Flying Dutchmen Fans

Just received this e-mail about our new NIL website. This does make it easy to contribute and this will become increasingly important moving forward.

I removed the link b/c it was to your email account - I cannot find the same email in my account. However, I believe the below website is the one for the school:
https://turnpikeunited.com/

It looks like this is either managed or owned by a company called Student Athlete NIL. Does anyone know if any actual supporters of Hofstra are involved with management of this NIL Collective?

I did see a few of the basketball players already promoting this and based on that I am thinking of just signing up for a membership but would be a bit more comfortable if I knew Hofstra supporters were involved in some of the decision making.

Agree HM, don't see any names affliated with this organization...I gave $1,000 to the NIL last year but I think it was a different company.

I did reach out to Student Athlete NIL to ask if any Hofstra supporters are involved and this was the response I received:

"Appreciate the note. Turnpike United is managed by SANIL, but with full oversight of the university. They are fully apprised of all dollars in and out of the collective."

The interesting thing with this is it contradicts the FAQ on the website which says:
IS TURNPIKE UNITED AFFILIATED WITH HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY?
No, Turnpike United is not affiliated with the Hofstra University in any way. Turnpike United is a third party created to work with Hofstra University student-athletes.

So I think for now I will just wait and see but if this does seem like it really will be a good way to get money through NIL deals to student athletes of Hofstra then I definitely will join.

TY for the info. HM. This seems like the future for college sports for those who have the money to contribute.

This is AWESOME to see! And yes, this is legit. For your reference, NIL collectives are not allowed to be technically 'affiliated' with the universities, so all of them will say that. They are there to represent the players. VT's is TriumphNIL. It's super cool, and HU's looks to be working along a similar line. Very happy to see it because HU athletics will not survive without this. No AD will - it's a must today.

And if anyone on here truly wants or expects HU to win championships, you need to donate - whatever works for you financially - it ALL helps - this isn't going away. It's only getting stronger, and there is no way to compete in D1 without active participation from the entire community.

Fans cannot ignore this, or think it's the Universities job - it isn't. They can't. They are not legally allowed to give kids money, it can only be done today through NIL collectives. This has to be funded through giving. Now of course lots of shady stuff goes on behind the scenes, always has and will, but this is the legal way to get top talent paid which obviously fuels recruiting. People can love it or hate it, agree / disagree, it doesn't matter, it's here to stay, and we either better start getting active or HU simply won't be winning anything in the future.

HU isn't going to topple a CofC on pure willpower when they are all in on NIL - and you can see their commitment to it in their recruiting results. HU is doing well for what they have, but this program and AD absolutely have to have financial help from the community to get HU to the top. I again encourage ALL to give what you can, and know that any and every amount counts!!

There's no guarantee that you will win if you pay student-athletes to come to a particular school. The best schools (Duke, Kansas, etc.) will always get the best players. Plus injuries happen. And don't forget what St. Peter's achieved with minimal resources.

The same schools that have the highest TV ratings, attendance, and donations to the athletic department will get the most NIL donations. Does this make it a benefit to not play Football? The same amount of donations are a lot more per athlete if they don't have to go to the sport with by far the largest roster size. I think FCS teams get something like 57 scholarships, which is 4.4 times the 13 Men's Basketball scholarships. Would we get more donations if we played Football? Probably, but many sports fans would rather spend hundreds of dollars going to pro games or if we're lucky going to our games, but not want to donate, and I don't think there is any amount of realistic athletic success (meaning not reaching the Final Four like George Mason and VCU) that will change that. Since every school plays a different combination of sports, it is impossible to make one number that fairly ranks teams for all of their sports combined, but the New York area is bad at sports revenue per person in the area especially factoring in that Big East teams St. John's and Seton Hall don't play Football. Rutgers is good at Football when they normally aren't. Army lost to LSU 62-0 yesterday. The New York market shouldn't claim Connecticut as a local team, but if they do, Connecticut has 1 win. The next nearest FBS team to New York City is Temple in Philadelphia. In FCS, the New York area has teams in the weak Northeast Conference, Fordham in the Patriot League, the Ivy League which is okay but doesn't participate in the playoffs, Marist in the Pioneer League for teams that play Football without scholarships, and Stony Brook is winless.

CAA teams have had guys who failed (athletically, not academically) at schools in better conferences, or otherwise were better than expected in the CAA. Estrada failed at Oregon. Zeke Upshaw didn't play much in three seasons elsewhere before leading the CAA in scoring. Chris Flemmings was a star for UNCW after transferring from Division II.

