Questions for Spyre

[james_govols]

Not sure if you all still post here or not.

I've been a donating member since you all started.

I attended one of your Q&A sessions a while back, and was wanting some updates on a few topics please.

1. Advertising. At the time, you all mentioned that you would start advertising more. Is this still the plan, or did you all feel the money was best spent elsewhere?

2. Now that Danny White has endorsed you, has there been any talks about integrating Spyre and UT athletics on a closer basis (e.g. booths outside of TBA, Neyland, etc... On GameDay)?

3. If you're able to answer, has subscription levels continued to go up? I know the majority of money comes from big donors, but crowdfunding can be viable for fundraising as well.

Thank you.

 

[VOLfrombama]

@WillAtSpyre was very helpful before. Maybe he can answer some of your questions.

 

[VolGee4]

Obviously Will may have more complete answers, but as to #2, I went to the Missouri game. At half time, there was a video with Heupel encouraging fans to join Spyre and help SA’s with NIL. They have stepped up their campaign.

 

[james_govols]

Obviously Will may have more complete answers, but as to #2, I went to the Missouri game. At half time, there was a video with Heupel encouraging fans to join Spyre and help SA’s with NIL. They have stepped up their campaign.

Good to hear.

Did you see any booths anywhere to make donating easier?

 

[VolGee4]

Good to hear.

Did you see any booths anywhere to make donating easier?

I did not, but I was in the upper deck where space is tight.

I agree they should advertise all angles, but word of mouth is important. If people see a friend or family member do it and see the benefits, then they are more inclined to donate. I have gotten my brother and a friend to do it.

 

[tnvolfan16]

personally, and i will wait for the rest of you to tell me how awful i am for saying this, i think spyre is doing a terrible job, when i thought there was opportunity for them to rock it. they had so much momentum since it is true they were one of the first groups to identify what the landscape was as far as NIL, but i just dont think they are doing anything to make this the best it can be for fans and athletes alike. Maybe i have missed it, and if i havent heard about it that is another problem, but there should be an online store where i should be able to get an autographed picture, jersey, helmet, hat, ball, etc, from basically the top athletes from any sport at Tennessee, and it shouldnt be $700 to get a hendon hooker jersey, make the prices reasonable but fair to both sides. Spyre should have partnered with local businesses in that at least once a month there should be opportunities to meet and get autographs from different players and spyre should have a huge display at each of these events. Some may have to charge, some should be free, depending on the player. at each UT football game, perhaps in volunteer village, they should have had a booth and have basketball and baseball players signing, then at various basketball and baseball games have football players. they should produce exclusive items like trading cards, bobbleheads, etc. that can be purchased by fans. they could make a very nice amount of money if they were willing to do a little work and honestly, get organized. yes, some of this should be exclusive to paying members, but they are missing a huge market if they are going to make everything exclusive to their members

 

[EBFVOL]

personally, and i will wait for the rest of you to tell me how awful i am for saying this, i think spyre is doing a terrible job, when i thought there was opportunity for them to rock it. they had so much momentum since it is true they were one of the first groups to identify what the landscape was as far as NIL, but i just dont think they are doing anything to make this the best it can be for fans and athletes alike. Maybe i have missed it, and if i havent heard about it that is another problem, but there should be an online store where i should be able to get an autographed picture, jersey, helmet, hat, ball, etc, from basically the top athletes from any sport at Tennessee, and it shouldnt be $700 to get a hendon hooker jersey, make the prices reasonable but fair to both sides. Spyre should have partnered with local businesses in that at least once a month there should be opportunities to meet and get autographs from different players and spyre should have a huge display at each of these events. Some may have to charge, some should be free, depending on the player. at each UT football game, perhaps in volunteer village, they should have had a booth and have basketball and baseball players signing, then at various basketball and baseball games have football players. they should produce exclusive items like trading cards, bobbleheads, etc. that can be purchased by fans. they could make a very nice amount of money if they were willing to do a little work and honestly, get organized. yes, some of this should be exclusive to paying members, but they are missing a huge market if they are going to make everything exclusive to their members

I am not throwing stones but here’s what’s being reported on Spyre.. On3's top 20 most ambitious NIL collectives

 

