Ep 262 - Gopher Mobile Co-Founder Tom Livolsi

Tom Livolsi of Gopher Mobile joins the pod to talk how Gopher is using NIL. How it benefits the business, the players and much more.

Pack of Wolves NIL is live.  Learn how to join https://www.packofwolvesnil.com/

Poorly Done transcription of our conversation with Tom Livolsi

00:19.83
redwhitepodcast
Alright folks, we are back with another addition that read my podcast time you host Evan here with will special guest and I should have asked this before we start recording Tom but how do you pronounce your last name Tom Lavolsi there we go.

00:30.70
tom livolsi
You nailed it. Let me tell you some That's that's a good good first try I've heard some some pretty interesting pronunciations of that nates. It's exactly how it' spelled. But yeah, you'd be shocked Lavo See yeah.

00:40.31
redwhitepodcast
Nice well Tom's the founder of gopher mobile and he's been very active in the NC state community sporting c say athletes before we get into the and nil and all stuff what exactly is go for mobile and how are the athletes helping.

00:57.55
tom livolsi
Yeah, so gopher gopher we started about three years ago it's ah it's an app dual platform app. So think of like a uber doordash any of those types apps. They both have the users and then the workers big differentiators between gopher and all those is.

00:58.30
redwhitepodcast
Your brand.

01:15.31
tom livolsi
Ah, predominantly 1 on the gopher request app. You know a requester can request literally anything yesterday when we had we had a pretty cool event with the n ni group and and some of the players getting them together and while we were there someone accidentally their dog got into ah a rabbit hole or something and. Injured a bunny so someone put a gope for request to pick up this bunny and take it to the vet. So I say that you know people use it for ridesharing food alcohol tobacco delivery junk removal things like that you get to set the price as the request or so you know whatever you think it's worth for someone to come do it for you. It gets broadcast out to a network of of gophers once you hit submit that they can either ignore it or they can counter offer or whatever your offer is to to get it done and you know we're we're setting the fair market value of of every type of transaction throughout the day so that's the Cliffnotes version. But. How the athletes you know it's been really cool. These guys have a pretty good social media presence and very very prominent names around Riley in particular which is where we chose to to launch the go for mobile app and you know working with them and seeing how their interactions are from social media. Perspective whenever they post something about gopher. We've made some really cool videos with them. Yeah, it's able to help us get some some pretty cool analytics and some data behind who's using what what type of demographic. These guys are reaching from a a fiscal standpoint and and from a marketing standpoint. But also you know the athletes themselves are are using the app and and they're actually making some pretty pretty quick and easy money. That's another big differentiator once the the job is complete or whatever it was that you requested and both the gopher and the the requester market is complete money is instantly deposited into that gopher's account. So. It's a good way for ah for for people to make quick and easy money. So man I don't know this buny got to be out there. It's and the messed up thing. This is the second time the same guy I actually know the guy who.

03:12.62
redwhitepodcast
What's the weirdest thing you've seen on a gopher request.

03:24.36
tom livolsi
Who who did it and and this is the second time that that's happened. Um, there's there's been ah, a lot I mean gas like people running out of the road running out of gas on the road instead of you know, waiting for alea they'll they'll use gopher to you know, go pick up a gas can fill it up. Bring it here. There's there's been some pretty crazy stuff though. Yeah man.

03:44.24
redwhitepodcast
That's awesome. Will.

03:45.97
Will
Well I'll ah I'll bridge us into the and Nil chat. So I guess for you know we keep asking everyone. So if for people who have been living under Rock What is an n Ni L collective What is pack of wolves. Let's start there.

03:59.39
tom livolsi
Yeah, so obviously with the and ncwa and there's there's a whole another 5 podcasts. We could do about that. But you know the nt and nc doublea basically at midnight one night said all right? Yeah cool this is legal after years of of trial with Eddo Bannon stuff which meant that athletes are now allowed to get compensated on their name image and likeness and you know we we started doing it on the gopher front which kind of led to you know some other folks getting involved. We've been connecting some of the players with some other business owners in the market to try to help them. You know, get some some and nil deals. The the collective the pack of woolves which I think the website's gonna be live Monday fingers crossed pack of wolves is a group of ah guys and girls that very passionate about in c state you know that we want to stay relevant and and keep going with what the other schools are doing. You know whether you like the idea of. And Ill or not It's not going anywhere so you know you can either do something about it or or you know be left in in the in the dust and so ah, the main thing with the pack of wools we wanted to. We didn't want to be First. We wanted to just you know be be right? Yeah, we want to make sure that we put this thing together the right way. And it's designed to basically allow sponsors and and fans of of all you know walks of life all over the place to be able to contribute to the success of of our programs. Not just you know the the main revenue sports but all athletes in insy state and ah. It's so far I mean this is the wild wild west I mean this this stuff is so new and you're hearing about some horror stories already. But we we feel very good that when this is done and launched this is gonna be a world class collective here at in East state.

