Houston Chron: Tilman Fertitta says UH needs to stop building stuff and pay players
Speaking at a press conference introducing new University of Houston Athletics Director Eddie Nuñez this week, Tilman Fertitta laid out a new vision for the school's athletics recruiting practices."We have to raise a bunch of money for NIL," Fertitta said, per Duarte. "If we don't raise money for NIL, we're not going to be successful."
Fertitta pointed to the growing influence of NIL—name, image and likeness deals—and the proliferation of paying, minor-league options for aspiring pro athletes as the driving reasons for the university to shift how it applies its athletic budget. The owner of the Landry's Inc. empire mentioned UH's 2023 groundbreaking on a $140-million football operations center as an example of money perhaps ill-spent.
"This is how much college athletics has changed," Fertitta said, per Duarte. "Now you can scratch your head and say 'Do we really need to be spending $140 million on a football facility, or should we take that money from all those donors and use it on NIL?' If you talk to college athletes today, they don't care about the building anymore. They care about 'How much am I getting paid?' Think about it, because you know what they would all tell you: 'Give me that money.'"
It's a remarkably candid assessment of UH's use of funding by Fertitta, a Cougars megadonor and University of Houston dropout who has contributed heavily to his alma mater.https://www.chron.com/sports/article...s-19716694.phpUH's athletic department ended the year with a $10 million budget shortfall, which the university is addressing via an internal loan borrowed from one of its "quasi-endowments."
With the athletics department operating at a loss and millions being spent on now-unwanted facilities, it'll be interesting to see how Fertitta's NIL arguments fare.
Forgo athletic facilities upgrades and instead pay players? This does NOT sound what "Name, Image, Likeness" was supposed to be...at all.
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