We should make an app that lets Gator fans push a button on their phone to donate money to a guys NIL fund every time they make a big play. Patent it so that other teams can't use it. Let the user decide the amount, but just a few bones per transaction could add up. Positive reinforcement.
Etienne busts an 80 yard TD run against UT, and .01% of Gator fans watching hit the button to send him an average of $10. I looked for some stats, and if accurate, we averaged like 2.1 million viewers per game in 2021. That would be like $2,100. Maybe the % of people donating wouldn't be that high, and maybe they would only donate $5 on average, but rivalry games would get better ratings, and emotions would be higher and wallets looser. And then there are fans at the game, or listening on the radio, etc. Hell, have the phone app send an notifications real time during games when someone makes a big play. Especially if it is a big momentum changer, or game clincher. So if someone is stuck at a wedding or something, they can still get in on it.
And when it comes time to make that push for NIL money to get a kid to commit or sign, the app should send a notification that we need to raise however much by some time or he might sign with FSU or UGA. If there is info out there about how much a rival school is offering, post that along with how much more we need to beat it. If we don't raise enough money, or the guy just doesn't sign, you get your money back.
I don't like handing my money over blindly to let someone else decided how it gets spent, like some kind of voluntary tax. If I donated and they gave some of that money to Graham Mertz, I'm pissed. I want to pick who it goes to. And I don't want them to get it all at once, I want to dole it out based on performance. I don't want to pay the next 5* bust up front, while mails it in. And when someone out performs their recruit ranking, I want them to get rewarded real time as they are coming up.
Let fans have a vote (via their wallets) for the players they want to see recruited, and which current players they want to see coming back next year. You select the players you want to follow and get notifications for them only, or the whole team if you want. Players should know how many followers they have, and maybe an option to let them see your app profile in case they want to say thanks. Maybe all of the money and # of followers should be public. Guys get competitive, maybe it would light a fire under under performers. And if a guy is caught taking plays off or throws a shoe, he can watch his follower count and donations drop. Negative reinforcement.
It probably helps to throw in some sort of perks for the fans, to be determined. Something to keep people engaged. It needs to be entertaining for them, and confer some sort of status or bragging rights.
If you wanted to maximize the money and the platform's popularity, you would open it up to all schools and sports. Imagine fans of rival schools bidding up a player's NIL contract in real time. But we are supposed to be coming up with a way to get an edge here, and I'm not so sure we win if we do that.
Gamification of NIL is probably a bad idea, but no worse than what is going on currently. And to be honest, no worse than what was going on when it was all under the table with bag men, except that now that there is no need to be discrete, the cost has sky rocketed.