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Exciting SWARM news…

Tx_Hawk

HR MVP
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Jul 30, 2001
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iowaswarm.com
Good afternoon!

Just thought I would pass along that we were able to slam a deal with Learfield yesterday. This is huge news as Learfield basically has the rights to everything the athletic department does.

Now, we will be able to advertise in Kinnick/Carver, contact season ticket holders (at some level), have advertisements on the radio during games and on the postgame show, etc.

I’m very hopeful that this will spawn an increase in memberships, as our membership levels are still below 250 people. Granted we have raised $1.4 million in the last 4 months, but that is by and large due to some substantial gifts by some big donors.

For us to become successful long-term, however, I think the masses of Iowa fans need to become connected and support us in our NIL efforts at iowaswarm.com.

If anybody has any questions, I will try to answer them here.

Go Hawks!
 
Let me know when you have a NIL program for only football.

Having it tied to men's and women's basketball is stupid.

Harsh truth but needed to be said.
I’m happy to take your constructive criticism. Why is having a collective that serves all three sports “stupid?” Can you help me understand that?

Aside from that question, if you want to donate to JUST football, that’s easily accommodated….just contribute $1,000 or more and consider it done…just denote that you want that entire amount designated for football.

If that denomination is too rich for your blood, that’s perfectly understandable, and then 80% of your donation of any amount will be for football, and the other 20% will be split evenly between mens/Womens basketball.
 
That is very good news! I think really pushing lower membership tiers would do wonders. Thinking about how many STHs there are, asking for more money constantly can get annoying. However $10-$20/month could do wonders if enough people (by the thousands) get onboard. You don't really need to offer those people all of the high-cost benefits that come along with it, they should know their supporting in a huge way with how college athletics is rapidly changing. Glad to be apart of the Swarm already - the tailgates at the Courtyard Marriott are a great time. Go Hawks.
 
Good afternoon!

Just thought I would pass along that we were able to slam a deal with Learfield yesterday. This is huge news as Learfield basically has the rights to everything the athletic department does.

Now, we will be able to advertise in Kinnick/Carver, contact season ticket holders (at some level), have advertisements on the radio during games and on the postgame show, etc.

I’m very hopeful that this will spawn an increase in memberships, as our membership levels are still below 250 people. Granted we have raised $1.4 million in the last 4 months, but that is by and large due to some substantial gifts by some big donors.

For us to become successful long-term, however, I think the masses of Iowa fans need to become connected and support us in our NIL efforts at iowaswarm.com.

If anybody has any questions, I will try to answer them here.

Go Hawks!
Thanks for news. As a lifetime Hawkeye fan, I appreciate the efforts of any and all involved to make the athletics programs better!

But I do have a question ....

So, there is a Swarm organization, and a Swarm Collective, and I understand the difference (I think). It sounds like the athletes will "earn their stipends by helping local charities as a part of the Swarm Collective. The Swarm, on the other hand, is providing money to athletes for their NIL as a recruiting and retention inducement. Am I close?

My question is about the Swarm - how will the decisions be made to distribute money to athletes? Will the Swarm contact recruits directly? Or is it primarily for enrolled athletes? Is there communication with the coaches? Is there a Board or committee that makes decisions?

So boiled down - how does the disbursement side work?

Thanks for any information!
 
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Then you must not realize that Iowa missed out on two or three basketball transfers because of NIL.
As I mentioned earlier, if you are a basketball fan and want 100% of the proceeds so Fran can get big recruits, go for it! That's great.

But that option doesn't even show up on the website unless I'm completing missing it.
 
Thanks for news. As a lifetime Hawkeye fan, I appreciate the efforts of any and all involved to make the athletics programs better!

But I do have a question ....

So, there is a Swarm organization, and a Swarm Collective, and I understand the difference (I think). It sounds like the athletes will "earn their stipends by helping local charities as a part of the Swarm Collective. The Swarm, on the other hand, is providing money to athletes for their NIL as a recruiting and retention inducement. Am I close?

My question is about the Swarm - how will the decisions be made to distribute money to athletes? Will the Swarm contact recruits directly? Or is it primarily for enrolled athletes? Is there communication with the coaches? Is there a Board or committee that makes decisions?

So boiled down - how does the disbursement side work?