05:45.20
Will
That's great. Um, what is ah so what? what is your role going to be.

05:47.25
tom livolsi
I don't know I'll be honest I'm not sure. Um I don't know I think I'm just the guy to bring bagels to the meetings or something now. Um you know I think with the the experience that I've had in a very short period of time kind of really getting to know a lot of the athletes on ah on a personal level and understanding. What's important to them. Making sure that you know we as as ah, as ah, a program or as a collective we are putting things together that makes sense for them. You know, not just dollars you know money is 1 thing but there's a lot of other things that these players really care about and and making sure that we put all that stuff together the right way I think. With all that experience I'm just kind of of working with the players as an advocate working with the collective to obviously raise raise awareness and raise funds for it. You know there's a lot of other business owners like myself that that are very passionate about Nc State and ah our job just to kind of evangelize and get more people on the platform.

06:46.57
Will
Yeah, it's always felt like there's been kind of an untapped market with um insy state fans outside of the the typical donate donor structure. Um, so I mean have you had a lot of folks kind of reaching out to you to kind of get the. You know, get an understanding and figure out how they can help or are you in the collective going to start reaching out to people instead you know, like kind of what's what's the method.

07:09.89
tom livolsi
But yeah combination of the 2 you know I think there's obviously the wolfpack club which you know Ben Brusard has come on board and done a phenomenal job of reaching out to some people that historically maybe weren't ever touched or or communicated with. So you know on that front. What we don't want to do is Rob Peter to pay Paul and and take money from the you know the typical well of all the donors that are contributing to whether that or wolf pack sports properties. So um. With that you know they've been working hand in hand with us I mean their their communication between all the different entities has been just awesome. You know which has been a huge issue at a lot of other schools. There's been a lot of of combativeness even you know and and again the way that we've built this collective has been with. With the help and communication of all those other places that people spend their dollars. So with that. You know we definitely had some people reach out to us already that really want to have a direct impact you know because you're able to contribute your dollars to to whatever you want you know if you want to ah put money towards a specific sport or player. Even you know you're able to do that through this collective. So. There's a combination I think of people that have have traditionally given to the normal mechanisms the wolf act club and whatnot that want to give a little bit more to this. And then there's there's definitely this untapped market that we're seeing a lot of you know Inc State we've got a big fan base and we've got there's there's significant dollars. That's the 1 thing that I keep hearing for some reason is that there's folks out there that don't seem to think that we'll be able to compete now. Don't get me wrong. We're not gonna be able to compete with some but I think the. Overall idea that nsy state doesn't have a ah pretty significant amount of money in the fan base is ah is is false.

09:03.91
redwhitepodcast
Yeah I wanted to put that we we had that conversation all the time right? It's from um, a money perspective people. Ah just assume that nc state is broke because we haven't spent money or I don't I don't know what it is or where that perception comes from. But we have a big alumni base. We have a very affluent alumni base who's been successful I mean I'm just not sure where that whole perception that n state doesn't have any money comes from I mean we're not going to have 88000000 like Texas a and m and their collective but like I don't think we're poor.

09:31.40
tom livolsi
I don't know. Yeah I think there's some yeah, we're definitely not and I think you know one of the things too. Yeah I'm sure you guys saw scott wood. We brought him executive director and you know there's there's a lot of intent behind that you know Scott. Is obviously a household name here and and he's just ah, an amazing human being but 1 of the things that we've noticed is the interaction with former athletes. You know the guys that we have ah a pretty substantial list of names and in professional leagues and and. You know, not a ton of involvement at least publicly with the university after they leave and so one of the other revenue sources for lack of better term is definitely gonna be some of those former athletes you know because everyone that we've talked to on that front that man they were like man I wish there was something like this when I was there I'd love to be a part of it. And just as important to me anyway. I think the most important thing right now is taking care of our existing locker rooms our existing teams because when these folks move on whether it be to you know the Nfl or Nba or even just regular professional life. You know the fact that they're seeing a group of people come together. And making you know financial sacrifices. This is this collective is ah is not ah a profit I mean every dollar we raise we we understand is if we're never going to see a return on this It's just going directly to the athletes. But when they see a group of people really working hard to to try to help them. You know as they move along in their life and they they network. You know they're going to be people that want to contribute to so again, this is kind of the genesis of of ah of ah, a collective and ah a movement I guess for lack of better terms that we just want to get off on the right foot.

