Stanford Softball 2025 - Printable Version
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NaijirinTexas - Mudhead - 05-23-2025
(05-23-2025, 08:05 AM)Jskass Wrote: opened NCAA website and painful to see NiJaree Canady pictured in TT uniform. so sad.
Watched throw a 2 hit shutout against FSU . Oh, yes, she hit a home run as well. Very painful to watch her in a TT uniform and listen to announcers talk about her path from Palo Alto to Lubbock. Not all about the money but that was where we lost.
in my humble opinion , losing her is the largest failure of.stanford Athletics and NIL in our history. We let two national championships walk out the door . A talent beyond compare and we let it walk away. I recall ,talking to NIL folks at the time. They were proud that they had offered “well over the market” to keep her. Of course that turned out to be less than half of what the market really was.
Just as bad as losing a fine person and a great talent, we sent the word out that Stanford will stick to its own rigid and in my judgement myopic viewpoint even it it means giving away national championships. It told the world .stanford was a good place to poach talent because it won’t meet the market.
We should have sent the message that we will pay whatever it takes to keep our best . We failed.
And no, I couldn’t have made up the difference by myself. But I could have and would have made up a significant chunk of it. (In all candor, that would have been in lieu of other contributions to the University.) I’m happy, though, for Canady . She is a class act in a program that builds her and coaches her well at a School that is willing to pay her what she is worth.
I hope TT wins the natty.
RE: NaijirinTexas - GK3 - 05-23-2025
(05-23-2025, 03:38 PM)Mudhead Wrote:If Stanford wants to compete at the highest level, it has to be willing to pay what it costs to that in today's world. But will it do that? I don't think so. Can it? I would assume if wanted to it could.(05-23-2025, 08:05 AM)Jskass Wrote: opened NCAA website and painful to see NiJaree Canady pictured in TT uniform. so sad.
Watched throw a 2 hit shutout against FSU . Oh, yes, she hit a home run as well. Very painful to watch her in a TT uniform and listen to announcers talk about her path from Palo Alto to Lubbock. Not all about the money but that was where we lost.
in my humble opinion , losing her is the largest failure of.stanford Athletics and NIL in our history. We let two national championships walk out the door . A talent beyond compare and we let it walk away. I recall ,talking to NIL folks at the time. They were proud that they had offered “well over the market” to keep her. Of course that turned out to be less than half of what the market really was.
Just as bad as losing a fine person and a great talent, we sent the word out that Stanford will stick to its own rigid and in my judgement myopic viewpoint even it it means giving away national championships. It told the world .stanford was a good place to poach talent because it won’t meet the market.
We should have sent the message that we will pay whatever it takes to keep our best . We failed.
And no, I couldn’t have made up the difference by myself. But I could have and would have made up a significant chunk of it. (In all candor, that would have been in lieu of other contributions to the University.) I’m happy, though, for Canady . She is a class act in a program that builds her and coaches her well at a School that is willing to pay her what she is worth.
I hope TT wins the natty.
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - BobK - 05-23-2025
Lifetime Cardinal is a non Profit corporation. They are raising the money for NIL payments. Until we see the final House ruling it’s not Stanford paying athletes
There are people here contributing some really incredible peope. I only know about WBB and a bit about Softball.
Yes Stanford was slow to embrace NIL. However some fans / alums were not slow
RE: NaijirinTexas - BostonCard - 05-23-2025
(05-23-2025, 03:38 PM)Mudhead Wrote:(05-23-2025, 08:05 AM)Jskass Wrote: opened NCAA website and painful to see NiJaree Canady pictured in TT uniform. so sad.
Watched throw a 2 hit shutout against FSU . Oh, yes, she hit a home run as well. Very painful to watch her in a TT uniform and listen to announcers talk about her path from Palo Alto to Lubbock. Not all about the money but that was where we lost.
in my humble opinion , losing her is the largest failure of.stanford Athletics and NIL in our history. We let two national championships walk out the door . A talent beyond compare and we let it walk away. I recall ,talking to NIL folks at the time. They were proud that they had offered “well over the market” to keep her. Of course that turned out to be less than half of what the market really was.
Just as bad as losing a fine person and a great talent, we sent the word out that Stanford will stick to its own rigid and in my judgement myopic viewpoint even it it means giving away national championships. It told the world .stanford was a good place to poach talent because it won’t meet the market.
We should have sent the message that we will pay whatever it takes to keep our best . We failed.
And no, I couldn’t have made up the difference by myself. But I could have and would have made up a significant chunk of it. (In all candor, that would have been in lieu of other contributions to the University.) I’m happy, though, for Canady . She is a class act in a program that builds her and coaches her well at a School that is willing to pay her what she is worth.
I hope TT wins the natty.
