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Exciting SWARM news…

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?
Zero chance the university is gonna allow their piece of the pie get cut smaller
 
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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!
For the tailgate access, I assume each adult needs a card to access? How about kids that would be with?
 
My brother (near TxHawk in FL) and I (Colorado) both signed up this past week. We see this as a part of where college sports is going and love supporting the Hawks, so we share the same motivation as TxHawk mentioned above. I am sharing the news about Iowa Swarm with my fellow Hawk connections. My 30 year old son is joining me in Iowa City this weekend and Jayne (from Iowa Swarm) said he was welcome to join me at the Tailgate. No membership package has arrived yet but she put our names on the list! Looking forward to a warm tailgating spot…

As I side note, I know how to pick the cold games… NE Thanksgiving game in 2012, when it was supposed to be reasonable (20+ degrees below forecast by Halftime), MI 2013 game (coldest game officially, I believe), NW 2019 game (loved the fireplace scene on the scoreboard. My FL brother’s snow boots disintegrated during the game due apparently to a long time without use and transitioning from FL humidity to dry, cold IA).
 
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!
So isn't that cheating by the guidelines set up by the NCAA? I thought they had to be on campus before the offer could be made.
 
My brother (near TxHawk in FL) and I (Colorado) both signed up this past week. We see this as a part of where college sports is going and love supporting the Hawks, so we share the same motivation as TxHawk mentioned above. I am sharing the news about Iowa Swarm with my fellow Hawk connections. My 30 year old son is joining me in Iowa City this weekend and Jayne (from Iowa Swarm) said he was welcome to join me at the Tailgate. No membership package has arrived yet but she put our names on the list! Looking forward to a warm tailgating spot…

As I side note, I know how to pick the cold games… NE Thanksgiving game in 2012, when it was supposed to be reasonable (20+ degrees below forecast by Halftime), MI 2013 game (coldest game officially, I believe), NW 2019 game (loved the fireplace scene on the scoreboard. My FL brother’s snow boots disintegrated during the game due apparently to a long time without use and transitioning from FL humidity to dry, cold IA).
As a transplant to Florida, I can attest on the 2019 gamelan NW. My rain jacket--worn over long sleeve dri-fit AND black Hawk sweatshirt--blew out at the neck seam. VERY wet walk from bar to train after the game!
 
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.
Fran,

I doubt anyone knows the answers to your questions with 100% certainty, but based on media reports and in talking to friends around the country, here's my best answers.

1) No coach is allowed to say specifically that you will be guaranteed X amount of dollars for coming to school here. I do know for a fact that at another Big 10 school, for basketball, if a player receives a scholarship offer, that school's collective contacts the player and/or his representatives and they talk about what the player can expect (in excess of $100k annually). I would imagine something similar happens at many schools.
2) I would imagine that it is happening similar to what you are describing, with language like "the typical amount that incoming players get is XXX."
3) Don't know. As Tx_Hawk has said, per the coaches' wishes the focus has been on taking care of the players currently on the roster. But can't speak for him or anyone else running a collective.

At some point, especially in basketball and probably in football too, Iowa will have to get comfortable with "quote unquote" paying recruits to come here. It seems unseemly, and it probably is, but with the higher level prospects some sort of NIL payment is the cost of admission for being considered. In the case of Estrella, he probably viewed the basketball situation at Iowa and Tennessee very similarly. But if 2 places are basically equal, and one has a significantly higher NIL payment, which one are you going to choose?
 
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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?
Your point about donations is where the athletic department is going to have to make some decisions. Most people don't have an endless supply of money. And I can't imagine the AD is going to be telling people to donate to the collective vs donations toward seats. But over time, the greater impact to the product on the field is likely the collective side. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.
 
Your point about donations is where the athletic department is going to have to make some decisions. Most people don't have an endless supply of money. And I can't imagine the AD is going to be telling people to donate to the collective vs donations toward seats. But over time, the greater impact to the product on the field is likely the collective side. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Correct

If you don't initially get the players and win, good luck trying to get people to re-up on seat donations every year.
 
Why doesn’t the swarm have a merch. Aspect? Why not have T-shirt’s. A swarm shirt with Ka. Johnson 2 on the back… or a players nickname and number. Just seems like the every day fan is going to more likely to buy a t shirt instead of donating $200+… it’s not like that’s a lot of money, but people are cheap. The players can then get direct benefits from sales as well as maybe a percentage going towards the collective as well.
 
SWARM is a huge part of getting McNamara! Hawk fans, please join and share with friends and family and over social media.

Go Hawks!
 
Why doesn’t the swarm have a merch. Aspect? Why not have T-shirt’s. A swarm shirt with Ka. Johnson 2 on the back… or a players nickname and number. Just seems like the every day fan is going to more likely to buy a t shirt instead of donating $200+… it’s not like that’s a lot of money, but people are cheap. The players can then get direct benefits from sales as well as maybe a percentage going towards the collective as well.
I was told we have marketing agreements with nike, etc and it is hindering what we can do with logo etc.
between legal , athletic dept marketing and compliance it’s a cluster from what i’ve heard.
Swarm is the best solution by far for now.
 