[Voltopia]

personally, and i will wait for the rest of you to tell me how awful i am for saying this, i think spyre is doing a terrible job, when i thought there was opportunity for them to rock it. they had so much momentum since it is true they were one of the first groups to identify what the landscape was as far as NIL, but i just dont think they are doing anything to make this the best it can be for fans and athletes alike. Maybe i have missed it, and if i havent heard about it that is another problem, but there should be an online store where i should be able to get an autographed picture, jersey, helmet, hat, ball, etc, from basically the top athletes from any sport at Tennessee, and it shouldnt be $700 to get a hendon hooker jersey, make the prices reasonable but fair to both sides. Spyre should have partnered with local businesses in that at least once a month there should be opportunities to meet and get autographs from different players and spyre should have a huge display at each of these events. Some may have to charge, some should be free, depending on the player. at each UT football game, perhaps in volunteer village, they should have had a booth and have basketball and baseball players signing, then at various basketball and baseball games have football players. they should produce exclusive items like trading cards, bobbleheads, etc. that can be purchased by fans. they could make a very nice amount of money if they were willing to do a little work and honestly, get organized. yes, some of this should be exclusive to paying members, but they are missing a huge market if they are going to make everything exclusive to their members

Without knowing Spyre's finances, allocations, inflow, and outflow, and also how they integrate alongside Tennessee's aims for recruiting, I don't really know how anyone can say they're doing a "terrible job." They might not be doing what some people would like them to do, but the numbers on the books (and on signing day) are more or less the only real litmus for their ROI.

 

[james_govols]

personally, and i will wait for the rest of you to tell me how awful i am for saying this, i think spyre is doing a terrible job, when i thought there was opportunity for them to rock it. they had so much momentum since it is true they were one of the first groups to identify what the landscape was as far as NIL, but i just dont think they are doing anything to make this the best it can be for fans and athletes alike. Maybe i have missed it, and if i havent heard about it that is another problem, but there should be an online store where i should be able to get an autographed picture, jersey, helmet, hat, ball, etc, from basically the top athletes from any sport at Tennessee, and it shouldnt be $700 to get a hendon hooker jersey, make the prices reasonable but fair to both sides. Spyre should have partnered with local businesses in that at least once a month there should be opportunities to meet and get autographs from different players and spyre should have a huge display at each of these events. Some may have to charge, some should be free, depending on the player. at each UT football game, perhaps in volunteer village, they should have had a booth and have basketball and baseball players signing, then at various basketball and baseball games have football players. they should produce exclusive items like trading cards, bobbleheads, etc. that can be purchased by fans. they could make a very nice amount of money if they were willing to do a little work and honestly, get organized. yes, some of this should be exclusive to paying members, but they are missing a huge market if they are going to make everything exclusive to their members

How did you come to the conclusion that they are doing terrible job when we currently have a top 10 class? That's not terrible.

Spyre does have an online store.

Spyre does have meet and greets with photos and autographs for members.

Their entire business model is based around subscriptions with big donors providing the bulk of the donations.

I'm sure they would like to increase the shop, but not sure of the feasibility of that.

I've been a member for awhile. I've received autographed pictures, shirts, etc...

I don't really care about that stuff though. I just enjoy helping UT sports. It's also why I donate to the school as well.

For as little as $5 a month, you can also become a member.

 

[tnvolfan16]

How did you come to the conclusion that they are doing terrible job when we currently have a top 10 class? That's not terrible.

Spyre does have an online store.

Spyre does have meet and greets with photos and autographs for members.

Their entire business model is based around subscriptions with big donors providing the bulk of the donations.

I'm sure they would like to increase the shop, but not sure of the feasibility of that.

I've been a member for awhile. I've received autographed pictures, shirts, etc...

I don't really care about that stuff though. I just enjoy helping UT sports. It's also why I donate to the school as well.

For as little as $5 a month, you can also become a member.

i am not speaking of their ability to do NIL deals, while i am not sure they rank as high as they did a year ago, AND THIS IS BECAUSE OTHER SCHOOLS HAVE ORGANIZED BETTER THIS LAST YEAR AND CAUGHT UP, NOT NECESSARILY THEM GETTING LAZY, my argument where they are missing the boat is in that quite frankly, you should not go to any public function where prospective donors and sports fans would be and not see a large presence of spyre sports signing people up. heck, if i were coordinating this, i would have had a staffed booth set up at west town mall between Thanksgiving and Christmas offering a "year long membership for $50 if you sign up today for your favorite vol fan as a Christmas gift. get a $10 savings off our $5 a month package". have some kind of certificate to give the person to give the recepient and even have a drawing for some prizes for people who sign up during this time period. around halloween, i went to nashville for one of the largest baseball card shows i have seen in a long time and thought this would be a great place for spyre to have a booth to recruit new donors, or just answer questions people might have over a three day show full of Vol Fans. i mean, these are just a couple ideas, maybe they do have a lot on their plate, and from what i still hear, there are still people in the Athletic Dept. who are continually telling big donors to make sure whatever they do with NIL doesnt take away from the building fundraising, so maybe the Athletic Dept and spyre are still not working fully hand in hand, but i am not sure if they need to hire someone specifically to handle stuff like that and give them a budget to work with so they can be effective

 

