In this episode of The Monarchists, Mike and Aaron are joined by Jay from The Pride of ODU, Old Dominion University’s official NIL collective. The conversation offers a comprehensive update on the collective’s goals, progress, and challenges. Jay answers fan-submitted questions, delving into membership growth strategies, revenue distribution among sports, NIL-related regulations, and the evolving impact of revenue sharing (rev share). He also sheds light on ODU’s strategic approach in the competitive NIL landscape, touches on collaboration with university groups like ODAF and the Alumni Association, and previews upcoming events to build community engagement and support. The episode blends transparency, strategic insight, and a call to action for Monarch Nation to get involved and support ODU Athletics.

For more Old Dominion athletics content, visit https://theprideofodu.com/pages/the-monarchist-podcast

To learn more about The Pride of ODU collective, how to support NIL, and how to become a member, please visit our website at: https://theprideofodu.com/ and https://theprideofodu.com/pages/memberships

Conversation Timeline:

[00:00] – Intro to the episode and welcome to Jay

[01:00] – Purpose of the episode: answering fan questions about the collective

[02:00] – Current membership numbers and goals for 2024

[05:00] – Spring campaign incentives and upcoming membership push

[06:00] – Marketing efforts and digital outreach strategy

[08:00] – In-game promotion and working with ODU’s MMR partners

[10:00] – ODU’s learning curve and comparisons to other schools’ collective setups

[11:30] – Coordination with ODAF and Alumni Association

[13:00] – How funds are distributed across sports

[15:00] – Budget comparisons with rivals (JMU, ECU, VCU, etc.)

[17:00] – Challenges with revenue numbers and market inflation

[19:00] – Competitive concerns around sharing financial plans

[21:00] – Strategic budgeting and the need for more support

[23:00] – Who makes the financial decisions: collective or coaches?

[24:30] – How revenue sharing may change the collective's role

[27:00] – Rev share vs. NIL and potential benefits of regulated incentives

[28:00] – Have any sports met their NIL goals?

[30:00] – Market value inflation and sustainability challenges

[32:00] – Evolution of The Pride’s internal structure and strategy

[34:00] – Merging the collective with the university – a possibility?

[37:00] – Retention rates of top NIL earners

[39:00] – Portal vs. internal retention and cost/value comparison

[42:00] – Rise of NIL agents and regulatory issues

[45:00] – What are Sun Belt competitors paying? Market overview

[48:00] – Playing time as the new NIL value driver

[50:00] – Strategic, sustainable budget planning in NIL spending

[52:00] – Upcoming events: Spring Game, Mane Event, Watch Parties

[53:00] – Summer plans: alumni events, VIP events, beer festival

[56:00] – Women’s Basketball Golf Tournament promotion

[59:00] – Final thoughts: supporting ODU through collective membership

[01:01:00] – Wrap-up and call to action

The following presentation is brought to you by The Pride of ODU, the official

NIL collective of all Dominion Athletics.

Be a monarchist.

Join the Pride

Monarch Nation.

Welcome back.

We are The Monarchists, and we are welcomed today by

Jay from The Pride of ODU.

How are you doing today, Jay?

I'm good guys.

How are you?

Thanks for, uh, making some time.

Yeah, man.

So, uh, the reason why we're doing this today, we put out a bunch

of que uh, we put out a question opening up the fans to any questions

they have about the collective.

Send 'em our way and we'll try our best to answer as many of them.

But Jay, this was your idea.

So, uh, talk to us about what, what made you want to do this episode?

Well, first and foremost, I don't have very many good ideas most of the time,

but, um, you know, our whole goal when we started this was to try to

be as, uh, fan friendly as possible.

Um, you know, a lot of this stuff can be difficult at times to talk about from a,

you know, a competitive standpoint, which I know people don't always like to hear,

but, you know, people do pay attention.

Other teams pay attention when these podcasts go out, or articles go out, and

they do use that as kind of a barometer of where they think they can push you.

And so I, uh, my goal is to at least give people a little bit of a peek behind the

curtain, um, you know, and try to explain kind of who, what and where and how we're

doing and, um, you know, and also try to.

You know, find a way to kind of build the bridge to further engage,

um, you know, our fan base, uh, and garner some additional support too.

It's always the goal.

So,

so I think a good place to start, um, membership.

So one of our, uh, fans asked how many members does the collective

have now, how much per person would, and how much per person would need

to be, would be needed to make our goals as a collective come true?

Okay.

So I, I'll break it down this way.

Um, you know, right now we have 676 customers.

That's not all members, but that is folks that have donated money

in a one-time contribution, uh, memberships, uh, purchase merchandise,

um, you know, so on and so forth.

So.

You know, from a member, pure membership standpoint, um, we're like a little

over 200, um, you know, monthly paying members that does not include

some of our, our bigger donors that, you know, will write checks, you

know, once or maybe twice a year.

Uh, and that does not include some of our corporate, you know, partners as well.

So, um, you know, just on pure membership alone, um, you know, we're

a little over 200, I think it's like 205 to be exact, but, um, you know,

so obviously that's, we would like to significantly grow that number.

Um, you know, I know Mike and Aaron, we've talked prior to about obviously

when rev share was coming into effect.

Um, not really knowing too much about.

How that was all going to look and work.

And, and candidly, we still don't because April 7th they were, you know,

supposed to have a hearing to kind of approve that and they pushed it off.

And obviously based on some of the discussions from, um, you know,

the judge in that case that there's gonna be some adjustments further.

Um, so as a result of that, we were a little hesitant to really

grow and push memberships.

Um.

You know, very quickly, just in the event that something transpired to,

you know, kind of dictate or limit us, uh, kind of moving forward.

So our goal is to mirror or match what ODAF has in its membership pool.

Um, I've always used 3000 as my goal back when I was, you know,

working at that was always kind of where we wanted to be and above.

Um, so 3000 is the ultimate goal.

I think.

Obviously we got a lot of little legwork to do short term this year.

Our goal is to get to a thousand, uh, members, monthly paying members.

Uh, and I think that's a key difference.

'cause not everybody pays monthly.

Not everybody, uh, you know, likes to.

Join a subscription.

Um, so I get that.

So the goal is a thousand for this year.