Would you have paid the million dollars to keep her out of your own pocket? To all the people who are whining about how we are falling behind the times and letting our best athletes be poached by other teams and how the royal "we" ought to pony up to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't happen (again), BobK has posted the link to Lifetime Cardinal several times. A donation of about a million would keep the next Cannady or Iriafen from leaving. A donation of about $40 million would make Stanford competitive with the top NIL teams (at least for a year). A donation of about $1B would endow the NIL fund in perpetuity.
That being said, NSF funding so far this year is about 50% of what it has been (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/05/22/upshot/nsf-grants-trump-cuts.html), so I think going forward, Stanford will have bigger fish to fry than a softball player.
BC
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - M T - 05-24-2025
(05-23-2025, 07:19 PM)BobK Wrote: Lifetime Cardinal is a non Profit corporation. They are raising the money for NIL payments.Putting “non-profit” and “payment’” together like that seems so wrong to me.
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - BobK - 05-24-2025
Oregon beat Liberty last night 3-2
Coldplay is long sold out
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - Vandelay - 05-30-2025
Whatever Texas Tech is paying NiJaree Canady, they got a bargain. I don't understand why some of these other SEC schools like Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, etc, wouldn't go all-in with a 7 figure NIL deal for her.
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - paloalto - 05-30-2025
Yep, pitched a shutout in the team's first world series game. TT won 1-0. They wouldn't have won without her pitching.
https://x.com/TexasTechSB/status/1928466764511252825
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - ca245 - 05-30-2025
(05-30-2025, 11:03 AM)Vandelay Wrote: Whatever Texas Tech is paying NiJaree Canady, they got a bargain. I don't understand why some of these other SEC schools like Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, etc, wouldn't go all-in with a 7 figure NIL deal for her.Some of those other teams already have an "ace", even if not a dominant as Canady. If they pay her $1MM per year, they'd have to pay their existing ace something that comes close to what Canady makes or else risk discontent in the ranks. That might be a budget buster.
TT was starting from scratch.
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - BostonCard - 05-30-2025
It depends. What is the “value” of a CWS appearance and a chance to a national title in softball. I doubt that the softball team is making more than $1 MM in increased revenue compared to the alternative, so strictly speaking, it was probably a negative financial return compared to the alternative where the benefactor just gives the AD the $1 million.
BC
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - GK3 - 05-30-2025
(05-30-2025, 05:00 PM)BostonCard Wrote: It depends. What is the “value” of a CWS appearance and a chance to a national title in softball. I doubt that the softball team is making more than $1 MM in increased revenue compared to the alternative, so strictly speaking, it was probably a negative financial return compared to the alternative where the benefactor just gives the AD the $1 million.I saw a note recently that a number of pitchers were entering the portal, but non seemed to be the level we would be looking for. Maybe I am overlooking some younger players who didn't get the mound time they wanted.
BC
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - M T - 05-30-2025
(05-30-2025, 05:00 PM)BostonCard Wrote: It depends. What is the “value” of a CWS appearance and a chance to a national title in softball. I doubt that the softball team is making more than $1 MM in increased revenue compared to the alternative, so strictly speaking, it was probably a negative financial return compared to the alternative where the benefactor just gives the AD the $1 million.
BC
Value to whom? (Am I wrong when I believe the $1M did not come from Texas Tech University or any department of that organization?)
The ego-based donor that pays real dollars for play-NIL that wants to see a team do well?
A company selling gloves & softballs that pays for actual NIL.
The person(s) or company whose name is on the school's field or other associated equipment?
The person who would have otherwise left the money to care for their pet?
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - 82lsju - 05-30-2025
(05-30-2025, 05:35 PM)M T Wrote:(05-30-2025, 05:00 PM)BostonCard Wrote: It depends. What is the “value” of a CWS appearance and a chance to a national title in softball. I doubt that the softball team is making more than $1 MM in increased revenue compared to the alternative, so strictly speaking, it was probably a negative financial return compared to the alternative where the benefactor just gives the AD the $1 million.
BC
Value to whom? (Am I wrong when I believe the $1M did not come from Texas Tech University or any department of that organization?)
The ego-based donor that pays real dollars for play-NIL that wants to see a team do well?
A company selling gloves & softballs that pays for actual NIL.
The person(s) or company whose name is on the school's field or other associated equipment?
The person who would have otherwise left the money to care for their pet?
Quote:The Matador Club, Texas Tech's NIL collective, made a historic play for Canady, offering a one-year, $1,050,024 contract (a million for Canady, $50k for living expenses, $24 for her jersey number).
...
Glasco, who didn't have much in the way of NIL in Lafayette, had suddenly walked into what he believed was the best softball situation in America. Two of the Matador Club's biggest boosters -- Tracy Sellers, a former Tech softball player, and her husband, John, an oil and gas executive and former Red Raiders football player under Mike Leach -- had been supporting softball for years. They donated $11 million to the athletic department in 2022, with $1 million designated for softball stadium upgrades.