11:15.20
Will
Yeah I think you made a really good point there because there were headlines I think it was earlier this year maybe it was late last where you know Dwayne Washington gave I think about a million dollar donation um and yeah, kind of your point we don't really publicly see that a lot.

11:24.51
tom livolsi
Um, Boom is.

11:31.45
Will
With our former athletes and it's felt like there's been kind of a disconnect there. Um, you know I know a lot of people are going to have questions of do I continue doingating to the wolf packck club to the n ni how do I handle that and I guess I don't know if it was when you werere talking with Scott earlier or maybe it was Josh but. I think the way I kind of look at it is the wolfpack club is kind of going to help build the structure around the athletics scholarships large building investments things like that and then I feel like in ill is going to develop the athlete itself and give them the opportunity to grow is that how you guys are kind of. Navigating that challenge between you know wolfpack club and Ill Etc

12:10.31
tom livolsi
Yeah I mean it's ah again, Ben Ben has been along every step of the way with us. He's been nothing but helpful nothing but supportive. You know the wolf pack club the more the more successful. The collective is the more successful the wolf pack club will be I mean there's there's tons of examples of schools that. You know they have a couple good good seasons and overall I mean right now the state of athletics and Iny State is fantastic. You know there's a couple of exceptions. But um, but but we you know, but again you know this this is to help all student athletes and then help all the programs get there but there the.

12:37.59
Will
And we don't talk about those.

12:48.23
tom livolsi
The wolf pack club with the facilities and the scholarships are going to continue doing what they're doing and yeah I would agree with with that sentiment I think like with as an example, the collective that we put Together. We have what's called the Brand Squad. You know that's another thing we don't really. We understand that these athletes don't have a ton of free time to go out and and create their own brand and do this stuff on their own so you know part of the part of the one of the benefits of the collective is we'll have ah a team of people to work with all these athletes to help them do that and and not expect them to just kind of. Handle it all in their own.

13:23.52
Will
Yeah that's ah, that's actually a perfect segway because we were gonna ask like you know what is the collective doing to help the athletes. You know making brand connections. You know? Tim we talked to Tim Mckay earlier and he's talking about. You know it's more than just you know, kind of dollars in the. In the student athletes pocket. It's it's really about making connections that can help them with work after school. You know a lot of people keep saying brand but maybe for some folks it would be more like a you know, just networking is one of the key touch points that it can give them.

13:57.41
tom livolsi
Yeah I would agree with that 100% and I'm glad you said that Brand is ah a word that can can be kind of misconstrued a little bit but with the collective. Obviously there, there's a fiscal part to it where they get compensated. But yeah, the the real benefits to me anyway. Just that connecting connecting these these athletes with whether it be business owners or other folks that can help mentor them lift them Up. You know we build a profile for each athlete to understand you know where they're from what are their likes where their dislikes. What are their? What do they like to do. Outside of of sports and kind of surround them with some folks that are like-minded that might be able to help them one day afterwards but inside the collective you know there's other things like taxes and and all these other different things that these athletes historically probably have never had to deal with that. Are all gonna be handled for him as Well. The idea is is to just take as as as much off of their plate with these things that have been thrown on them as we as humanly possible.

15:05.17
Will
Yeah that's um, yeah, I'm trying to think of how to phrase this without like getting it to a firebrand topic but it's um I guess the way we had it phrase in our notes is do do you think this is leading towards the end of the quote unquote student athlete and you know we're. You know how do you How do you kind of see this going right? There's a lot of nc doublea chatter the last day or 2 about cracking down on on n I and you know it seems like it's kind of restrictive um versus versus kind of the progressive foot forward that they made with i. So do you kind of see that changing for student athletes like will they be employees or.

15:30.73
tom livolsi
Yeah, yeah.

15:43.10
tom livolsi
Ah, that that's a really good question you know and again it's the it's the wild West and I think the intent of and Nil is good and just in a very short period of time we've seen it get bastardized and and you know what just happened over with Usc I Mean that's that's tampering you know I mean that.

15:43.88
Will
How do you see that.

15:58.68
Will
And.