[MegaVol615]

personally, and i will wait for the rest of you to tell me how awful i am for saying this, i think spyre is doing a terrible job, when i thought there was opportunity for them to rock it. they had so much momentum since it is true they were one of the first groups to identify what the landscape was as far as NIL, but i just dont think they are doing anything to make this the best it can be for fans and athletes alike. Maybe i have missed it, and if i havent heard about it that is another problem, but there should be an online store where i should be able to get an autographed picture, jersey, helmet, hat, ball, etc, from basically the top athletes from any sport at Tennessee, and it shouldnt be $700 to get a hendon hooker jersey, make the prices reasonable but fair to both sides. Spyre should have partnered with local businesses in that at least once a month there should be opportunities to meet and get autographs from different players and spyre should have a huge display at each of these events. Some may have to charge, some should be free, depending on the player. at each UT football game, perhaps in volunteer village, they should have had a booth and have basketball and baseball players signing, then at various basketball and baseball games have football players. they should produce exclusive items like trading cards, bobbleheads, etc. that can be purchased by fans. they could make a very nice amount of money if they were willing to do a little work and honestly, get organized. yes, some of this should be exclusive to paying members, but they are missing a huge market if they are going to make everything exclusive to their members

Spyre is already doing several of the things you suggested. They operate an online store, host meet and greets, and have athletes from other sports in attendance at their football tailgates.
If you want to understand their vision and how they’re working toward it I’d suggest getting in touch with them.

 

[Volprofch05]

Obviously Will may have more complete answers, but as to #2, I went to the Missouri game. At half time, there was a video with Heupel encouraging fans to join Spyre and help SA’s with NIL. They have stepped up their campaign.

Yeah, there’s a similar video by Rick Barnes at hoops games now

 

[WillAtSpyre]

Not sure if you all still post here or not.

I've been a donating member since you all started.

I attended one of your Q&A sessions a while back, and was wanting some updates on a few topics please.

1. Advertising. At the time, you all mentioned that you would start advertising more. Is this still the plan, or did you all feel the money was best spent elsewhere?

2. Now that Danny White has endorsed you, has there been any talks about integrating Spyre and UT athletics on a closer basis (e.g. booths outside of TBA, Neyland, etc... On GameDay)?

3. If you're able to answer, has subscription levels continued to go up? I know the majority of money comes from big donors, but crowdfunding can be viable for fundraising as well.

Thank you.

Always happy to answer.

1. We have increased digital spend some, but honestly getting money to players is the first priority. It’s a balancing act.

2. we weren’t really able to do anything like this until Missouri. We are in discussions with Vol Network to further integrate moving forward.

3. Subscriptions are going up every month. We’re building, slowly but surely we are growing. Things are good!

 

[james_govols]

Always happy to answer.

1. We have increased digital spend some, but honestly getting money to players is the first priority. It’s a balancing act.

2. we weren’t really able to do anything like this until Missouri. We are in discussions with Vol Network to further integrate moving forward.

3. Subscriptions are going up every month. We’re building, slowly but surely we are growing. Things are good!

Thanks for the reply!

Makes sense to give majority of money to athletes. I'm sure you all have pitched ideas to the AD about booths, etc...

I'm glad things are still trending upward.

Thanks for everything you all do!

 

[WillAtSpyre]

Thanks for the reply!

Makes sense to give majority of money to athletes. I'm sure you all have pitched ideas to the AD about booths, etc...

I'm glad things are still trending upward.

Thanks for everything you all do!

We definitely have pitched ideas to integrate into gamedays. We were really only allowed to do so the week of the Missouri game with the new guidelines, so we got something put together there. Now we’re working on getting the right assets in place, again being conscious that money spent is money that doesn’t go to athletes, which is always first priority.

 

[volstudent26]

I think we need to get some stuff figured out about what spyre is and isn’t allowed to do. Some people make it sound like they can offer recruits and people in the portal an amount of $ to sign and others make it seem like it’s just roster retention and keeping players that are already here.

Would also be really interested in a more current total raise amount like how much $ they’ve raised. And how much they expect to raise and how much $ they have available and a breakdown by sport. Doubt we will get all of this but it’s just very interesting.

One moment someone makes NIL out to be the end all be all and says we don’t have enough $

And the next moment someone says it’s a minor factor and only applies to roster retention and that we are a top NIL school.

 

[jtipto10]

If I want to offer money to go towards a specific recruit, am I allowed to do so?

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

While we're on the subject, over the past 2 years or so I have donated over $500 to the Vol Club (25 a month). I cancelled and signed up again to get the Jalin Hyatt autographed pic after Bama, but other than that all I've gotten is a sticker, a cuzee, and 2 of the exact same T-shirts. At the very least y'all could change up the Tshirts every year.