...
Looking back at the Sellers' donation for the softball facilities, the same size investment in Canady had a greater transformative impact.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/softball/story/_/id/45166461/2025-wcws-college-softball-texas-tech-stanford-nijaree-canady-pitcher
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - Mudhead - 05-30-2025
82lsju dateline='[url=tel:1748652139' Wrote: 1748652139[/url]']
M T dateline='[url=tel:1748651756' Wrote: 1748651756[/url]']
BostonCard dateline='[url=tel:1748649637' Wrote: 1748649637[/url]']
It depends. What is the “value” of a CWS appearance and a chance to a national title in softball. I doubt that the softball team is making more than $1 MM in increased revenue compared to the alternative, so strictly speaking, it was probably a negative financial return compared to the alternative where the benefactor just gives the AD the $1 million.
BC
Value to whom? (Am I wrong when I believe the $1M did not come from Texas Tech University or any department of that organization?)
The ego-based donor that pays real dollars for play-NIL that wants to see a team do well?
A company selling gloves & softballs that pays for actual NIL.
The person(s) or company whose name is on the school's field or other associated equipment?
The person who would have otherwise left the money to care for their pet?
Quote:The Matador Club, Texas Tech's NIL collective, made a historic play for Canady, offering a one-year, $1,050,024 contract (a million for Canady, $50k for living expenses, $24 for her jersey number).
...
Glasco, who didn't have much in the way of NIL in Lafayette, had suddenly walked into what he believed was the best softball situation in America. Two of the Matador Club's biggest boosters -- Tracy Sellers, a former Tech softball player, and her husband, John, an oil and gas executive and former Red Raiders football player under Mike Leach -- had been supporting softball for years. They donated $11 million to the athletic department in 2022, with $1 million designated for softball stadium upgrades.
...
Looking back at the Sellers' donation for the softball facilities, the same size investment in Canady had a greater transformative impact.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/softball/story/_/id/45166461/2025-wcws-college-softball-texas-tech-stanford-nijaree-canady-pitcher
At last. I think we are beginning to get it. The era of the “40year decision” is over. It’s not about whether a million dollars is a good advertising investment. It’s not about the revenue an NIL payment brings to a school. It’s not even about who has the most money ; I doubt there is any set of alumns more wealthy than Stanford’s set. It’s about winning. Whether we like it or. It, it appears those folks down in Lubbock want to win more than we do .
That doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t make it wrong . And I am not at all sure it is stable . But right now if you want a winning college athletic program , the sina qua non ( forgive the abuse of Latin) is will to win at whatever price.
Whatever decisions “we” make has to recognize that reality.
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - BostonCard - 05-30-2025
(05-30-2025, 05:35 PM)M T Wrote:(05-30-2025, 05:00 PM)BostonCard Wrote: It depends. What is the “value” of a CWS appearance and a chance to a national title in softball. I doubt that the softball team is making more than $1 MM in increased revenue compared to the alternative, so strictly speaking, it was probably a negative financial return compared to the alternative where the benefactor just gives the AD the $1 million.
BC
Value to whom? (Am I wrong when I believe the $1M did not come from Texas Tech University or any department of that organization?)
The ego-based donor that pays real dollars for play-NIL that wants to see a team do well?
A company selling gloves & softballs that pays for actual NIL.
The person(s) or company whose name is on the school's field or other associated equipment?
The person who would have otherwise left the money to care for their pet?
I was just evaluating this in a strictly dollar and cents fashion (as in, TT softball probably did not get $1 million more in revenue than the cost of the player), and noted that I was comparing it to the counterfactual where the “benefactor just gives the AD the $1 million”. Obviously, the decision to pay Canady the NIL money wasn’t done to improve the Texas Tech’s AD financial picture, it was done to secure a top tier softball team. So, by virtue of the fact that he paid it, it was worth it to the donor, and it is not up to me to pass judgment.
However, I object to the “Whatever Texas Tech is paying NiJaree Canady, they got a bargain.” I note, as I always do, that any of us, if we had the money and wanted to, could have donated enough to lifetime cardinal to ensure that Canady stayed at Stanford; none of us did. I sure as hell wouldn’t take out a second mortgage on my house to donate a million to keep Canady, so to me, $1 million to add a national title in softball is definitely not “a bargain”. For the rest of you in this thread, I wonder how much you would have put up in an auction to keep Canady. If it is substantially above $1 million, then yes, you can say that TT got a bargain. Otherwise, you really can’t; all you can do is marvel that there are people out there that the ego of being associated with a top tier softball program is worth $1 million. I never took more than intro Economics, but I believe the term for this is “revealed preference”.
