My husband and I are retired on a fixed income. We aren’t wealthy so we donated many, many thousands of hours working for the athletic department by organizing events and fundraisers through the Rockford Area Illini Club since we graduated in 1974. We also have always both felt it is crucially important to financially support our university so we are lifetime members of the U of I Alumni Association, have had season football tickets for 40 years, go to as many basketball games as we can, and have donated to the IFUND since we graduated. We recently joined ICON at the minimum of $25 a month (not a lot, I know, but all that’s in the budget right now) because we’d like Illinois to win every game in every single sport. If a lot of regular Illini fans don’t help through NIL, our teams will not have the talented players to be competitive, and Illinois will not win. I’ve said it before, and I’m going to say it again: All of those “fans” who complain that Illinois doesn’t get enough Five and Four stars and only gets Three stars, need to pony up, and put your money where your mouth is through ICON. We think of following/watching Illinois sports as our most fun hobby, and NIL is the cost of making it even more fun.