We're gonna roll out with some membership, uh, campaigns here, starting in the spring

game and rolling through graduation.

Um, you know, I'll give everybody a little sneak peek on some of that, but, uh, you

know, that'll be a, a month free to sign up just to give everybody a taste, uh,

of kind of what we do, how we do, um, and then they'll, we'll have some other,

uh, you know, giveaways and some, I think some really cool things, uh, uh, to,

uh, hopefully incentivize new members.

But also, you know, just to be clear, we're gonna include, uh, current

members in that, you know, opportunity to get some of that stuff as well.

So, um, so that's, we're turning our focus to really grow that membership.

Uh, ideally, you know, the goal of this when we started was just to have

a large number of, um, you know, uh.

Members join at, at even a, a smaller level, uh, the $12 a month, the $25

a month, that's always been the goal.

I mean, you only achieve this in masses.

So.

Well, Jay, that's actually a great segue to one of our other questions, and you've

kind of answered part of it already.

The question is, how are you getting the message out about

NIL to attract new members?

So if you have any other things there, uh, one of the examples they've

given is like, can this be advertised in the stadium during a football

game, during a basketball game?

How do we get creative and like really letting people know what

it is and how to get involved.

Yeah, we, you know, so I'll, I'll kind of back up and start what we're doing

internally and then kind of touch on the, um, end game, uh, promotions there.

But we, um, we have partnered with a digital marketing group,

um, run by, uh, ODU grads, um, with some strong connections, um,

to what they do professionally.

Um, we started that back in January.

They built our website.

They, uh, are running, uh, a lot of our emails and, uh, social media.

They do a lot of, uh, a lot of the posts on social media outside

of obviously what you guys do.

And then occasionally we'll have some other things that we throw up there.

But, um, you know, we've seen tremendous growth already,

uh, since they've taken over.

And obviously it's early and, and it takes a while to kind of get the

snowball rolling downhill, so to speak.

Um, you know, but I had a call with them today.

I mean, we had 12% growth, uh, and a lot of our metrics, uh, on socials and,

and some of our click through rates and stuff on emails are, you know, very high.

Um, you know, 70 plus percent, which is really unheard of, uh, in a,

in an email marketing standpoint.

So we're growing that listserv.

Um, really we started in January, February, just trying

to accumulate new names.

So I. That's why we did some of the giveaways and things of that nature

around tournament time was just to start to build that listserv.

'cause we're finding that is the easiest conversion point at the moment.

Um, we spend some pretty decent money on, uh, advertising.

Um.

Mostly with, you know, Google and Meta at the moment, just because we can be very

targeted, uh, with that marketing and not, you know, just throw money to the wind.

Um, so we're trying to be very calculated in the growth.

Um, I think at the end of the day, and this probably just comes

a lot from my ODAF days, where it's personal relationships.

So, um, as we kind of continue to grow and get some additional, uh,

support mechanisms into place to where I can go out and be a little

bit more forward facing, uh, you know, with donors, that's, that's kind of

the goal and where we're angling to.

Um, it's also the main reason why we're starting the, the

membership drive coming up.

Um, you know, to kind of ping on your second part of that question with

end game promotion and things of that nature, uh, was slow to start last year.

Um, I think there's, there's a lot of things that fans don't quite

totally understand, um, with how.

Some of those marketing and promotion things work.

Um, you know, you have MMR partners, which, which are

a thing, uh, at this level.

And, and in this case we have ODU has an MMR partner that we

kind of have to work through.

So, uh, this year I would expect to see a lot more of that, that obviously that

costs some money for, from us to do that.

Those are things I have to pay for.

Um, but also ODU is very much, um, you know, going above and beyond

to make some changes and make some adjustments there and understanding where

they're going now a little bit more.

Um, I think people are going to see a, a significant uptick

in what they see end game.

Um, and really, you know, that's, uh, that's something that ODU has, uh, been

very, um, uh, they've been great at, at least short term, trying to see what else

we can squeeze out of this and, and make sure that it's, it's a well known thing.

Moving forward.

No, I appreciate you sharing that, Jay.

'cause I mean, I'm one of those fans, so for the longest time I'd always

be looking over at Mike and go, how can we get the podcast up there?

Like if people just knew

Yeah.

But there's a lot more under the surface that's going on, and that's

awesome to hear that, you know, you guys are really discussing those things.

Right.

Well, and just to build

on that too, and, and this is probably a question for later too.

I'm assuming it will be, I mean, um, ODU is is trying to figure it all out, just

like every school across the country is, and, and I will just add a little aside

to that, in that I've talked with a lot of collectives, a lot of them, and, and

I've talked with a lot of schools and a lot of administrators and um, you know,

we have a very good relationship with a lot of different schools that are willing

to share a lot of information with us.

Uh, particularly at.

The G5 level, but also at the P4 level and a lot of the big schools that, you

know, played in the playoffs and this year in, uh, our perennial powerhouses.

So I, I think we have a pretty good feel on what's going on there.

Um, every school is struggling with this.

Nobody's got a great plan.

Um, I think some of the plans that people have even put out

there are, you know, half true.

Um, so I think that, you know, everybody's still very fluid in figuring out how to

do, uh, you know, deal with rev share and collectives and where things are going.

And so I think ODU did a really calculated job on making sure that we're not

misstepping, um, you know, in the wrong direction with regards to being compliant

or any sort of legal exposure and, and things of that nature, which, you know,

it's an important thing to run, you know, at least a clean and conservative program.

And it's important to me too, right?

Like I, I. Put myself out here from a legal liability standpoint,

kind of running the collective.

So I, I do wanna make sure that we're not misstepping along the way.

So I'm really excited about the progress that we've made over the last, you know,

eight months, 10 months, um, you know, in terms of making sure that we're gonna

really push this hard, uh, moving forward.

So,

and, uh, to piggyback off that, another fan wanted to know if

we had reached out to the Alumni Association or ODAF to allow us to, uh.

Get signups at their functions.

Yep.

So I, um, obviously working with ODAF Yes.

Um, that will happen.

Um, so, you know, I worked seven years with ODAF, so we have a

great relationship and they are nothing more but willing to help.

Um, so, you know, obviously I think we talked about this on the last

call too, but, you know, there is a goal to not Rob Peter, to pay Paul.