16:03.90
tom livolsi
That's what scares a lot of folks I think worst case scenario what could happen with this and again I'm I'm not saying that I'm ah a huge fan of of how it's going, but you know it's something that you you just have to do um the worst case scenario I could see is this turning into. And environment where you have coaching staffs in all different sports that instead of you know, historically going out and recruiting players. They're basically handed players almost like the the professional model you know they're handed a team that they need to work with and coach. You know the recruiting and things like that. Unless something is done about it is going to be handled by a completely different organization. You know, almost like ah a general manager type thing with a budget you know and it's it's it's kind of sad to see because college college athletics I think have been the most pure. Form of sport for a while even though you know there's always been some type of of of dirtiness behind the scenes to it now I mean now that it's out in the light. You know there's a there's a real opportunity for it to go sideways and and I think. i' glad believe it or not to see that there is going to be some type of of oversight and and cracking down on it because we are doing things the right way you know and and I mean that from the bottom my heart you know Buhorgan is ah a great representative of this university he's done a great job here and 1 thing when we first. Decided we're going to do this. It was 100 % paramount that we do it the right way you know and and we don't ever want to jeopardize a player's eligibility or or even have some type of binding language in their contracts. You're seeing that all the time now you know some of these players are offered massive amounts of money. A the collectives don't even have yet and then b that in the fine print. You know some of these athletes are signing up to be. You know, restricted even after their their collegiate career. So yeah, we just want to make sure that whatever we do. We do it the right way and I think if if other collectives follow suit with that. Um, then it could. It could be a good thing. It could be a good thing but there definitely needs to be some oversight.

18:13.86
Will
Do I mean do you think it's a situation where we're just kind of in like you said it's wild wild west it's first few years of this Do you think it will normalize and calm down in some capacity in a few years you know like let's say someone gets paid $8000000 wherever the number is for that quarterback at Tennessee right. If he's not producing in a couple years I have to assume a lot of these deals will start shrinking. You know is that.

18:35.71
tom livolsi
Yeah yep I think so I think you'll see that and I think on top of that I think I'm I'm personally keeping a very close eye on what happens with you know the Pit Usc thing because that was as clear in my opinion of tampering as it gets and. If. They don't do anything they being the ntwa in this oversight if they don't do something about that then who knows I mean it could get it could get bad but I do think it'll eventually normalize I think to your point you know performance. Injuries all these different things that can come into into play which is again why it's so important to have the right people in the collective with with you know, the athlete's best intentions or you know the athletes best as as Paramount. Um. Things things will fall into place but you know some of these contracts and then the literature and the language inside this these contracts I think will start to change a little bit based off of that you know performance injuries. All those things we'll see.

19:42.40
Will
Yeah I think one of the um you know, kind of dovetails into it is um, you know what's the what's the collective's goals like do you have any targets for fundraising you know number of sponsorships you're trying to get for athletes or you know number of student Athletes. You're trying to get. Ah, to join the collective. You know like what? what's kind of the the mechanisms of of the collective and what are your goals.

20:07.20
tom livolsi
Yep, so we did a group of of I guess founders for lack a better term to do a little seed and capital round next will be the the launch of the website where fans can contribute to a monthly subscription type thing because it's got to be sustainable. You know it can't be something that we just keep going back to the well every year for but the goal once we get launched what the goal will be to sign as many student athletes as we possibly can and and you know help help anybody that we're able to help obviously the more engagement that we have from these athletes. Ah, the more engagement we're going to have from the subscribers. So you know the the goal. Our initial raise is on the upper end of of what most collectives that we've talked to and and met with most collectives try to raise an initial round of 1 to you know, 2 two and a half million dollars for that that capital round. Which were already you know well on our way there and then after that you know building that sustainability with the subscription model.

21:10.33
redwhitepodcast
1 of the things that you you kind of touched on here I don't want to dig into a little bit at nnil allowing athletes to make money you know, typically promoting a business or brand signing autographs whatever I got a scenario here that we've asked. Pretty much asked everybody else this morning. So I'm gonna ask you the same question like here's here's our scenario right? Will I have a bit of small business right? and I do my own thing will doesn't have a business but still wants to contribute to the collective will does a hundred dollars a month donation.

21:28.53
tom livolsi
Oh boy.

21:44.13
redwhitepodcast
What does that money get him and then where does that money how like how does it get allocated who decides like who's getting that or can he say I want to give you know my hundred dollars a month to isaiah more like how does how does that whole process gonna work.

21:59.60
tom livolsi
Yep, so there's going to be different tiers and and once once the site is launched all this information will be out there for everybody to see but there'll be different tiers all the way up to what's called the 1887 club which is you know the the larger kind of founder minimum investment type thing and. And there's a whole subset of of deliverables that that come with that all the way down to you know the the most basic membership which is you know a little something a month I can't remember what it is right now. It's top of my head but that money goes into the pool basically and if you want to allocate it. To whatever or whoever you want to that can be done the the management of all those dollars. There's an executive board that we basically look at current current state of affairs and and name image likeness you know so they they kind of. Givey the money up internally I'm not a part of that but that's pretty much the infrastructure once once the money's in the pot you as a fan as a contributor you get access to depending on which which level you sign up for you'll get access to you know, exclusive content. At the bottom end all the way up to you know Tv commercials things like that you know advertising with some of the some of the athletes.