BC
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - 82lsju - 05-30-2025
(05-30-2025, 06:24 PM)Mudhead Wrote:82lsju dateline='[url=tel:1748652139' Wrote: 1748652139[/url]']
M T dateline='[url=tel:1748651756' Wrote: 1748651756[/url]']
BostonCard dateline='[url=tel:1748649637' Wrote: 1748649637[/url]']
It depends. What is the “value” of a CWS appearance and a chance to a national title in softball. I doubt that the softball team is making more than $1 MM in increased revenue compared to the alternative, so strictly speaking, it was probably a negative financial return compared to the alternative where the benefactor just gives the AD the $1 million.
BC
Value to whom? (Am I wrong when I believe the $1M did not come from Texas Tech University or any department of that organization?)
The ego-based donor that pays real dollars for play-NIL that wants to see a team do well?
A company selling gloves & softballs that pays for actual NIL.
The person(s) or company whose name is on the school's field or other associated equipment?
The person who would have otherwise left the money to care for their pet?
Quote:The Matador Club, Texas Tech's NIL collective, made a historic play for Canady, offering a one-year, $1,050,024 contract (a million for Canady, $50k for living expenses, $24 for her jersey number).
...
Glasco, who didn't have much in the way of NIL in Lafayette, had suddenly walked into what he believed was the best softball situation in America. Two of the Matador Club's biggest boosters -- Tracy Sellers, a former Tech softball player, and her husband, John, an oil and gas executive and former Red Raiders football player under Mike Leach -- had been supporting softball for years. They donated $11 million to the athletic department in 2022, with $1 million designated for softball stadium upgrades.
...
Looking back at the Sellers' donation for the softball facilities, the same size investment in Canady had a greater transformative impact.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/softball/story/_/id/45166461/2025-wcws-college-softball-texas-tech-stanford-nijaree-canady-pitcher
At last. I think we are beginning to get it. The era of the “40year decision” is over. It’s not about whether a million dollars is a good advertising investment. It’s not about the revenue an NIL payment brings to a school. It’s not even about who has the most money ; I doubt there is any set of alumns more wealthy than Stanford’s set. It’s about winning. Whether we like it or. It, it appears those folks down in Lubbock want to win more than we do .
That doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t make it wrong . And I am not at all sure it is stable . But right now if you want a winning college athletic program , the sina qua non ( forgive the abuse of Latin) is will to win at whatever price.
Whatever decisions “we” make has to recognize that reality.
just guessing, but I would guess that Harvard alums are about as wealthy as Stanford alums, of course they have a different paradigm about athletics.
but spending money has always been about what the spender wants. a good softball team, a good symphony, a good car museum, or whatever fascinates the provider of the funds.....
As to the folks in Lubbock, let's see if their winning goes beyond softball, and even in softball if it goes beyond when Canady graduates.
RE: Stanford Softball 2025 - paloalto - 05-30-2025
TT plays UCLA tomorrow (Saturday) at 4:00pm PT on ESPN. I expect Canady will either be the starting pitcher or will come into the game as soon as TT's pitcher gets in trouble.
Last season TT was 8-16 in conference. This is the first time they made it to the world series in program history. Whether or not it was a bargain has to be looked at in the context of the reasons the couple donated the money.
ca245 - ca245 - 05-31-2025
Canary’s NIL contract is for one year. She is only a junior. What happens after this year? Will her sponsors “renew” for $1M? Will they sign her to a lower contract? Will she play “for free”? Will she enter the portal again?
RE: ca245 - Goose - 05-31-2025
(05-31-2025, 08:47 AM)ca245 Wrote: Canary’s NIL contract is for one year. She is only a junior. What happens after this year? Will her sponsors “renew” for $1M? Will they sign her to a lower contract? Will she play “for free”? Will she enter the portal again?I would add to this question list "What if TT doesn't win the national championship?". In softball having a single great pitcher can be enough to do it, but it is far from a certainty. If they don't win it all, do they become even more willing to pay even larger sums to do so? Does Canady go into the portal because she feels she cant win at TT? OTOH if TT does win the championship does their calculus change and they become unwilling to spend as much? Does Canady increase her salary demands based on demonstrated performance?
Mudhead - Mudhead - 05-31-2025
“
(05-31-2025, 08:47 AM)ca245 Wrote: Canary’s NIL contract is for one year. She is only a junior. What happens after this year? Will her sponsors “renew” for $1M? Will they sign her to a lower contract? Will she play “for free”? Will she enter the portal again?
I believe TT renewed for another million. It seems to be worth it to the people who are putting up the money. I think it’s fair to say that going from nothing to the College .World Series is worth a great deal to someone who played softball for TT and could only dream of this level of success. It also fair to say that the fact that Naejeri is by all accounts a very solid, classy young woman makes it easier to shell out a million a year.