Thanks for any information!
Hawk_4shur—
Thanks for your question. You’ve got the Collective side correct. The other side is for businesses (most likely) or individuals (less likely since no tax deduction) to contract with a specific player or players to do marketing work for them of some kind.

For example, my firm could hire Kris Murray to do commercials for us and pay him $X for doing that. They would contract with SWARM, Inc to do that. We would make sure that the contract was legit before Kris signs it, and we ensure that Kris gets paid for his services.

At this point, there is not a “kitty” for recruiting. I think that’s coming, but all three coaches are most concerned with their current rosters being paid and not players who haven’t stepped foot on campus yet.
 
Hawk_4shur—
Thanks for your question. You’ve got the Collective side correct. The other side is for businesses (most likely) or individuals (less likely since no tax deduction) to contract with a specific player or players to do marketing work for them of some kind.

For example, my firm could hire Kris Murray to do commercials for us and pay him $X for doing that. They would contract with SWARM, Inc to do that. We would make sure that the contract was legit before Kris signs it, and we ensure that Kris gets paid for his services.

At this point, there is not a “kitty” for recruiting. I think that’s coming, but all three coaches are most concerned with their current rosters being paid and not players who haven’t stepped foot on campus yet.
Thanks!

So, the $1.4 million. Has that already been earmark for certain athletes?
 
As I mentioned earlier, if you are a basketball fan and want 100% of the proceeds so Fran can get big recruits, go for it! That's great.

But that option doesn't even show up on the website unless I'm completing missing it.
You aren’t missing something. The thresholdnumber used to be $25k but we lowered it to $1,000.

Your next question might be “Why is there a threshold at all? Why can’t I give $5 and have it go entirely to whatever sport I choose?”

The reason is because I have another job that I work 50-60 hours a week doing, and I don’t want the administrative hassle of taking somebody’s $20 and splitting it $12.50 to football, $4.75 to mens basketball, and $2.75 to Womens basketball. It would be an administrative nightmare, and I do not want to hire more staff as that would dilute the amount of donations that would actually go to the players.

Hope that helps.

Go Hawks!
 
Thanks!

So, the $1.4 million. Has that already been earmark for certain athletes?
The $1.4 million is in the collective at large. Some of it is earmarked for football, some for basketball. But none is earmarked to a specific player. In the collective, every player has the same monthly earning opportunity. Kris Murray doesn’t get more than the second team long snapper on the football team. But Kris Murray might bet deals on the Inc side of the house that the long snapper does not.
 
You aren’t missing something. The thresholdnumber used to be $25k but we lowered it to $1,000.

Your next question might be “Why is there a threshold at all? Why can’t I give $5 and have it go entirely to whatever sport I choose?”

The reason is because I have another job that I work 50-60 hours a week doing, and I don’t want the administrative hassle of taking somebody’s $20 and splitting it $12.50 to football, $4.75 to mens basketball, and $2.75 to Womens basketball. It would be an administrative nightmare, and I do not want to hire more staff as that would dilute the amount of donations that would actually go to the players.

Hope that helps.

Go Hawks!
It does. Thanks!
 
It does. Thanks!
Since you bit on the request for questions, May I ask you what is holding you back from joining? If it’s financial, I totally get it. Not everybody has an extra $19.58 per month to donate. If that’s the case, then no need to respond, but if it’s something else, I would love to hear it.

I want this to be successful for our coaches, players, and fans on this board.

Thanks in advance for your feedback and anybody else who wants to chime in.
 
sorry if already answered…what about walk-ons? Do they get money from the SWARM collective? Also, is this being brought up to recruits on visits?
Good work Tx_Hawk!
 
Since you bit on the request for questions, May I ask you what is holding you back from joining? If it’s financial, I totally get it. Not everybody has an extra $19.58 per month to donate. If that’s the case, then no need to respond, but if it’s something else, I would love to hear it.

I want this to be successful for our coaches, players, and fans on this board.

Thanks in advance for your feedback and anybody else who wants to chime in.
Fair question.

Money honestly isn't an issue. I could join the Captain's Club today and it wouldn't change my life one bit. I wouldn't want to do it every year though. lol. I'm not THAT wealthy.

