Everything PORTAL 3/14 TO 5/12

[The Kid]

Oracle is right, enjoy enjoy enjoy!!!

[HFO]

Watching all the moving around in the NFL over the last day or 2, it became quite apparent how frightening the transfer portal and NIL really is.

Remember the gate can swing both ways and for the 1st time in a while, Lehigh may have wrestlers with a big target on their back and there are corporations with a lot of money to spend. Job #1 may be keeping our guys home before we begin shopping. Every one of the guys HFO mentioned will require some degree of NIL money I believe. I have no idea how full our coffers are.

I am not sold that there is a lot of NIL money out there for wrestling. Transferring has always been a possibility in any era. We have some who transfer out and some that transfer in.

From a pure needs perspective, you can grow organically or you can do some acquisitions. There is immediate need for 165, 174, 184. Acquisitions is the route to go for the year ahead.

For the average wrestler, you may certainly be right about NIL. For an All-American, I'm finding it hard to believe that the migration to schools like Michigan, Iowa and Penn State and others did not have financial incentive and I'm hearing big numbers by wrestling standards.

We shall see.

The most I have heard from other alumni at other schools is typically is 1) Car lease year by year decision by a local car dealership and 2) Some small dollar local ads/ambassador roles with local companies in the $10k to $20k.

I am hearing nothing about $100k plus deals or national brand ambassador roles, wrestling shoe deals or high dollar endorsement deals.

Wrestlers go to Penn State because of Cael. Wrestlers go to Iowa because it is still Iowa and the fan base. You are a star there. The dollars are not that deep in sponsorships there from what I am hearing from Iowa alum.

Wrestlers go to Michigan because of the Michigan stature and atmosphere. They get good students who are also wrestlers who typically have already graduated and have a year left. Again, there is some money, but the dollars are not that big. Even basketball players are Michigan are not seeing much over $100k in local endorsement deals.

The wrestling NIL at this point is minimal and doubt a major deciding decision of any wrestlers sans coming from extreme poverty where that $20k or so could have immediate impact on saving a parents mortgage or something like that.