Right?

Like the way I look at this is, you know, first and foremost, you know, we

have to maintain the ODA 'cause that is important to maintain the scholarships

and some of those, those reoccurring revenue streams that, you know, we've

kind of built the budget around, or at least, let me rephrase that.

ODU has kind of built the budget around, so we have to make sure that we keep

that intact, um, first and foremost.

But any way that I can be there, you know, at ODAF events moving forward,

they're all for, and, and, you know, they're more than willing and, and have

bent over backwards to try and, you know, make some of those things work.

So, um, you know, I I, I do think, uh.

We will be at everything moving forward.

So,

all right, Jay, so as we get into some of the next questions,

they start talking more about mechanics of things and numbers.

This is, I think, a good lead in.

And the question is, is how are the revenue split

between the sports determine?

Does all the money go into one collective pot to be used as needed, or is it set up

by percentages going to different sports?

Great question.

Um, I take that as a little bit of a black and white approach, right?

Like every situation's different and every year's going to be different.

And there are going to be circumstances that arise that will

change that initial goal or thought on how that money may be split.

Um, we always walk into it as, Hey, here's our budget for the year.

Here's how we believe it should be allocated on our end, right?

We make that decision internally ourselves with the board.

Um, the board does a lot of that.

Um, you know, so I do have a board of five that, um, you know, are,

are very involved and so we try to make sure we're not making decisions

in a vacuum, uh, on our end.

So we do have input from the board and I have input and, you know, we

try to figure out what we think is the best of business, uh, decision

there from a budgetary expense, right?

'cause I don't wanna overextend the collective and end up tight, but we

obviously do talk a lot with, you know, ODU, um, coaches and other administrators

to get a sense for kind of what needs are, and then we see what we can

kind of plug and fill along the way.

So obviously in the realm of, of rev share too, it's important to kind

of understand what, you know the school is going to do as well, right?

So we're not.

You know, putting too many eggs in one basket or making sure we're just aware

of what's going on to make sure we can continue to kind of work together.

So, um, I guess to answer your question more directly, it's, it, it changes,

but generally speaking, we have a budget and then we apply that budget based on,

you know, kind of where the collective, uh, thinks it should, should go first.

And then we have communications with, you know, coaches to kind of make sure that

we haven't missed anything or forgotten anything along the, along the way.

All right.

So, uh, branching off of that, people wanna know how we need, how much we

need to be competitive with our rivals, schools like ECU, Marshall, JMU, VCU,

and how far off are we from that number?

Well, I think we could talk about this question for probably two hours.

Um.

Once again, it is not a straight answer.

Right?

Like, I mean, you just brought up VCU Well, I mean, I know

we all want to beat VCU.

VCU doesn't have football and, and that is a huge budgetary issue that

they don't have to worry about.

Right.

You know, if all things considered, if, you know, we didn't have any other

sports to worry about, yeah, we, we could probably get pretty darn close.

But, but we do, and it's important for us to maintain women's

basketball as well at a high level.

And, um, you know, I think that that is where the market right

now is so difficult to pinpoint.

Um, there are wild numbers that are reported usually after digging those

numbers are nowhere close to correct.

Um, you know, so I think at our level, you know, a high end football roster's

probably gonna be somewhere in the $1.5 million range, um, for this year.

Um, those numbers seem to jump every year.

Um, you know, like last year probably would've been closer to, you know,

800 grand, um, you know, at the high end of the top two teams.

Um, so that number's ever increasing.

Um, you, and I think in comparison, if you want to talk about, you know,

schools that don't have football, um, you know, I, I don't know if

we're ever gonna be able to spend that kind of money right off the bat.

Um, I think obviously we have the capacity to get there, uh, but that's

gonna require a, a significant amount of, um, you know, uh, I'll call it, uh,

I don't even know if investment's the right word from fans and donors, but

just buy-in, in terms of doing things like joining the collective and buying

season tickets and things of that nature.

We certainly have a strong capacity at ODU from a, a revenue side to,

you know, be able to solve some of those expense side problems.

Um.

You know, or challenges I guess is probably the better way to put it.

But, um, you know, I would tell you from a basketball standpoint, you know,

it's a 1.5 for football right now.

Um, and then basketball probably, you probably need to be closer to a million.

Um, and, uh, women's basketball is a little hard to pinpoint.

Um, you know exactly where that would need to be.

But I think we're actually gonna be very competitive on our women's

basketball roster this year.

Um, you know, probably towards the, the high end of our, of our league.

Uh, if not, you know, the, the highest.

So, um, you know, I think that that is where this is gonna change and fluctuate

over the next year or so drastically.

Um, soon as rev share comes into play, I think there will be some, uh, dulling of

that exponential increase year over year, um, if the house settlement goes through.

Um.

Anywhere close to what it currently is, but I think there's some concerns about

even if that's going to pass in any remote realm as it's currently written.

So, um, I've told everybody thus far, I'm like, look, everybody knows kind of

about the house bill, but um, when you really dig into it, there's a lot of stuff

there that I just don't see, um, how they are going to maneuver around some of the

legal parameters that are already in place in, you know, on the books I'll call.

So,

uh, so, so Jay, I have a follow up to this 'cause, uh, it's a point that was

made on the board, the kind of started our discussion on having this episode.

Um, the school has opted in to rev share, but they have not shared their plan

like, uh, VCU or JMU has, um, publicly.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and there's some fans that would think that more fans would

be willing to join the collective.

If they understood Old Dominion's goals, what would you say to those fans?

Um, right now

I would say

I don't control rev share, right?

So a lot of this is just coming from us as the collective kind

of our, our thoughts on this.

I just want to put that disclaimer out there first.

Um, I would say that there is some competitive disadvantage

to putting your plan out there.

First and foremost.

Um, everybody now kind of knows what their number is, um, or what

they want it to be, I guess is probably a better way to say it.

Um, I think that within our league we are all pretty tightly stacked,

so giving away too much of.

Where what you have, um, you know, is, is not a great thing.

Um, and I think at the end of the day, we always are going to want more.

If you really, truly want to be competitive, well you already know

what that's going to be, that's gonna be getting to the cap.