Anyways, if I was going to spend money on Hawkeye sports, it would either go to football or wrestling.

You answered the question for wrestling, I understand the reasoning.

So that leaves donating to football.

The problem I see is that I would want those dollars to attract big recruits. Kids out of high school or the portal, honestly makes no difference.

Can you imagine how much you could get from fans who wanted a portal QB for next year?

I'm less concerned with guys already on campus. May not make sense to some, but that's how this guy's brain is thinking.

It sounds like that is something in the works. That would be great!
 
If you look at the above, "the guy", because of my comments, is going to make the website better now, more understandable.

I can guarantee people have held off because they want to donate to one sport and not all three.

If I see a way to improve something, I'll tell someone.

So stfu.
I’m sure they considered it, it’s not like you’re pointing out something that is earth shattering. I just get really annoyed by people with opinions telling the “doers” how to do it better.
 
sorry if already answered…what about walk-ons? Do they get money from the SWARM collective? Also, is this being brought up to recruits on visits?
Good work Tx_Hawk!
Good question. In football, they get half the opportunity. That’s at the request of staff after meeting w them.

in basketball, they get the same opportunity. Fran wants to use SWARM to turn the walkons into basically a scholarship position.
 
What kind of events come along with donating? Someone mentioned tailgating at the Marriott but is there anything else that comes along with being a member?
 
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Absolutely! First of all, your donation is tax-deductible. Second, even at the lowest level ($20/mo) you get a SWARM T-shirt which is a good quality Tshirt….as well as a membership card which gives you discounts at some of the best restaurants in the Iowa city area.

You also get access to our tailgates at the courtyard by Marriott across from Kinnick. It’s indoor/outdoor so on cold weather games it will really come in handy. We will have food/drink/DJ and some basketball players taking photos with our members.

We also have exclusive experiences for those that give at a certain level, as well as access to behind the scenes interviews on SWARM TV.

Hope that helps!
 
Good afternoon!

Just thought I would pass along that we were able to slam a deal with Learfield yesterday. This is huge news as Learfield basically has the rights to everything the athletic department does.

Now, we will be able to advertise in Kinnick/Carver, contact season ticket holders (at some level), have advertisements on the radio during games and on the postgame show, etc.

I’m very hopeful that this will spawn an increase in memberships, as our membership levels are still below 250 people. Granted we have raised $1.4 million in the last 4 months, but that is by and large due to some substantial gifts by some big donors.

For us to become successful long-term, however, I think the masses of Iowa fans need to become connected and support us in our NIL efforts at iowaswarm.com.

If anybody has any questions, I will try to answer them here.

Go Hawks!

Thank you for your hard work.

Please don't let anonymous individuals on here get you down for one second.

Hopefully constructive conversations can occur and you can explain what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Thanks, again.
 
Thank you for your hard work.

Please don't let anonymous individuals on here get you down for one second.

Hopefully constructive conversations can occur and you can explain what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Thanks, again.
Of course! I have thick skin. And I truly just want the hawks to win and do it the right way. I’m not getting anything out of this other than that. I’m taking no salary. Labor of love, as they say.
 
Fair question.

Money honestly isn't an issue. I could join the Captain's Club today and it wouldn't change my life one bit. I wouldn't want to do it every year though. lol. I'm not THAT wealthy.

Anyways, if I was going to spend money on Hawkeye sports, it would either go to football or wrestling.

You answered the question for wrestling, I understand the reasoning.

So that leaves donating to football.

The problem I see is that I would want those dollars to attract big recruits. Kids out of high school or the portal, honestly makes no difference.

Can you imagine how much you could get from fans who wanted a portal QB for next year?

I'm less concerned with guys already on campus. May not make sense to some, but that's how this guy's brain is thinking.

It sounds like that is something in the works. That would be great!
Seems like to me if you don't take care of the players you have first and spend all that money on incoming players, you run the very real risk of alienating the players you already have and you will lose just as much as you gain if not more. I think what they are doing with SWARM is great and the first step in building a healthy NIL program.
 
I'm an out-of-state Swarm member at the low level (but hope to increase in the coming years). I've been thoroughly impressed with the information and transparency to date, the shirt and stickers arrived very quickly, and I love the causes this supports (Hawks and volunteer work). Oh yeah, and the tax deduction will be nice. Huge props to you TxHawk.

