University of Oregon confirmed poverty program

It looks like Oregon has over $150 million in debt from their basketball arena alone. Wow. Does Phil Knight plan on paying that off upon his death?

I hope they are screwed once he kicks the can.

dannarc said:

It's Pea Patch tim in Eugene when Uncle Phil retires. I'm sure they have investment shares setup to fund the major programs. Clock is ticking for them to win some big games and get that blue blood status. Truck stop, blue balls U

There’s already a $3-$4B endowment set up for when the time comes. This has been planned on for years

greenblood said:

dannarc said:

It's Pea Patch tim in Eugene when Uncle Phil retires. I'm sure they have investment shares setup to fund the major programs. Clock is ticking for them to win some big games and get that blue blood status. Truck stop, blue balls U

There’s already a $3-$4B endowment set up for when the time comes. This has been planned on for years

If I was going to leave that much money to my team, I’d do it while I was alive, so I wouldn’t have to die nattyless

Miley_Cyrus said:

CrispyEaterson said:

For being poor they sure do eat a lot at the concession stand.

UW really needs to figure out the concession situation. It’s probably the worst in the conference, which is pathetic. I’m not joking when I say they’re probably leaving $2MM on the table in revenue.

If they just figure out how to do the basics right like keeping things in stock, getting the lines moving faster, etc. they’d be in far better shape. So many times I’ve gone to buy something and the workers can’t figure out how to use the machines, look confused about what to do, and so on. It’s maybe the lowest hanging fruit for revenue and fan experience and seems like a simple fix.

They could charge less for booze, not open it for people, and not have the rent a cops make people pour it out when they're leaving. Don't enforce a rule/law on par with jaywalking when some homeless junkie is shooting up on the Ave a mile away, possibly in front of children.

HFNY said:

What a strange person. I would leave all that money to real causes like improving cancer treatment, solving Alzheimer’s / Parkinson’s, and helping foster kids rather than an athletic department that is essentially Ohio State lite.

He has donated a ton of money to other causes both at Oregon and elsewhere. Oregon Health Sciences is a huge beneficiary of Knight's largesse, so there's the healthcare piece. He also gives a ton of money to Stanford GSB, which doesn't exactly need it, but nobody cares about the fighting MBA trees. He's given the university a ton of academically related money because, like here, it's not really a state school anymore in that the state's share of the operating budget is a laughable percentage. Government-run shit at its best.

I think the deal with athletics, they do have a large endowment as it stands, but PK has been mostly pay as you go (build it and I'll pay for it). But, yes, on some good authority there is supposedly a massive amount set up for after his death for both the school and the athletic department. If that's true, the annual earnings on the AD endowment will approximate or exceed what is in GG's financial statement as football operative revenue.

I know it's hate season all year around, but I have never understood the issue with Phil. He just unloads money he made the American way on his alma mater. If we? all insisted that gifted money were clean of any second or third world exploitation, we'd all starve.

Re Balmer, they've given to UW (early childhood ed, etc.), but his wife's a Duck so they've sent a lot their school donation money south - just sent $425 million a couple of years ago. He probably sends money to Harvard, they of the $50 billion endowment Harvards.

Rich people always gonna rich. It's the American way.

So, is $30 million in spending worth 3 points? Is that why Oregon keeps losing to us by 3 points?

Sandra6 said:

So, is $30 million in spending worth 3 points? Is that why Oregon keeps losing to us by 3 points?

You just have to ask yourself, would they rather be where they were or where they are now? That's the only relevant consideration. The rest is just stupid. Who here wouldn't take a benefactor willing to throw his money at the football program? Like I said, I just don't get the hate on Knight. I mean, I wish he'd have chosen to build Miami a nice stadium in Coral Gables and throw money at them for facilities (an area of concern for years until very recently) and whatever else he does for Oregon. That would have been nice. I would have liked Bezos to do it too. Or Gates. Or somebody. But I don't burn over it. It's just dumb.

HFNY said:

creepycoug said:

Sandra6 said:

So, is $30 million in spending worth 3 points? Is that why Oregon keeps losing to us by 3 points?

You just have to ask yourself, would they rather be where they were or where they are now? That's the only relevant consideration. The rest is just stupid. Who here wouldn't take a benefactor willing to throw his money at the football program? Like I said, I just don't get the hate on Knight. I mean, I wish he'd have chosen to build Miami a nice stadium in Coral Gables and throw money at them for facilities (an area of concern for years until very recently) and whatever else he does for Oregon. That would have been nice. I would have liked Bezos to do it too. Or Gates. Or somebody. But I don't burn over it. It's just dumb.

You make some reasonable points. I take it mainly from the angle that Knight was one of the reasons why college sports (and particularly football) feels ruined. It sure seems like helped professionalize college football even further, has kept doing it decades, and kicked off the arms race in CFB and CBB. Now we have the NIL madness and it is worse than ever. I'm not blaming him for all of it of course but college football was a lot more fun when the lines between professional and amateur were much stronger. He helped ruin that.

I agree with that, and he had a hand in it. The SEC and all its cheating and under-the-table payments hasn't helped. We could also point to pro sports free agency and a few other things that took the money changing hands in cfb from something that used to happen in the dark to a legitimate part of the system. Eventually, the players developed an almost Marxist-type "class consciousness" which spoke to their understanding of self-worth. I hate it but find it hard to argue against. The history is littered with kids who had the goods to play in the NFL only to blow something up while still poor in college and beset with the cruel reality that their great expectations were just out of reach ... almost Gatsby-esque in its tragedy. I get not wanting to be that character. Yeah, the sports empire Nike created with Tiger and Jordan really opened up the eyes of athletes and helped start a paradigm shift of focusing on individual value.