Um, do I think we will ever get to the cap at ODU?

Probably not.

That's a lot of money.

Um, and, and I could argue as to whether or not you even need to, right?

We, we have a pretty sophisticated system within the collective.

I, we move very quickly.

Um, we've got a great setup with regards to contracts and the way

in which we, um, disperse funds.

And, you know, I think we run a pretty sophisticated shop, um, that

provides us a lot of advantages.

Um.

But when it comes to rev share, well that's a whole different ball game.

Um, so I think ODU has probably not wanted to share too much of those plans and goals

'cause it then puts a point on the map as to where, okay, I think this school's

probably somewhere in this neighborhood, which means if I extrapolate out based on

what I've seen from contract values over the last two and a half, three years,

I can probably dictate where they're willing to go on certain positions.

Right?

So as soon as I kind of know what the overall budget is, it makes it very

easy, you know, for me to kind of back into, well, hey, they're probably draw

the line of pay in this quarterback X or that defensive end y, right?

So, um, I think that's some of the.

Discussion.

And you know, I think there's some, there's a lot of validity to that.

I know fans don't necessarily love that 'cause they wanna

know, and I understand that.

Um, right now it's a competitive advantage not to share that.

Um, but I do think that, like, I'll just put a blanket statement out there

in that we just, we need more support.

Um, we are not at the top of anything that we do from a, a rev share, budgetary

standpoint, from the collective.

Um, we try to supplement that by being highly sophisticated and

being able to move really quickly.

Um, and I think we've done a great job with that.

I mean, I just look at retention rates from last year, uh,

for football in particular.

I think we, we were able to get that done 'cause we could move so

fast and we planned ahead and really had a great plan rolling into that.

So, um, we need more support.

Um, and I'll just, I think that's the plaintiff's way to put it.

So

well, that'll be the first call to action of this episode is if you're a member.

Thank you.

If you're interested in doing more, ask us.

We can help you out there.

If you're not a member, then come on board.

All right, Jay, next question we've got is, does the collective give the coaches

or the GM a budget, uh, and they make the decisions on who and how much to offer?

Or does the collective do that?

Or is it a joint decision?

It's a lot of discussion,

uh, amongst everybody, right?

I mean, generally, kind of like I said earlier, we have

a budget rolling into it, so.

Everybody kind of knows this is where our number is.

And then it's a lot of meetings and discussions to walk through

and understand, okay, why, why might we, or my white, my, you

know, maybe why does a coach wanna apply dollars this way or that way?

Or, and then also us explaining why we wanna apply dollars in

a certain direction as well.

So it's a lot of heavy conversation.

Um, nobody is making a decision in a vacuum.

Um, and I think that's the appropriate way to do this, right?

You, you still need checks and balances.

Um, I still don't believe that giving anybody the full power to make one

decision is a, is a smart move.

Um, so, um, could work out short term successfully, but I think over the long

run, that's where you run into problems.

All right.

So we've touched on the house settlement a few times in this episode.

Um, this fan wants to know how does the house settlement

and school revenue sharing.

Now being legal or likely being legal in the near future, affect

the mission of the collective?

Um, at this point?

Yeah.

I mean, um, qualifying statements, right?

Like we believe that it will be passed and legal by July 1st.

Um, we believe that we kind of have an idea as to how rev share might

look, although I think Monday probably threw a couple more curve balls

that people weren't necessarily, uh, thinking about it that depth at least.

Um, you know, as a mission from the collective, our goal has

always just been to support.

Um, obviously there was a need for the collective 'cause we didn't have one.

Um, and I think in this realm, just trying to be competitive, we saw it as, you

know, hey, this is something we gotta do.

Um, our role is always going to be.

Supporting.

Um, I think there's a lot of opportunities though, as to how

we move or grow in the future.

I don't expect what we are doing now, um, to change at all in terms of

providing content and access and having some membership benefits with, you

know, um, certain sports or give people an avenue to give directly to NIL.

Um, however, on the back end, maybe there's a different structure or

maybe there's a different, um, way in which we augment or, um.

Change the direction of our support.

But, um, you know, I, I know that's not speaking super black and

white, but, um, there's a lot of opportunities if the house bill passes,

um, that I think really is gonna require some strategic discussions.

I mean, at the end of the day, rev share I think is, has a potential to

be much better because the mechanisms in which they can put certain

pay for play, I'll call it, um.

You know, uh, incentives or, uh, restrictions within the contracts that

I, I can't do from an NIL side, right?

Like, I can't have any sort of pay for play.

You know, I can't pay a bonus for, um, doing whatever, right?

I, I can't do that.

Mine is purely based on their ability to help us sell memberships

and products on our website.

Uh, it is their marketability, whereas revshare gives, you know, anybody who

opts in the opportunity to say, okay, well hey, we're gonna pay you x. Um,

and some of this money might be tied to getting to six wins in football.

You might get a bonus and you might get a bonus at eight wins

in football or however you could.

I mean, you could draw it up like a NFL contract if you really wanted to.

Um, so there's a lot of positive opportunities there that I think,

um, I. That's why I like revshare.

And I think it's, it's almost a better model because let's

just call it what it is, right.

Um, and be very direct about it.

So, um, I think the long-term mission for us is just going to be position ourselves

in the best way to continue to be, um, not only a supporter, but also, um, look,

we've been doing it for almost three years now, so we've got a lot of experience on

dealing with contracts and understanding the market and understanding and knowing

some of the agents and being able to take our processes and procedures, which I

think are rival that of, of P4 schools, you know, and that's just from, based on

us having conversations and even doing some consulting work with P4 schools,

that how can we kind of weave that together to end up in the best possible

position for, you know, ODU as a whole.

So, earlier, Jay, you talked a little bit about kind of the, on the high end.

Uh, goals for NIL that like the top couple programs on what they're doing.

One of the questions we have is if you have a target or we as the collective

have a target for each sport, and if so, have any of them been met?

The target is always more, all right, first and foremost, but, um,

yeah, I mean I've been very happy with the targets that we've hit,

um, in all of the sports thus far.

I mean, I don't think I necessarily envisioned the growth that we've

even had, even though we need more.

And it, and it has been a little stunted and some of that's been our decision

to not over, uh, overcommit to things.