If we as fans want Iowa to compete at the highest levels, it is absolutely essential that we support programs like this. Without NIL support, the Hawks will almost certainly become an also-ran in the revenue sports.

Step up Hawk fans!
 
I’m happy to take your constructive criticism. Why is having a collective that serves all three sports “stupid?” Can you help me understand that?

Aside from that question, if you want to donate to JUST football, that’s easily accommodated….just contribute $1,000 or more and consider it done…just denote that you want that entire amount designated for football.

If that denomination is too rich for your blood, that’s perfectly understandable, and then 80% of your donation of any amount will be for football, and the other 20% will be split evenly between mens/Womens basketball.
So is that a yearly donation?
 
I'm an out-of-state Swarm member at the low level (but hope to increase in the coming years). I've been thoroughly impressed with the information and transparency to date, the shirt and stickers arrived very quickly, and I love the causes this supports (Hawks and volunteer work). Oh yeah, and the tax deduction will be nice. Huge props to you TxHawk.

If we as fans want Iowa to compete at the highest levels, it is absolutely essential that we support programs like this. Without NIL support, the Hawks will almost certainly become an also-ran in the revenue sports.

Step up Hawk fans!
Wow. Very kind words, Suede Wade. I really appreciate it. Yes, I think transparency is key. I will answer any question and provide documentation if requested.
 
Of course! I have thick skin. And I truly just want the hawks to win and do it the right way. I’m not getting anything out of this other than that. I’m taking no salary. Labor of love, as they say.

There were reports that Fran struck out this past spring in the transfer portal because other schools were offering more in NIL deals/money.

Also, Class of 2023 high school prospect JP Estrella committed to Tennessee reportedly because they, too, offered more in NIL deals/money.

Some questions:

(1) What are these other coaches doing/saying/promising that Fran isn't?

(2) Are other schools' collectives contacting these prospects directly, where the collectives are offering NIL deals contingent on the prospect committing?

(3) Are you aware of any Iowa collective contacting prospects like JP Estrella, offering a deal contingent on him signing with Iowa?

The NCAA just came out with guidance on what schools can and can't do (what schools WERE doing might be another story). I just hope Iowa can compete for prospects on a level playing field.

Thanks, again.
 
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How do I get one of my photos on here? I hear about URL but can't figure it all - all I get is IMG. sorry but I am not an IT.
 
Good afternoon!

Just thought I would pass along that we were able to slam a deal with Learfield yesterday. This is huge news as Learfield basically has the rights to everything the athletic department does.

Now, we will be able to advertise in Kinnick/Carver, contact season ticket holders (at some level), have advertisements on the radio during games and on the postgame show, etc.

I’m very hopeful that this will spawn an increase in memberships, as our membership levels are still below 250 people. Granted we have raised $1.4 million in the last 4 months, but that is by and large due to some substantial gifts by some big donors.

For us to become successful long-term, however, I think the masses of Iowa fans need to become connected and support us in our NIL efforts at iowaswarm.com.

If anybody has any questions, I will try to answer them here.

Go Hawks!
Coaches should embrace the collective because collectives are negotiating with athletes in the portal to play for particular schools. Schools successful in the portal, have negotiated deals through a 3rd party NIL agency/collective. If we don’t do the same, we’ll continue our fall to the bottom.
 
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Good afternoon!

Just thought I would pass along that we were able to slam a deal with Learfield yesterday. This is huge news as Learfield basically has the rights to everything the athletic department does.

Now, we will be able to advertise in Kinnick/Carver, contact season ticket holders (at some level), have advertisements on the radio during games and on the postgame show, etc.

I’m very hopeful that this will spawn an increase in memberships, as our membership levels are still below 250 people. Granted we have raised $1.4 million in the last 4 months, but that is by and large due to some substantial gifts by some big donors.

For us to become successful long-term, however, I think the masses of Iowa fans need to become connected and support us in our NIL efforts at iowaswarm.com.

If anybody has any questions, I will try to answer them here.

Go Hawks!
Congrats and thanks for your efforts.
During a “down year” it hasto be tougher.
Any chance the ticket donation for seats will be waived if we contribute to the swarm?
 
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