What is the relationship (if any) between this NIL collective and the Pride Club? Does it make the Pride Club obsolete?

Polito wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2023 11:27 am This is AWESOME to see! And yes, this is legit. For your reference, NIL collectives are not allowed to be technically 'affiliated' with the universities, so all of them will say that. They are there to represent the players. VT's is TriumphNIL. It's super cool, and HU's looks to be working along a similar line. Very happy to see it because HU athletics will not survive without this. No AD will - it's a must today.

I definitely understand the rules but usually these collectives have supporters (booster, alumnus, etc) of the athletics program helping to run them. That is my concern. I am sure I will end up doing a monthly membership and the fact a few of the basketball players are already promoting it definitely helps in my decision.

Did you sign up yet? Just curious what the apparel looks like that is included in the membership. I have a drawer full of Hofstra shirts but always could use more.

The Pride Club is the fund raising arm of the athletic department. It is run by the school...all donations are channeled through the University's fund raising arm and are tax deductible.

NIL is not affiliated with the school and contributions are NOT tax deductible.

It appears to me that there is a looming conflict between both entities...competition for donor and other dollars.

That's a good point HUSID, and it does seem like it could be a conflict - they are supposed to be complimentary, but dollars are a finite thing so there is only so much money from individuals or businesses to go around. How that all ultimately shakes out is going to be interesting...

Quite frankly, the vast majority of donation should go to NIL at this point IMO - it is MUCH more impactful to the success of our teams as that's what it takes today to both land and retain top talent. The program works hard to fund itself through payouts for all these road games.

It's also appears more likely to go where it is intended to go vs the university messing around with the $ and largely doing with it what they choose. I'm not good with that, and sorry to say, I don't trust the admin to do what I intend to be done and to elevate the things I want to see elevated.

Perhaps just my own hang up, and that may change in time if they start showing more transparency. In this day and age, I'd like to see HU move away from the secrecy / smoke and mirrors / good ol boy club nonsense and start showing their work the way ALL businesses are expected to do.

Transparency and traceability are huge today, and I think there's improvement to be made at HU (and many schools across the country) where there has been very little public accountability for their finances, esp at a private. If you want my money, I'm gonna need a heckuva lot more than a 'trust us / we promise' deal. Show me updates on where and how the money is being used and I'll be much more inclined.

NIL I know X % is going directly to help us win on the trail in the sport designated. And in this landscape you're not winning without it, period. Feels like my dollar makes a bigger impact there, and I am seeing that play out across the country at all levels.

How do others feel? Maybe some other perspective I'm not yet considering...

Polito, you can earmark your donation to a specific sport or project such as the basketball locker room a few years ago and the soccer scoreboard this past year.

I definitely like to earmark some sports I feel much stronger about.

Yep, that's a good thing and a fair note.

I think HU would be wise to start showcasing these things more - make it more interactive for the HU community - show us some visuals of the fundraising progress, the impact of such, etc. Give us some stories to chew on. They do a little, but need to do a lot more. HU may not have the manpower or expertise, but if that's the case, they better start making the investment to fix that. Looking to the Prez to show the right priority and ensure this is treated seriously and HU is going to put its money where it's mouth is. Gotta walk the talk.

This isn't a game, it's a business, and they need to be very careful they don't get tossed aside as the collegiate world turns on its head.

The sad side of NIL:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-omar-silverio

I heard his application was denied but don't know the ins and outs of his case to even comment. But definitely sad.

Except this really has nothing to do with NIL. This has to do with the corrupt NCAA. That org needs to have a coup in it's leadership, or it needs to be blown up and abandoned (which may very well happen in football). They are a really really bad organization with zero interest in the student-athletes. They rarely do the right thing.

NIL in this case is fine. If the kid isn't playing then there isn't value there - that's business.


Now as far as Omar, with all due respect to this kid this does not warrant a gofund me page. When an athletes playing career is possibly done, especially someone on their 20's, they need to do what literally everyone else does when they face these situations - WORK. Find another way to earn money for goodness sake. There is ZERO reason to be asking for people to give you money when you are an able-bodied educated human being in this country. I mean this is kinda ridiculous - how soft are we getting in society??

C'mon Omar, show some resourcefulness - apply yourself, you have a network and a DEGREE. Sorry, not sorry, not donating to that.