23:18.50
Will
And 1 thing you had mentioned earlier and I apologize if you said it again. But I think you were saying that you're trying to get 100% of the funding to go to the athletes I'm super I assume you guys will have some operation costs right? but. Basically you're trying to make sure it's really going to support the athletes and not you know some nefarious booster. Yeah, as an example.

23:40.65
tom livolsi
Correct. Yeah, so this is a this is not a profitable business I mean right now there are there are operating expenses but we're just you know these are just sacrifices that some of us are just making with Scott coming on the board once this gets going. You know we will have. Um, sure a paid you know employment for for 1 or 2 people. But outside of that we have some outsource partners that some software companies and stuff that have have kind of started and and had some pretty good success in the n nil field. But other than that you know 100% of every dollar that we we bring in is going to go towards the athletes for sure. There's's we don't want to and that's another thing we we watched you know some of these n nil businesses. They're viewing it as an opportunity to make money as ah as a business. That's not what. At all what we're doing here what we're doing here is we are providing dollars to to help the athletes themselves. You know some of the collectives that have been out there that have already crashed and burned. They went in with the the mentality of oh this is a big new. You know, brave new world where we can go make a bunch of money doing this and and capitalize off of these athletes and ill we don't want to capitalize on on any players in ill we want them to capitalize on it and we just want to you know, take as much time and effort off of their hands and and do this stuff for them. Yeah.

25:07.41
Will
Yeah, that reminds me of I remember I texted Evan this there was I think it was uga. They they announced that I think some former collect former players were helped managing a collective and they were you know saying hey this is how much we paid out to these current players already. And then the 3 former players also took like a cut and I want to see it was like 30% of the money and I was I was sitting there just like you know great that we're finding a way to get these former athletes. Maybe some money over the table but I just looked at and go man like what a raw deal if you know.

25:27.73
tom livolsi
Yeah, it's great.

25:37.97
tom livolsi
Um, yeah, it's wrong I mean it's just Wrong. You know there's a couple of apps out there that are you know positioning themselves as this opportunity for a player to come on their platform and you know get all their followers to pay a monthly subscription and. And the fine print says oh we're just going to take 20% and you know that they are trying to capitalize off of an athlete which in my opinion that's wrong now there are businesses on the software front that have made and streamlined some of these backend you know getting your.

25:57.39
Will
Yeah.

26:12.00
tom livolsi
Ten Ninety nine forms together and and getting set up for ach payments and things like that things that you know a lot of these players probably wouldn't know how to do those businesses make sense but the the business that is going to take a percentage of the athlete a significant percentage of the athlete's name image like this that's that's just.

26:30.24
Will
Yeah I would say that you know my recommendation would be because we talked about this on the podcast a bunch that fans nowadays a lot of newer fans probably value experiences more than necessarily trying to get season tickets or something of that nature.

26:31.10
tom livolsi
Kind of shady.

26:49.00
Will
And so if if the collective is able to figure out a way to you know say hey you donate certain amount of money you get access to a special event. Maybe there's gonna be a small pool to get Onfield passes for a game or you know maybe.

27:02.47
tom livolsi
Know you.

27:05.36
Will
You know we we have a knockout basketball tournament once a year that you can go participate in and you know there's there's ways I think to tap the fan base give them something that's memorable and then that money will keep flowing. You know what? I mean.

27:13.38
tom livolsi
Yeah, absolutely and and that's ah, that's a great point we have Monday hopefully again fingers crossed no pressure guys. But Monday when the ah website launches. All that information will be there and there is a ton of stuff you know with certain levels of membership. You do get. Access you know golf tournaments were in the process of putting together for that very thing having a more intimate intimate experience then and to that point, let me just you just remind me some last night we had an event. There was a bunch of players came and a bunch of you know folks that are interested in in joining. Ah. Collective and the the guy's house who was gracious enough to to host us had a a full size basketball court and Scott Wood was out there and we just start talking and I saw scott wood he started playing horse against some of the guys. First of all, they are Thomas can shoot they Thomas could could play on our basketball team right now. But yeah, that's it don't you even mention that but ah I saw scott wood I think he made like 25 in a row from ah he still got him and I got I yeah, he's a he's a freak.

