Illini Basketball

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#51      
ChiefGritty
ChiTown said:
So I wondered what every other schools including our beloved are planning to do going forward.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1915820242703454604
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Surely the intent there is that if players are to gain something resembling an employment relationship, that they aren't *public* employees, which would open up a whole other can of worms.

I don't quite see why they would want to be a taxable entity though, and who would hold the equity?
 
#53      
blife
ChiefGritty said:
Surely the intent there is that if players are to gain something resembling an employment relationship, that they aren't *public* employees, which would open up a whole other can of worms.

I don't quite see why they would want to be a taxable entity though, and who would hold the equity?
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I would bet my beach house they will figure out a way to basically be a holding company simply to collect $ and cut checks that will operate at a loss every year and never pay taxes. Yet collecting big $$$$ not yet earned, to be held in escrow for future unearned, unrealized, and unidentified "salaries" to avoid being considered income to the LLC.
 
#54      
Illini in Italy
ChiTown said:
So I wondered what every other schools including our beloved are planning to do going forward.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1915820242703454604
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"And the walls . . . came tumblin' down"

Explode Criss Angel GIF by DefyTV
 
#55      
Thaillini22
blife said:
I would bet my beach house they will figure out a way to basically be a holding company simply to collect $ and cut checks that will operate at a loss every year and never pay taxes. Yet collecting big $$$$ not yet earned, to be held in escrow for future unearned, unrealized, and unidentified "salaries" to avoid being considered income to the LLC.
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aaah, good ol' college basketball.
 
#56      
BretMyBeachHouse
blife said:
I would bet my beach house they will figure out a way to basically be a holding company simply to collect $ and cut checks that will operate at a loss every year and never pay taxes. Yet collecting big $$$$ not yet earned, to be held in escrow for future unearned, unrealized, and unidentified "salaries" to avoid being considered income to the LLC.
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Very common. Law and accounting firms rarely show profit. Everything is an expense or salary. It's not hard and not even remotely unethical.
 
#57      
HensonHall71
ChiefGritty said:
Surely the intent there is that if players are to gain something resembling an employment relationship, that they aren't *public* employees, which would open up a whole other can of worms.

I don't quite see why they would want to be a taxable entity though, and who would hold the equity?
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This is to enable private equity capital providers, so it needs to be for profit given they are investing in it to make money. Given certain teams in college basketball and football make large profits, it’s a way to attract investors and make even more money. I would think NIL donors could continue and get shares back or some arrangements like that to get even more NIL dollars

I wonder if this enables the LLC to decide how it distributes money for NIL so it breaks the third wall. I remember seeing we had one of the largest surplus’s in college sports two years ago as an athletic department , but that money couldn’t be used for NIL, you have to raise NIL separately, but the LLC might be able to give directly to NIL?

It definitely seems like a play for big money to enter the arena and payments to athletes will get even crazier
 
#58      
blife
BretMyBeachHouse said:
Very common. Law and accounting firms rarely show profit. Everything is an expense or salary. It's not hard and not even remotely unethical.
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oh I agree with you, I was just lamenting about the next step in the evolution of college sports and how much less it looks like what I have known and enjoyed for years.
 
#59      
Epsilon
HensonHall71 said:
This is to enable private equity capital providers, so it needs to be for profit given they are investing in it to make money. Given certain teams in college basketball and football make large profits, it’s a way to attract investors and make even more money. I would think NIL donors could continue and get shares back or some arrangements like that to get even more NIL dollars

I wonder if this enables the LLC to decide how it distributes money for NIL so it breaks the third wall. I remember seeing we had one of the largest surplus’s in college sports two years ago as an athletic department , but that money couldn’t be used for NIL, you have to raise NIL separately, but the LLC might be able to give directly to NIL?

It definitely seems like a play for big money to enter the arena and payments to athletes will get even crazier
Click to expand...
Can’t speak to the NIL stuff but to the extent that the school owns any part of the LLC that money wouldn’t be taxed (assuming the school is able to keep its tax exempt status in the current political environment) as LLC’s are pass-through entities from a tax standpoint. Also the ability to separate the operations from a liability standpoint is very attractive. With all the pending lawsuits from former student athletes, this all but eliminates this risk to the school itself on a go-forward basis. Doesn’t change the past or protect the school from past actions but protects the future.
 
#60      
DReq
I was never a business organization guy but I do wonder how this would fit in the "institutional control" mantra of the NCAA. That seems to me like a concept that might survive a court challenge and ceding what this seems to be doing might raise questions about that. I also recognize that the current system is well beyond any ghost of institutional control also. Just a fun intellectual exercise while chaos reigns.
 
