Win. Place. Show.
Where the Arkansas Razorbacks Finish in the SEC Race
What do the Kentucky Derby, football, and The Pig Sty all have in common? They all have false starts. I jumped the gun earlier this week and published a story about the NFL draft that had no text. Sorry about that if it hit your inbox. But thank you to the 77 people that still “read” the article before I caught the error and took the post down.
One week from today marks the 150th running of Kentucky Derby. As a kid, I wouldn’t have described my family as horse people. We didn’t own any horses, ride horses, or even go to the horse races much. But the pomp and circumstance around the Kentucky Derby was an annual tradition in our house.
We ate all the classic derby fair (hot browns, pimento cheese, chocolate pecan pies, mint juleps, etc.), dressed up, and watched on TV. I think the race was likely my first introduction to odds and betting too. We would each watch intently as they brought the horses through the paddock and hear what the analysts had to say and then pick our favorite horses to win. My mom tended to do the best. Her secret: she always picked a grey horse with green silks because she thought they were the prettiest.
The 1.25 mile race takes place at the historic Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, the first weekend of May each year. It’s known as the “Run for the Roses” and “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports.”
Wait, what? It’s only 2 minutes? So for an hour there will just be people talking on TV? And you’re thinking about having your 40th birthday party there? Travel all that way and spend all that money for 2 minutes?
This is what my ten year old daughter interjected as I was proofreading this article aloud. She’s a wise kid. She must get that from her mother.
Where does Arkansas stand in the National and SEC Race?
In football, the Hogs have 22nd largest football stadium in NCAA (which would be the 9th largest if it were in the NFL), but it is still only 11th in the SEC. When it comes to coaches salaries, Sam Pittman is the 24th highest paid coach in country at $6.4 million, but this too is only 11th in the SEC.
In basketball, the Hogs have the 9th largest basketball arena in NCAA (which would be the 2nd largest if it were in NBA), but it is 3rd in SEC. When it comes to coaches salaries, John Calipari has moved us up in the ranks to have the 2nd highest paid coach in the country at $7 million, which also makes him 1st in the SEC.
In baseball, the Hogs have the 5th largest baseball stadium in the NCAA, but it is 3rd in the SEC. When it comes to coaches salaries, Dave Van Horne is the 5th highest paid coach in the country at $1.25 million, which is also 5th in the SEC.
So being top 25 in facilities and spending on coaches should translate into success on the field/court right? Not so fast my friend. We are losing games because we are missing out in getting talented players to Fayetteville at a high success rate. And today that’s directly tied to the NIL money available to athletes.
Back to horse racing. What makes it so enthralling to the masses?
It’s one of the few places where the haves intermix with the have-nots. It’s somewhat like the lottery. A small investment can result in life-changing winnings.
In September 2021, Rick Dawson and a group of friends (including my first boss Gary Dunlap) from Edmond, Oklahoma, purchased a horse named Rich Strike for $30,000. Fast-forward to May 2022, the day before the Kentucky Derby a horse named Ethereal Road was injured and scratched from the race card. Its replacement was Rich Strike. Coming in at 80-1 odds, it became the second biggest long shot to win the Kentucky Derby, and that $30,000 purchase returned over $2,500,000 in prize money for winning the contest.
Contests are great ways to incentivize people. The Wall Street Journal did a great piece on contests earlier this year
“In the 1700s, when Britain was losing ships to navigation errors, the world’s most powerful country offered piles of money to anyone who could devise a simple way of measuring longitude while at sea. That prize led to the invention of the chronometer.”
“By the early 1800s, ‘Napoleon was a great believer in the use of cash prizes to stimulate invention and innovation,’ historian Andrew Roberts told me. In the mid-19th century, with France suffering through the national crisis of a butter shortage, the emperor put a bounty on a substitute for butter. Et voilà! Margarine was born. Before long, the French loved competitions as much as complaining. “
“The early 20th century brought one of the most famous contests of all time, the Orteig Prize, a $25,000 reward for the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris, which went to Spirit of St. Louis pilot Charles Lindbergh. Explorers have been following the money into the skies ever since.”
That’s why I propose starting a fan contest to fix Arkansas Edge NIL.
We need savvy negotiators out there horse trading for us. And fans must be incentivized to give money and be rewarded when the team has success. This can be done with cash, custom gear, exclusive experiences, priority tickets, etc. It doesn’t have to be complicated. All I know is what we have isn’t working.
But hold on. I thought Uncle Jerry and the Chicken Man solved the Hogs NIL issues.
Just like everyone has a “source” when it comes to college sports info, horse racing is notorious for spreading rumors and everyone having insider tips. One of my favorite examples of this was the mudder episode of Seinfeld.
Here’s what I’m hearing: John Tyson and Warren Stephens did agree to offset the difference in cost between Eric Musselman’s $4.2 million salary and John Calipari’s $7 million salary. They also agreed to contribute matching funds toward basketball NIL deals, but despite the stories being run by national media outlets there is not $5 million in a bank account for Coach Calipari to spend at his discretion on players.
Another rumor was Jerry Jones offering to double the “salary” or NIL funding of any Kentucky player or recruit if they came to Arkansas. I even saw reputable media outlets playing a doctored video of Jones saying "I'm not known as a guy who gets hand cramps when I'm writing checks…” with a media banner below him talking about basketball NIL. The video was actually from 2019 when he was discussing extending Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott’s contract.
My understanding is that Uncle Jerry hasn’t made any additional contributions to the University of Arkansas or its student athletes.
Time is of the essence for the Hogs to get funding and close out their rosters for next season. The football team has 7 open roster spots and the transfer portal closes on April 30th. The basketball team has 10 open roster spots and the transfer portal closes for basketball on May 1st.
Make a pledge here or contact Hunter Yurachek (athldir@uark.edu) with your ideas to fix the Hogs NIL woes. If nothing else, you should place a flier bet on Kentucky Derby long shot, Uncle Heavy.
Uncle Heavy’s Original Hog Hat is the name of the infamous Razorbacks fan head gear. It was designed in 1969 by Arkansas student Mike Ibsen and sold throughout the 1980s until licensing issues caused them to cease to be produced. It was intentionally designed to fit a fifth of Jack Daniels whiskey inside with the tip of the bottle going into the snout of the “hat”. This was important to students and others looking to imbibe because prior to 2019, no alcohol was sold inside Razorback sporting events.
Currently sitting at 125-1 odds to win the Kentucky Derby, Uncle Heavy would bring a nice pay day to fund your first Arkansas NIL pledge.
Now that you know what is needed, it’s time to get off to the races.