28:19.62
Will
Yeah I think ah was a goodson who was saying he's like man you know you see a guy out there in Slacks and a tucked in shirt and business shoes or whatever just racking threes down and.

28:29.68
redwhitepodcast
Yeah.

28:30.56
tom livolsi
Buring burying them and I mean he wasn't these weren't like little regular threes too. I mean he was in like yeah it was wild man. He still got it. But that was that was a really really fun. Another example, you know getting some of the athletes out too. You know they enjoy. Obviously when they have time they enjoy being around. Folks and they're very very appreciative. You know every one of these athletes that I've personally had an opportunity to meet I mean they are so thankful and so gracious and and just good good all around human beings I told coach Doran and he's got a a locker room full of ceos in there. So. It's been awesome. Been awesome.

29:03.78
Will
Yeah I think um Evan where you can ask a question just about how they coordinate with like the teams and the coaches.

29:10.59
redwhitepodcast
Yeah I think it's one of the questions that a lot of folks have with and there's gonna be a lot of moving parts here and we know the University can't be I mean an air quotes officially involved but like part of the and part of the goal of the. And ni right is to support these athletes and I'm trying to trying to find a diplomatic way to say this. How do we know like which athlete Yeah, what athlete is gonna be you know in need so like is.

29:35.89
tom livolsi
Um, welcome to my life.

29:45.53
redwhitepodcast
You know Keats are doring gonna say you know I need to make shark can slide some money to or this guy so keep him him happier like how yeah.

29:51.10
tom livolsi
Yeah,, that's a slippery slope you know we we don't We don't have those communications with with coaching staff you know because they're not allowed to really speak about n ni to their players Now we can arrange. Meetings where we can come in and and speak to the teams themselves and and educate them and but no, you know that's that's one of those areas that like gets a little little cloudy and we don't Want. We don't want to be anywhere near that I mean we don't want to be anywhere. We. The last thing that we would ever want to do is.

30:18.82
redwhitepodcast
Um, yeah.

30:28.18
tom livolsi
Jeopardize the the University or the eligibility of of a student athlete so you know the the way that things are are gonna be communicated will be through other channels. Definitely not any any ah anyone on the staff you know will probably have and and it'll probably be me honestly I mean with my. On the football side and I think there's there's people in the side of the collective that have relationships with with the players and and families and then saying with the all the other sports you know so that that's an interesting one that that's kind of tough to answer. Well.

30:58.66
Will
Well I have to assume that the whatever this task force is or whatever it's coming from the and nca you know while there still is one um is probably going to crack down on anything of that nature right? and and make sure that the collectives are staying away from the coaches.

31:16.15
tom livolsi
Yeah, yeah, yeah I mean you well you know the recruiting stuff from what I've heard you know it's one of the top questions that's asked I mean it's from from the transfer portal to.

31:17.90
Will
Um, and the recruiting boards.

31:32.39
tom livolsi
The the high school recruits one of the very first questions that are asked is what does your and ni package look like and it's unfortunate. You know, but but again, it's a thing so you know coaching staff. They're not allowed to speak about dollars and things like that. So you know there's there's it's gonna be interesting to see how that. How that communication when it does get kind of some oversight. It's it's good. That's going to be the the part that I'm interested to see as well.

31:58.63
Will
Is there like a plan for the website to kind of have like a a you know wall of fame or success type page on it that shows like here's the kind of deals that guys are getting This is the amount of fundraising we've done so that it's somewhere you could direct those players. Maybe.

32:11.56
tom livolsi
Yeah, yeah, there'll be something wrong. Yeah yeah, there'll be.. There'll be some some stuff on the website that can can be helpful towards that I don't know that we'll post. You know, individual players deals and stuff because there's you know some nondisclosures and things involved. But. Um, no, we'll we'll definitely have some success stories and and each athlete that we sign is going to have a page you know to to showcase them and what what they're doing maybe who they're working with. But yeah, there's There's definitely going to be a lot of information out there for for any former. Um, excuse me any future players and their families if they want to see some of those success stories that will be up there.

32:51.82
Will
So let me ask you this so as one of the proud owners of the I don't even know what we're calling this football helmet the slaering wolf helmet from last year with the the bricks on it. Um am I going to be able to like go on gopher and be like you know hey I want to pay.

32:59.82
tom livolsi
That.

33:08.58
Will
You know a hundred dollars for an autograph on this is like is that like way one of the ways you envision fans being able to connect with the athletes or do you think the collective will kind of put those things together and say like hey you donate so at this upcoming event bring your helmet.