Um, but I would say, you know, at least from last year, um, I felt like

we met a lot of our financial goals.

Um.

You know, obviously there was, you know, a desire to have a little bit

more, but in general, I would say we hit two out of the, the four.

Um, you know, so moving forward that, that number's just increasing

so much and so, um, it's hard to say where exactly we'll end up this year.

Um, but I feel really good about where we are currently.

Um, and if we continue to kind of push and grow and if fans can get involved even,

you know, quicker, then I think, uh, yeah.

I don't see why we wouldn't hit our internal financial goals for each sport.

I think that's important to kind of put the caveat there, is that in any.

Developing organization, you have annual goals.

So year one and year two don't necessarily look alike.

So although you put it out there that yeah, you met two of your

four goals, that doesn't mean that if we have the same thing this

year, we're meeting those goals.

Because Yeah.

I just wanted to put that, put that out there for folks who may see

me and Mike and ask that question.

You're like, well, if we're reaching our goals, why do we need to do it anymore?

Well, I think if you, I'll put it this way, right?

Like, and, and I felt like we met three out of our four goals just to,

you know, put a quick little caveat on there, but also like the market is

just increasing it rates and bounds that I don't think any other business

would've seen, um, in any sort of market.

I mean, it's pretty wild how much, um, I. Money has gone into the overall

system and, and that was my comment, even rolling out of, um, rolling in I

guess to football, um, resigning in, you know, November, December about like,

you know, just making the first couple, you know, I'll call 'em probe calls to

other places and talking to some agents and talking to some other, um, folks

in the business about, you know, the market just exponentially increased.

Um, I mean, I'm talking four and a half, five times what you might

have paid somebody last year.

Um, some of those guys were getting that kind of a jump year over year.

Um, so it's, yeah, year one to two is always going to look different.

Um, I think we're on a great track, obviously, the way in which we started

two and, and just to give some people a little bit of historical context, if you

didn't list it the first episode, uh, or two, I mean, our goal when we started

was to solve the short term problem.

We knew we had some players that, you know, we felt like, uh, we could market

and, you know, help, uh, you know, to, to build the program that way.

Um, so we acted quickly and that meant that we really focused on

getting big dollars really quickly, which we were highly successful in.

And, you know, just to probably, you know, share a little bit extras that most of

those deals were five year commitments.

And so that way I knew we had cash flow for X number of years

at least to stay stagnant.

And then once we got that taken care of in the first round, done.

You know, then we obviously started trying to build membership and we walked down

a path with a membership structure and profile that I, we pivoted away from.

'cause I think that was, I wouldn't call it a miss, but it's just, I wasn't happy

with how it was trending and working.

And so that's why we then pivoted to this new website.

And so I know it's probably been a lot for fans to kind of deal

with, but this is our home now.

We're all internal.

I don't expect anybody, um, you know, I don't expect any other changes there.

I mean, uh, we control everything.

I control everything from a membership side.

Obviously you guys have joined on and now play a, a very large

role in what we're doing too.

And so, um, you know, and just to add like, thank you, um, because you know,

you guys do a great job at what you do.

Um, you know, so I think we've made a lot of incremental internal, um, you know,

steps forward that wasn't necessarily.

You know, seen from the outside, but that was just trying to get

our house in order internally.

'cause we started everything so quickly and um, you know, so now it's, it's

really focusing on the membership growth and, and that's kind of where

we're, we're gonna continue to drive and push and um, you know, and I think

we've got a great benefit here and the content and given some access.

So hopeful we can grow that at a high rate.

Alright, so these next two questions are from two different people, but I think

they tie into each other very well.

Uh, the first is, what kind of assistance, if any, is Old Dominion lending you?

And the second is, are there any plans to merge the collective with the university?

Since revshare All is, that's becoming common thing now

with revshare coming on board.

I think people in this area probably saw like, that's the way JMU is going, right?

Um, there's a lot of other collectives that have done the same thing.

Um, it's kind of what I mentioned earlier where like, once we know the

house Bill going to pass and what that is truly going to be, um, that provides

an opportunity to have that discussion.

And we've certainly kind of spitballed it and done some game theory planning.

I, I'll call it, uh, with folks, folks who are familiar with

that kind of, um, uh, subject.

But, um, I'm not gonna take it off the table.

It's certainly been things we've talked about.

Um, you know, um, how does that benefit us?

How does that best utilize our strengths as a collective and what

we do well versus what, you know, ODU does well, um, ODU's been fantastic.

Across the board at helping and helping us understand, you know, rules

and regs and, you know, having those kind of brainstorming discussions.

And so, uh, I'm very excited about the potential opportunity there.

You know, I do think that where we currently sit and where we've sat for

the last couple months, I was not in favor of moving too quick to make any

sort of long-term decisions like that to merge or do anything until, you

know, what this house bill looks like.

I, I think it's a little, um, could it work out in your favor?

Absolutely.

But I think it's a little aggressive to, you know, put all your eggs

in one basket right off the jump.

I think we've got a great process and plan now and, uh, where we

augment, you know, each other.

Um, so, uh, just to put that caveat out there to people that.

You know, yes, we've seen what others are doing.

Yes, we pay attention.

Yes, we look at their structure and then yes, we even dig behind them to make sure

that we truly understand what that is.

Or is that just words?

Um, and I think we've kind of made a very strategic play on our end to, um,

game theory, all that stuff out, and understand what our track is going to be

without, you know, taking the steps that you can't pull yourself back if things

go awry, which I don't really expect it, but the house bill will change.

And, um, how much that'll be the question.

So.

All right, so this next question I actually found really interesting, um,

because different coaches have different perspectives on NIL and how they use NIL.

Some might use it to attract talent, some may use it to retain.

Talent no different than, uh, you know, where Mike works.

He is the best dude there.

So they want to keep him.

They may offer him something and if they don't, they should.

The question is, if you take the top five to 10 NIL earners in each sport,

what is the retention percentage of eligible returners that stay at ODU?

That is a good question.

Um, I have to be, um, I'll put this disclaimer out there right

off the bat, I have to be very careful about how I answer this.

Um, we are not allowed to use NIL for inducements or, um, maybe even

to get a kid here or to use it as a mechanism to keep a kid here.

