIL than they know what to do with. It’s a built in advantage for these schools in big cities. I don’t know what a city like Lexington can do, but they need a really innovative and aggressive AD to navigate it. I’m not saying UK can’t compete I’m just saying these schools in big cities (like St John’s or USC in LA) have a huge built in advantage.
The only thing propping UK up is the SEC money. If we didn't have that, we would be very similar to West Virginia. Small state, small city, poor state, all those things matter. Barnhart being an idiot when this started put us 2 years behind all the schools we were competing with. Cal screwing up our relationship with Nike matters. Nike could have been our saving grace, but now we are just another team they sponsor.
Bottom line is a lot has gone wrong for UK to be where it is right now. Finding a way out of the "have-nots" is going to take smart, innovative leadership and a lot of winning on the court and the field.
Bottom line is a lot has gone wrong for UK to be where it is right now. Finding a way out of the "have-nots" is going to take smart, innovative leadership and a lot of winning on the court and the field.
Yep but probably better things to spend money on too.
a company cannot deduct the cost of tickets to sporting events as a business expense. Under IRS rules, entertainment expenses—including professional or college sports tickets and luxury boxes—are strictly non-deductible, even if you discuss business or entertain a client.
If your company pays an athlete to promote your product, endorse your brand, or appear in an ad campaign, this is treated as a standard marketing or advertising expense. To write it off, you must prove: [1]
- The payment is reasonable: You cannot pay a college athlete way above market value simply to disguise a personal expense or gift.
- There is a clear ROI: The contract must directly tie the payment to business promotion, such as using the athlete's likeness in a marketing
Concert tickets are also obscene these days.
Every time I questioned if we should get another apparel company to partner with there is an outpouring of Nike fans as if the swoosh is the end all, be all. Now is too late with that long contract. By the way Nike has lost 20+% sales in China in the last year and their stock is way down.
Yep I don't go to live events now. Partly getting older and liking to stay home but I'm also not paying out the a$$ for two hours of entertainment surrounded by people
Without some guard rails on college sports, the have's and have not will be separating very soon. It's unsustainable, and honestly quite stupid. There is no other organized sport where millions are at play without some reasonable set of rules/caps. We are already seeing it with Louisville.
I don’t think it sounds dumb. I found it interesting.
Why would a normal family give money? People are struggling. They're not going to just hand over their money to rich athletes where the only thing they get out of it is "Maybe my favorite team will win."
I pick and choose and make a vacation of it. Saw the Stones in Nashville and AC/DC in Cleveland but prices were steep.
Good! I’m glad that talent is spreading out!
The IUs, Vandys, and UKs of the world were never going to compete in that old way. When elite talent would just as soon be relegated to 2nd-3rd string/ST roles as opposed to contributing more at smaller Schools and not be able to easily move once they realized they weren’t going to play as much…the little guys never had a shot.
Multiple 5 star guys playing the same position committing to the same school at the same time. Remember those days?! They’re gone.
SEC “It just means more…” chest thumping and barking never did us any favors.
Bama and Georgia need to lose out on some talent and lose 2-3 games a year…god forbid…the horror…
Just wait. The NIL stuff hasn't quite settled. These teams will soon just pay for their rosters outright with all this money. They will put together rosters that the majority of other schools just cant compete with.
Honestly if youre not a Texas or a USC or a Michigan, its going to be a very steep uphill climb. Kentucky needs to hope they figure out some sort of cap, or they might be cooked. A coach like Will Stein isnt gonna stay here if he can have an extra 30 mil to use to fill out a roster.
Not sure that donations to pay teenagers to play sports is something to brag about. Seems like a poor investment with a very shallow meaning.
I pay for all kinds of entertainment but to each their own.
People already saying there will be 60 million dollar rosters this year. Most are projecting a 100 million dollar roster in the next three years. UK can not compete if things stay the same. We have always been a bottom feeder in CFB. The gap will soon be bigger than it was previously.
I agree that it will help us in football but I believe it will be our doom in basketball with today’s rules.
When we start rationalizing money for kids to play a sport with defense spending we have most certainly jumped the shark
It sure did. 5 mil to play college ball now? Players have to be coached to be able to complete a sentence for post game interviews. Might be just me but I see a disconnect there.
In 2025, Kentucky received $32,657,330 in athletic donations. That sounds like a lot, but it ranks second-to-last in the SEC, ahead of only South Carolina at $17.5 million. Nine SEC teams received at least $50 million in athletic donations in the 2025 fiscal year. Shockingly, Texas A&M is just over that $50 million threshold, while the Texas Longhorns tripled that. Texas received more than $167 million in athletic donations, with $59.5 million going directly to the football program. Texas football received more money in donations than the entire UK Athletics Department.
Kentucky is Near the Bottom of the SEC in Athletic Donations
Only one SEC school received fewer athletic donations than Kentucky, but Will Stein is looking for creative ways to change that.www.on3.com
Considering the value of a college education these days and into the near future, it's no wonder it's not AT ALL about that anymore. It's a joke at this point.
Last time I checked UL was in Kentucky, even though they are different conference, they do not have a problem with donations. The new AD has got to find a way to get donations
Imagine if it even took millions of dollars to cure cancer...
Trillions have been donated to cancer "research" and no one is putting any of that towards prevention so much as "catching it in time" to try to kill it AFTER it's already been given.
Our whole system is built on the same bs like this.