33:23.29
tom livolsi
Yeah, it'll be the latter I mean yeah for sure so depending on what what type of of membership or or subscription you have or what type of donation you're making again will give you kind of different access to to different benefits or or whatever you're.

33:26.82
Will
Okay.

33:40.90
tom livolsi
Always going to get something right? So we we have to stay within the the rules of of there's got to be quid pro quo there's got to be something in exchange right? So something that you know if you had a helmet or something like that that you want to get signed that would that would probably be 1 of those 3 4 tier.

33:58.29
Will
Um, okay well I know I know you know? well you know I mean you know the gist of this is right? is you know last year I was able to win a I think um I cannot remember the the name of the.

33:59.35
tom livolsi
Subscriptions but I know a guy don't worry I'll get you man if you want my autograph Justt ask for it I'll do it.

34:01.96
redwhitepodcast
Um.

34:17.75
Will
Pack united um, that the guys were doing and you know I won an onfield pass bidding for that for the Clemson game which was like ah an experience I'll never forget and I kept saying to myself as a dang every time I come down to a game now I'm gonna hope I can buy an onfield pass and and see this have this experience but at the end of it too I was like bidding on helmets and whatnot and.

34:30.27
tom livolsi
Right.

34:37.56
Will
You know I was gonna spend a lot more money than I'd end up spending on this this helmet I guess is my point. Um, and so you know, um, kind of what Evan and I talked about was there's a lot of probably missed opportunities that maybe you know people didn't realize what the demand is there for support so I'm hoping this collective is gonna. You know, give you guys the data inability to kind of find more opportunities for fans to form those kind of memories I guess that's that way I'll phrase. It.

35:04.28
tom livolsi
Yeah, yeah, and you know it's it's honestly it's it's feedback like that you know it's it's listening to those exact type you know scenarios that will help I mean because you know keep in mind we're we're a bunch of folks that are just really passionate about this this university and and we're we're just trying to do. Trying to get this thing together. You know with the with the intent of of helping the program helping the university helping the athletes you know, but that certainly doesn't make us you know, subject matter experts. So you know any any advice or any ah you know ideas that come on different ways that we can create engagement. You know that's one of the things we do with the players. You know. It's 1 thing for us to put our heads together but meant some of the best ideas have come from the athletes themselves. You know like with with Drake we're getting ready to do something pretty cool on the gopher front where you know Drake is gonna be recording himself being a gopher for a day driving around and just accepting people's deliveries and whatnot. And I mean that was all his idea so you know just having communications with people that that want to be a part of it and and hearing things of what they think would be a good idea and and bringing it to the athletes and working together to to yeah provide as many good experiences as we can.

36:18.62
Will
Yeah, thatd be cool as long as no one posts you know I'm going to pay a hundred bucks to get tackled where ah ah.

36:23.42
tom livolsi
Yeah, right, right? Well shows I'm out there watching scott drain a billion threes in a row and they and she even Drake man Drake can shoot they're out there playing all I could think was man I don't even if an ankle twist or something right now cause y'all are over here playing basketball I never gonna hear the end of it.

36:39.15
Will
Yeah I told those guys you guys better have a good insurance policy. Um and a way to keep Dave Doran off of your back if something happened to those kids. Ah.

36:43.42
tom livolsi
Yeah, right? My name I would I would not want to have that phone call tell you what he's He's a big dude man he's and he's love the guy of that he's awesome I'm I'm glad I've gotten to know him but man he's ah I would not want to be on the. Receiving end of a bad phone call from him.

37:00.72
Will
Oh well, we got to ask you know what do you think of the door and beard now.

37:04.82
tom livolsi
I mean he dude he's just living his life. He's he's just chilling. He's in straight relaxed mode and I think you know what I really like is his ah it starts at the top man. It really does and the the confidence that he has. He's not ah, he's not ah afraid to. Speak so highly of Devin Leary and the team and I think they've earned it you know and and you can see it with with the guys that I I work with me can see it man. They they believe it too. You know they've they've seen and they know about the nce state shit and all that whatever but man that. They're ready to go I'm I'm pretty excited about this season.

37:38.74
Will
Well, we we talked about it a lot last year with I think there was like ah a scrimmage right before the season and you know Dave was out there saying like hey you know we're gonna have a special season. This is a special group and you know he's not usually that vocal right? So like you can definitely tell he feels like he's turned a corner and.

37:55.81
tom livolsi
It It really is you know I I was ah in a a much different capacity but you know I hung out with some of the guys back in the the last time that we had this much excitement was when Rivers was here's Junior year and.