So just to put that out there on the jump.

So, um, I think the way in which.

You can utilize NIL in a way to keep players happy and to understand their

value and to understand what can be done with the platform that they have.

That is, that is where we plug in.

And so I think we have identified at least returners and players

on the roster currently.

That's always where our focus is first.

I think we've done a good job of identifying those individuals that we

know we need to help facilitate growth in their brand and their platform and their

ability for opportunities in the future.

Um, and I think we've identified that and been able to, you know,

render help and augmentation to them, uh, very effectively.

Um.

Highly, effectively.

Um, I think we saw it with football this year.

Um, obviously we had some turnover.

You're never gonna prevent total, you know, one way or the other.

Um, it's just the marketplace.

But I think in totality we've done a very, very good job of, um, at least from

the football side, to kind of maintain, um, you know, and augment those, those

players' platforms moving forward.

I appreciate you clearing that up and that's why I do podcasts

and I don't do what you do

a lot of, uh, a lot of rules and regs and not a lot of clarity

on some of those sometimes.

Um, but yeah, I do think it's important for people to understand that technically

you are not allowed to use, you know, NIL as for inducements and, uh.

Obviously, I think we all could argue at times that that probably takes place.

We try very, very, very, very hard to make sure that we don't cross any lines there.

Um, I'm not trying to get in trouble, I'm not trying to get the school in trouble.

Um, you know, that's why we have such great relationship, the compliance

office, and you know, why we run a lot of things by them just to be

above board and make sure that, you know, nothing's going to come down

the pipe a couple years down the road.

So,

all right.

So to branch off of that, um, I'm gonna word my, I'm gonna try to word this

very carefully so it sounds right.

So, uh, there's retention and then there's the portal, right?

Um, so if we're trying to make a player feel valued, whether it's through

the portal or it's to stay here.

What is the, what are, what are you seeing in that process and the difference

in how much it costs to make that player feel valued by Old Dominion?

Um,

it's always cheaper to start with your current players, just

like any other business, right?

Um, yeah.

If you really break down the cost of losing, you know, somebody in your own,

you know, in your own business, it's, it's more expensive to go find somebody new

and train and all that, you know, jazz.

Um, so just a blanket answer on that one.

It's, it's far more costly to go to the portal, um, than anything else.

Well, I would imagine Jay, that when somebody's been here, when

student athlete's here, you have a much better feel for what their

actual marketability in our area.

Out in town to local businesses, whatever it is that their, their name, image, and

likeness is worth and to their market.

You get a much truer understanding of what that is.

Yeah.

Well, and to build off of that

too, right?

Like we know who those people are.

'cause we've spent time with them, whether it's a year, two years, three years,

whatever it may be, we have a better sense of who those people are, right.

And if we're doing any sort of a deal with them where they're advertising the

collective and helping us, you know, you know, sell memberships and sell, you

know, merchandise or whatever it may be.

Or we're using them in commercials for other things.

Like, it's important to know who those people are.

And if you have somebody coming from the portal that.

You know, how much time do you really have to do due diligence

on who that individual is?

If that's a decision that you have to make in the snap of a finger, I'm not

saying we won't do it, it's just it, you know, my caution flags go up and I

think everybody's caution flags go up.

It's, um, I think it's, it.

You don't truly know what, what you're, you know, contracting with.

So.

All right.

And then this is gonna be a question for me as a fan.

So, um, NIL has brought about a new type of agent, um, in college sports,

and it's an unregulated marketplace.

Uh, whereas if you wanna be an agent in the FL, you need to be a lawyer and

you need to pass their test, right?

Uh, in college football, you do not need to have any background

or ever to be become an NIL agent.

Is there anything showing signs that, that may be changing?

It's a good

question, Mike.

I, I know that there's been some discussion about that within,

you know, some, some circles.

I, to be candid with you, I'm not sure if it's in any of the house language at all.

Um, you know, I probably should know that, but it changes so much that it's

kind of hard to keep track of at times.

Um, I'll just give you a, you know, kind of an aside on it in that I've seen some,

some wild agent requests and contracts, um, you know, taking some large cuts.

You know, luckily we don't have anybody that's in that boat, but I've seen some

of 'em that, that are pretty egregious.

Um, you know, so I, I think that some, some type of i regulatory body

is kind of a hard, you know, I don't, I. Necessarily love throwing that

around, but I do think there needs to be some protection there on who these

individuals are being represented by.

We try really hard that to at least educate on our end as well as ODU

does a great job at educating in terms of like, Hey, if you are going

to get an agent, here's some of the things you need to look out for.

Here's some of the things I've seen personally in doing this over the last

three years or so about like, these are some of the predatory situations

that I don't want you to end up in.

Here's some individuals that are reputable that, you know, I'm not saying you need to

use them by any stretch, but talk to them at least and then use them as a barometer

to grade your other options against.

Um, you know, and so, yeah, I, I think that is a, it's a dangerous space and

sometimes you get somebody calling you who says they're so-and-so's agent, or,

you know, they're representing so-and-so and you know, those, that's usually when

the first red flag goes up in my head.

But, um, 'cause there's, there tends to be a little bit of

a process on how this works.

And so when somebody deviates from that process, that's usually

the first indicator and, you know, guards go up right away.

But I, I do think something needs to be done there and, and hopefully

that comes about rather soon.

So.

All right.

Jay, our next question.

I'm not sure if you can answer this or if you even want to, but Mike put the call,

Mike and I put the call out for questions.

So I want to, I do want to ask the question.

The question is, what are players at the Sun Belt conference level

going for with our competitors?

Oh,

well, um, you know, I've seen as little as $0 to, you know, because,

and I say $0, not really as a, uh.

Not to make a joke, but sometimes guys just want to come and play.

Um, and sometimes that's dropping down and um, sometimes that's moving up.

Um, they just want to play and, and so they have a truly, uh,

un monetary, um, goal in mind.

Right.

Um, I've seen, you know, 150, I've seen, you know, numbers floated

around north of that, that I don't think ever actually took place.

Um, you know, there's been some discussions at numbers north of that.

I just haven't seen them.

Um, you know, usually I get a, a number of contracts that I

actually see the dollar figures on.

