The lack of understanding of how NIL works stuns me.
It’s been explained numerous times.
There are two “sides” to the Swarm. One side collects money to be used for the benefit of various University of Iowa athletic programs. That side takes collections from “normal” (your word) fans and uses that money to provide compensation to athletes for charitable work, appearance fees, autograph sessions, etc. They must “do something to get something.”
The other side to Swarm involves corporate compensation to players for endorsement work. The Swarm partners with, say, Company X to set up a deal with Player Y for that player to promote Company X’s products. The player - with the assistance of Swarm - independently contracts for some type of compensable work.
Did you really think that fans’ contributions to Swarm were used to fill a bag of money to give to recruits in an effort to convince them to sign a Letter of Intent? That’s the epitome of “pay for play.”
Hate the current environment? I’m right there with you.
Decry the notion that athletes who receive full tuition, room, great meal plans, tudors, access to top rec facilities, aren’t “compensated?” I’m right there with you.
That written, the Swarm has been created to benefit U of Iowa sports and to help U of Iowa sports compete in this new era. Of course people can make personal decisions about whether to contribute their money to Swarm and will bring a wide variety of personal beliefs into the decision making process. But it makes no sense to me to be critical of @Tx_Hawk for his efforts to “do it right” and help U of Iowa compete in this new environment.