37:57.96
Will
Pretty exciting to see where the team is now versus where it was ten years ago

38:14.17
tom livolsi
Even then though we had this amazing offense but 1 year away from a great defense and the thing that I think separates this team and why I'm so personally excited about it is man these guys. They they love each other I mean this team and I'm talking about football obviously but this team. They play for each other I mean anytime that you sit down. We start building their profiles and stuff they're talking about each other and not talking about themselves and it's hard to explain but you can just see that they know what's in front of them. They know the opportunities there and. Mean they're they're not cutting any corners I mean these guys are working their tails off.

38:50.23
Will
Yeah I can believe that Evan you got any more questions.

38:54.33
redwhitepodcast
Yeah, there's so you did a interview with ips the other day and one of our members had a question about that and he's at 1 point you said players who go pro be a source of dollars for us and they understand that can you elaborate more on on that comment and.

39:11.97
tom livolsi
Yeah, so you know right now. My main focus is to take care of the existing locker room right? I say mine. It's it's not just mine it for everyone and the reason that's important is one. They've earned it. You know they've been here and they've had it and I they've had name image and likeness here for.

39:12.76
redwhitepodcast
What you mean.

39:31.59
tom livolsi
For years and they've built ah, ah, a program and ah and a team that everyone's excited about so they they kind of deserve it first and foremost. But after that you know they they see how hard we're working to help them and and when they god willing go to the Nfl. They know that I'm gonna be hitting them up and saying all right? Hey. Yeah, all that money that we raised you know that that didn't just fall out of the sky. You know we would love your involvement and ah and there's no ties or anything like that to the from the collective after after they're done There's no.

40:01.52
redwhitepodcast
Right.

40:06.93
tom livolsi
That's another thing we didn't want any exclusivity. We. Don't want any binding language. You know we want these athletes to be able to make as much as they can while they're here the right way. But yeah, that's all I meant by that it was just you know as soon as they turn pro and and or not just not just professional when when some of the guys that don't go to the Nfl. Go into the real world. You know, just networking and and spreading the word for this thing to to help us raise you know as much money as we can.

40:33.63
redwhitepodcast
Well I Think what you guys are doing is admirable and we appreciate the efforts and the time that the folks that are participating in this are putting in and in return like if there's anything that we can do in the future to help you guys with communication or exposure. You know, by all means we're all, we're all for that. So Please don't hesitate to you know, reach out, let us know.

40:54.70
tom livolsi
Thank you I Appreciate we greatly appreciate that. That's what it's going to take you know that's that's the beauty of this area you is is insy state as everyone knows there. There hasn't to date been a bandw and and C state fan but but to date.

41:08.73
redwhitepodcast
No chance, not a 1

41:13.25
tom livolsi
But I'm telling you I think we're about to experience that for the first time so y'all hold on I'm um, I'm excited to finally meet a bandwagon state fan after after the first couple games hopefully but you know, but but again we feel this we fill the the stadium we fill the the arenas we you know we show up. For the most part we show up and we support our own whether that's on the field or off the field and you know it's it's guys like you and it's guys like us that really care about what happens here because we're we're starved right? We we know this is a special place and we know that once we get that over that hump for the first time. There is no no fan base that deserves it more and there's no fan base that that supports each other better than this one. So you know we appreciate you guys and and everything that you're doing to help kind of spread the word about this.

42:04.90
redwhitepodcast
Yeah, absolutely under time. That's it's a great point. There are there are no bandwagon state fans. So the first one will be grown. Let's right.

42:10.28
tom livolsi
Not yet, but if not yet, but they're coming I'm gonna welcome them with opening arms too.

42:16.86
Will
Yeah, we I mean we tweeted it. Ah a man. It must been a month or two back now. But I mean we've kind of been in what looks like a golden age of sports for insy state Recently? yeah, aside from men's basketball was just all the success you've seen with women's basketball with baseball with football. You know so it does feel like it's starting to kind of crescendo into something new and different. So It's It's definitely an exciting time to be a part of the family.

42:40.69
tom livolsi
That it is that it is.

42:46.72
Will
Well I guess with that Evan you ready to close it up.

42:46.78
redwhitepodcast
All right? Yeah, absolutely we can we can wrap it up Tom as always appreciate your time and looking forward to a followup conversation in the future with you know updates and how they're going how everything's going and I you know.

43:00.69
tom livolsi
Yeah I appreciate you guys having me on man. It's very helpful. You guys helped me spread the word and I'm sure there'll there'll be more more conversations as things you know solidify. But yeah, appreciate you guys having me on.

43:12.52
redwhitepodcast
Absolutely any time. Go pack.

43:15.96
tom livolsi
Go pack.