So, um, you know, there's a wide range.

There's a wide range within conference, and I think that's what

makes the conference so difficult.

I mean, because you can look at a school, um, you know, that's done well that you

wouldn't think have a lot of budget.

And I know they don't have a lot of budget, but they still, you

know, ripped off, uh, you know, a strong number of wins last year.

So, um.

Uh, that is why I think the group of five in general is a really, I'll call it group

of five and, and, you know, low end group of four schools, it's, it's really hard

because this number ranges are so wide.

Um, you know, like four example there, there even tends to be a cliff on

players where it's like, you know, um, without giving exact dollar figures,

'cause I don't know if everybody necessarily knows this or looks at that.

'cause sometimes I do interact with a couple other groups that don't quite

understand how to value properly and they end up bidding against themselves

and, you know, we still end up winning.

But, um, there tends to be gaps, right?

Like one player may get X dollars and there's a couple

schools around that same mark.

And then there's somebody that's like way out in left field.

Um, and sometimes the individual chooses to go there.

And then you very quickly either, you know, hear or uh, get a phone call

about, hey, well that deal wasn't actually quite what it was represented.

Um, you know, and especially in the rev share world, it's important to understand

too, for the fans out there that like, when you hear a number, generally

speaking, that number is the largest number they could possibly make it.

So in rev share, you can put in the scholarship value, you can put in cost

of attendance right into that number.

And just on the first two alone, that's a number that the kids are

already getting baseline period without not even having to sign a rev share

contract or anything like that, right?

So some of these numbers that these individuals try to use to negotiate with

it, it's, it's not a real number, right?

Like, you have to almost educate on like, okay, well what's in that number?

So that's why some of these numbers that get reported are so, so, um.

Ridiculous.

You know, they're just not real.

It all, it all depends on what's in that number, but kind of to

go, sorry, I kind of got off on a tangent there, but to go back to your

question, it, there's a wide range at this level, and it's not necessarily

at this level all about the money.

A lot of times it's the playing potential and it's the ability to

get on the field and you know, and just to call a spade a spade, right?

Like obviously some of these guys know that the more they play men, girls, and

guys, um, whomever it is we're doing a deal with, they obviously know the

more they play, the more opportunity they have, uh, you know, to make

additional dollars moving forward.

So that, at least I am happy about the fact that the focus has kind of

started to turn back to playing time as like kind of a key piece there.

Because if you really, you know, think down the line, it's the

playing time that drives the value.

So

no agree a hundred percent.

I mean, especially in say let's sport like basketball where there's such a

market overseas to play professionally.

Make really good money getting that film and being in a, the best possible spot for

you as a player and as a student to show that off has so much value that sometimes

people don't take into consideration.

Oh yeah, yeah.

That's a great point.

That's a great point.

So, but it is, I mean, I do find it interesting like at our level, just

how wide the dollar figures can range.

Um, sometimes that is because, you know, we take a very, I don't necessarily

want to call it, I'll call it a wise business approach, where we really pay

attention to the cash flow and we really pay attention to projecting out, to make

sure we can re meet responsibilities and making sure we don't end up in

a situation like some other schools that have been reported on not being

able to accommodate those things.

And so, um.

I do think there are some schools that get big chunks of money

and they spend it all at once.

Um, I look at it in terms of like roster building long term, right?

Like it's really hard to sustain a successful program if you have wild swings

in what budget is year to year, right?

So my goal is to always budget appropriately so that there is

growth year over year without getting into a financially tight situation.

So like, meaning like, okay, great, I might go get, you know, cash in hand.

That's a pretty sizable amount this year.

I just don't wanna spend it this year.

I'm gonna split it up this year and put a little next year and making sure

that, you know, we can continue to move and progress forward versus, you

know, having wild swings and budget.

So.

It makes a lot of sense, Jay.

Um, sustainability is important.

Um, blowing it all at once is, uh, not a smart long-term strategy, so, well, but

I will put a qualifier on it too, though.

Sometimes that's the right move, right?

If you're close to getting something over the edge, well, okay, I could argue

that, but that's kind of to go back to, I think the first question was is like,

each situation's gonna be different, so,

you know.

All right.

So I wanna close with this question 'cause uh, I think you've done a good

job answering all these questions.

If your question maybe wasn't answered to your liking, email us.

Send us a message, we'll try to get it answered.

We can always do another one of these, uh, to answer more questions because there's

always gonna be more questions, right?

Oh, yeah.

Uh, but I wanna close with this.

So we're trying to grow as a group and support Old Dominion as best possible.

So over these next few months, it's gonna be dead period soon for college sports,

uh, this summer, what does, what events does the part od have planned to help

support ODU and grow this, uh, collective?

Nice, Mike.

That's, that's

a good question.

He's always thinking ahead.

Um, you know why I, I'll tell you, I think that the Mane Event that we

did, uh, for both men's and women's basketball last year was a huge success.

So, uh, I know that is something that we are definitely going to do again.

Um, watch parties were, were very beneficial, um,

and, and strongly attended.

And so I do think, you know, we want to do that again, but we may change a little bit

of that in terms of how we structure, uh, process and procedure there a little bit.

But, um, I know that spring game coming up is a big opportunity.

We'll be there, um, at the check-in Gates, um, you know,

it's not a member only event or a.

A donor only event.

It's open to the public, but we will be there at, at the gate when

people walk in just to try and, you know, facilitate some support.

Um, we've had some discussions about doing, you know, some, uh, uh,

I'll call 'em, uh, famous alumni, uh, events, uh, in the summer.

Um, you know, that, uh, I hopefully will be able to share some more about

here in the, in the short future.

Um, just trying to finagle timelines and make sure

everything lines up appropriately.

Um, and then we'll, we'll get into some VIP events that, um, you know, come

August I think will be very exciting.

Um, and I, I guess I can share a little bit.

I'm gonna, I'll jump the gun a little bit.

Um, so people, I guess will get a little bit of a sneak peek, but we're gonna

do a, uh, a, uh, a beer, I'll call it a beer festival or, you know, a beer

tasting event, uh, at the stadium.

Um.

Sometime in August, that date's still a little fluid, but, um, I feel

comfortable enough to, to share that.

So that'll be a great opportunity to fundraise.