I was told we have marketing agreements with nike, etc and it is hindering what we can do with logo etc.
between legal , athletic dept marketing and compliance it’s a cluster from what i’ve heard.
Swarm is the best solution by far for now.
Makes sense. I have seen “Spencer throws darts” shirts with his name and number on back so I figured he would have to be getting a kickback. If swarm could do something like that for players it would be a few bucks at least. But the swarm collective is likely best for now. I think some people would like to use the NIL to you know, actually pay the player they like as individuals tho
 
This is awesome, I'll sign up after the holidays...excited to see it paying off!
 
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.

If it turned into a business and you did take a salary, but your organization was having a meaningful impact and there was complete transparency on use of funds, id have zero issue with it.

There's definitely money to be made in this space, and if you're connecting iowa fans and businesses with good recruits, you deserve to profit off your value creation.

In fact, I want someone who wants to build a successful and lucrative Iowa NIL biz.
 
I'm glad this is a thing, but the coaches and administrators really need to be directing donors to contribute to the collective/s.

We're about to be getting $100 million per year from the Big Ten each year once the new TV deal starts. It's going to be an increase of like $40 million per year. There's no reason they can't redirect some money to players.
 
I appreciate your work, and I have a question as well. Looking at the number of donors, that seems very low, just based on our large, passionate fanbase. My question is, besides Learfield (which is a BIG win), what else can be done to get the word out on the ease of joining? I think there is a big lack of understanding of how to get into it and make it a recurring payment, as well as where the money goes. I'm guilty of it. I believe many fans would jump on board once they better understand the process! I made up for being late to the party at least. Second question, what kind of contact have you had with other former Hawks in the NFL and NBA? I believe we have some high paid players, especially in the NFL, who would be willing to toss a donation the Hawks' way! Thanks again for your work!
 
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I'm glad this is a thing, but the coaches and administrators really need to be directing donors to contribute to the collective/s.

We're about to be getting $100 million per year from the Big Ten each year once the new TV deal starts. It's going to be an increase of like $40 million per year. There's no reason they can't redirect some money to players.
This

There is a way to do this legally and be in line with the guidelines. We are playing a high stakes game now and need to act like it as an athletic department. As far as SWARM goes, I donated and everyone else should to within your means.
 
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!
SWARM bump!
 
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@Tx_Hawk I wasn't sure if you saw my questions above, but I'm hopeful you can fill me in when you have a little time. Also, is there a way to have a ticker for either donations totals or donating members on the Swarm site? Thanks in advance!
 
@Tx_Hawk Setting aside the question of whether Kirk would allow it, would it break any NCAA rules for membership at a certain level to the collective gave access to Iowa practices?

Even if KF allowed it, you'd have to have a code of conduct that forbade being negative, sharing info, etc.

But I'm just curious if it would be NCAA compliant, because I think it could help drive donations.
 
I'm glad this is a thing, but the coaches and administrators really need to be directing donors to contribute to the collective/s.

We're about to be getting $100 million per year from the Big Ten each year once the new TV deal starts. It's going to be an increase of like $40 million per year. There's no reason they can't redirect some money to players.
If I understand NIL, I don’t think any of that money can come from athletic department or revenue - so the $100m can’t come in to play for NIL.
 
If I understand NIL, I don’t think any of that money can come from athletic department or revenue - so the $100m can’t come in to play for NIL.
It can't, but they get 10s of millions from donors each year right now. They won't need that anymore. They can direct those donors to the collectives.
 
Excited to see if we can continue the momentum with the Swarm collective. A couple hundred bucks a year isn't much, but multiply that by 50,000 people and suddenly the collective has a lot of scratch (that would be $10 million, and that's basically just the season ticket base for the Hawks). If you're a season ticket holder encourage others around you to donate.

Iowa may be a small school in the B1G and may not have endless money or talent in the immediate vicinity of the school. However, go to Wikipedia and look at some of those SEC schools that have been dominating in recruiting. There's virtually no endowment at many of those schools like Alabama, LSU, Auburn, and others. We are extremely similar in profile to their athletic departments in terms of revenue from ticket sales and donations too. In other words, there is every reason to believe Iowa can engage in competitive recruiting against those programs for top prospects as long as the long time supporters dig a little deeper/redirect funds to NIL.

They have been beating us in recruiting by giving pretty small bags. Cam Newton was bought for less than $200K. Adrian Foster was like $50K. Inflation has hit a bit, especially now that its legal, but at the end of the day, its doable to raise our recruiting profile. Which would make for a better on-field product.
 
donations are only tax deductable if you itemize on your tax return.
if you take the standard deduction…as most do….it is not deductible so does not lower your tax liability
you can’t claim an itemized write off for charitable gifts
oh course the intent is to give to players, not personal tax benefit
form 1040 Schedule A must be filed
 
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