#61      
SescIllini
In others news, Fordham is facing NCAA sanctions for taking pictures of recruits off campus, like in Manhatten.

NCAA has no comment on Kentucky forming an LLC, BYU paying a player 8 million dollars, or coaches contacting players from other schools.
 
#62      
Brosky
Re the Ivisic brothers. I think labeling them as "stretch centers" would be accurate.
 
#67      
OrangeBlue98
SescIllini said:
In others news, Fordham is facing NCAA sanctions for taking pictures of recruits off campus, like in Manhatten.

NCAA has no comment on Kentucky forming an LLC, BYU paying a player 8 million dollars, or coaches contacting players from other schools.
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Fordham is today’s example of Jerry Tarkanian’s “Cleveland State”. The NCAA needed someone to point to and say that they are still “enforcing”.
 
#68      
illiniguy24
IMG_2525.jpeg
Irrelevant at this stage but always interesting to see peoples opinions. This is Rothstein
 
#71      
the juiceman cometh
OrangeBlue98 said:
Fordham is today’s example of Jerry Tarkanian’s “Cleveland State”. The NCAA needed someone to point to and say that they are still “enforcing”.
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If you've ever seen the Wire, this kind of thing happens in law enforcement all the time. It's easier to do a bunch of buy-busts and round up low level dealers than to get a wire up and do a long investigation to go after the suppliers who are the real problem.

The Wire Love This Scene So Much GIF
 
#73      
Fighter of the Nightman
So with today's commitment, it got me thinking about next year's team ... and I wanted to get the board's thoughts. However, let's first rewind and look at our teams since 2019-20 (the year we finally turned things around), with my subjective comments added:

2019-20: This squad had truly turned into a solid and consistent team by the time the season was cut short due to COVID, but I would argue the ceiling wasn't super high. We all kind of knew we were one year away from making any noise.
2020-21: Let's forget the Loyola disaster for a second ... this team was a threat to win our first National Championship, period. When you are a #1 seed and one of the hottest teams in the country (IIRC, 25%+ of brackets had us winning it all), that is not that subjective of an assertion.
2021-22: A lovable team with a very high floor (early season trip-up not withstanding), but I don't know how many people were dreaming of a Final Four run or anything. Their legacy will rightfully be remembered as finally hanging another Big Ten regular season championship banner by beating rival Iowa in a thriller!
2022-23: Very frustrating team that most are probably content to somewhat forget, but they provided some exciting "high ceiling moments," such as beating #9 UCLA and #2 Texas.
2023-24: Going to go down as one of our favorite teams in modern history, but who knows where they would have stood if we didn't break through to the Elite Eight? Their main legacy (besides having one of our more likable groups ever) will be getting the Second Weekend monkey off of this program's back. If not for UConn standing in our way, maybe a Final Four was on the table ... but that would have been gravy.
2024-25: A perplexing team that was sort of a "better in every way" reiteration of our 2023 squad, IMO. They gave us great memories, they were pretty likable and they could play at a very high ceiling ... but the low floor games were hard to take, and we ended up with a pretty forgettable season on paper.

It is important to note that goals evolve as progress as made, as they should. When Underwood got here, our goal was simply to get back to being a competitive, top 25 program that people took seriously. After we were "back" during the 2019-20 season, we started talking about getting back to competing for Big Ten championships and making runs in the NCAA Tournament. By 2024, the goal was DECIDEDLY to get past the Second Round and get a Sweet Sixteen (or better) so we could dispel of the narrative that we couldn't get past the First Weekend. So what about now? I would argue the GOAL (which is loftier than the standard) is simple ... be a team that is at least putting itself in the POSITION to get back to the Final Four. We've won the Big Ten, we've won the BTT multiple times, we've been back to the Second Weekend of the Tournament, we've got multiple guys drafted and promoting us well in the NBA, etc. We need to get back to the Final Four.

So, TL;DR...

What type of team are we looking at for next year now? Last year obviously didn't cut it for this program's standards, and it really wasn't a talent issue so much as other more intangible things (experience being a big one). I think we were already setting up to have a squad similar to our 2019-20 team, where we were going to be a bit more mature, steady and good enough to be in the top 25 ... but does this commitment move the needle in getting us back to that 2024 level where we are a true threat to make some noise in March? We are probably still at least one piece from getting to the February/March 2021 level of play (again, Loyola disaster ignored!).
 
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