Um, you know, and not, not only fundraise, but also I, I like

to call it fundraising, right?

Like it's, give people involved, um, give people an outlet, give

people an opportunity to congregate.

Um, obviously it could be a very positive financial thing for us as well.

But, um, uh, once again, I, I look at the long term and I think if we can get some

of these larger events established, uh, do them well and do them right on the front

end, um, you know, and hopefully continue to have a long term successful, um,

opportunity there to keep repeating them.

Uh.

Over time.

So you said beer at the stadium, a beer festival at the stadium.

It'll be like

a, it's a fluid situation's, uh,

yeah.

I didn't even catch that, but pun intended.

Um, no, I mean, like, it, I think it'll be awesome.

And, uh, just walking through some of the initial discussions and meetings on

it, I think it's gonna be a really fun event with, you know, 25, maybe 30 plus,

you know, uh, different breweries from around the area and, and within the state.

And, um, I think it'll be a fun way to not only engage and, you know, let

people practice, uh, tailgating prior to the right before the season starts.

Um, but also a way to kind of.

Bring some, uh, additional folks into the ODU Circle that maybe don't, you

know, participate, you know, week in and week out with what we do.

Um, so I, I, I just like the opportunity to bring people together.

I think good things happen after as a result of that.

Uh, not only that, it provides an opportunity for ODU to, you know, see

what they can build upon that as well, whether that's, you know, selling

tickets or have a ODAF out there.

I just think, you know, if we can create more holistic ODU events, um,

you know, with a fun twist to it, um, you know, that's really the goal.

So, I mean, we've talked about trying to do some concerts.

We've looked into that.

We're still at the very early stages of doing stuff like that.

Um, you know, so we're trying to, you know, provide fun opportunities for

folks, uh, right off of Hampton Boulevard there to bring people back to campus.

You got a golf tournament coming

up too, right?

It's crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and thank you Aaron.

Yes, we do women's basketball, golf tournament.

Um, you know, it's the first time that we're gonna run a golf tournament, um,

through the collective, but that'll all benefit women's basketball.

Um, you know, that's coming up.

I think it's May 19th or 16th.

Um, I should have looked that up.

So, uh, here, maybe you guys can cut it.

Uh, and uh, we

can.

But if folk click, go to theprideofodu.com and go to the events tab.

That is it.

See it

on there.

That is it.

Let's see if I can pull it here.

I think it's the 16th.

Um.

It is at Bide-A-Wee.

I know that

it is at Bide-A-Wee and shame on me for not knowing it off the top of my head.

Um, I got a lot of other contract values in my head.

Uh, Wednesday, May 21st is the, uh, will be the Women's Basketball golf Tournament.

Once again, it's the first time we've done this out of the collective.

Um, so I know it's a little different for, you know, supporters

that have done it in the past.

Um.

You know, but I think it's going to be a great event.

Um, I know DeLisha's very excited about it.

Um, we're filling up fairly quickly on the foursomes, so, you know, please

jump in there quickly, um, to do that.

There's still a handful of sponsorships available.

Um, but I think it'll be a fantastic, uh, time as always

with the women's basketball staff.

And, you know, the team will be out there, get a chance to meet and greet them.

There's a, there's a great dinner afterwards that they have a, a committee

that helps, uh, fundraise and they always do a great job putting that on.

Um, you know, so I'll shout out to, you know, Jerry and Judy Bowman

for, um, making that so successful.

So I'm, I'm very excited about that one.

So I, I obviously need to get back on the golf course too and

swing a little bit since I haven't done that much, uh, this year.

But, um, you know, but it, it'll be a fun time and it'll be our

first, uh, you know, big, uh, golf tournament event for the collective.

So,

and I will say this, um, Aaron and I have put together a team.

That will be tough to beat because we have a ringer.

Uh oh.

So I'd challenge anyone to beat us at this golf tournament.

I gotta know who your ringer is.

Are we allowed to even say,

I don't know.

I, I'll say it.

Ricky Hong, he is the, uh, golf professional at just birdie's.

I love it.

I love it.

I love

it.

So

he's a stick.

If you want to take Mike up on that challenge and you're watching this,

just go over to theprideofodu.com.

If you go up to the events tab right here, up top, click on it.

It'll take you here.

Click the learn more and you'll get everything you want to know on.

How to come as an individual golfer, how to get a team, everything you want.

And I think too, just to maybe add, add to, uh, maybe what some folks might have

is a question with regards to budgeting.

I'll tell you this.

I think that, uh, from what I've seen short term with rev share coming into

play, that if you look at the House Bill, they have some guidance on,

you know, how some of those funds are going to be, I guess, directed.

Um, women's basketball is going to get a lot of rev share money, um, from that pot.

And there's going to be even more money into that system.

So I think, you know, now's a fantastic time to continue to build what we've

already started, um, with women's basketball in order to make sure that we

can kind of maintain, you know, what I think we're gonna put together this year.

And, um, you know, and.

Especially moving forward as, as rev share becomes a, a larger player in,

in, uh, the women's basketball arena.

Uh, as well as even like, just to add on that too, like, you know, women's

tennis, um, men's tennis for us, I mean, we, we try to support, uh, you

know, where, where it makes sense.

And, uh, so like Sophia, um, obviously has had a fantastic season and ranked in

the top 20, I think she was 16th last I saw, uh, in the rankings as an individual.

And so, um, you know, even Olympic sports are going to see this become,

uh, very much a thing moving forward.

So, uh, just to kind of add on some of the other earlier questions.

All right, Jay, well, uh, you're off the hot seat.

Uh, thank you so much for joining us today and educating our fans a

little bit about the collective.

Uh, if you are ready to join and you're not a member, go to theprideofodu.com.

And become a member today.

We need your help.

Um, this has become a money game folks.

Um, less money we have, the less power we have.

So fortunately or

unfortunately, it's become a money game.

So just to throw that out there for the folks that aren't a big fan of it.

So

yeah, it is what it is and we gotta roll with the punches.

So help us do that at theprideofodu.com.

Alright, Jay, awesome.

Thanks again.

And go Monarchs.

Go Monarchs.

I love it.

Go monarchs, baby.

Thanks guys.

I appreciate it.