Tilman Fertitta says UH needs to stop building stuff and pay players

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Speaking at a press conference introducing new University of Houston Athletics Director Eddie Nuñez this week, Tilman Fertitta laid out a new vision for the school's athletics recruiting practices.

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We have to raise a bunch of money for NIL," Fertitta said, per Duarte. "If we don't raise money for NIL, we're not going to be successful."

Fertitta pointed to the growing influence of NIL—name, image and likeness deals—and the proliferation of paying, minor-league options for aspiring pro athletes as the driving reasons for the university to shift how it applies its athletic budget. The owner of the Landry's Inc. empire mentioned UH's 2023 groundbreaking on a $140-million football operations center as an example of money perhaps ill-spent.
"This is how much college athletics has changed," Fertitta said, per Duarte.

"Now you can scratch your head and say 'Do we really need to be spending $140 million on a football facility, or should we take that money from all those donors and use it on NIL?' If you talk to college athletes today, they don't care about the building anymore. They care about 'How much am I getting paid?' Think about it, because you know what they would all tell you: 'Give me that money.'"

It's a remarkably candid assessment of UH's use of funding by Fertitta, a Cougars megadonor and University of Houston dropout who has contributed heavily to his alma mater. The billionaire pledged $20 million to UH in 2016 for the purpose of renovating the school's basketball arena, marking the largest individual donation in UH athletics history. He followed this in 2022 with a pledge of $50 million to UH's college of medicine. The Houston Rockets owner continues to be Cougars athletics' biggest and most public proponent, hosting superstar rap artist and honorary Houstonian Drake at a UH basketball watch party earlier this year at his Post Oak Hotel property.

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UH's athletic department ended the year with a $10 million budget shortfall, which the university is addressing via an internal loan borrowed from one of its "quasi-endowments."

"The University has been clear that UH Athletics is expected to grow its revenue and is excited to watch our new athletics director help make this happen," the university said in a statement to Baldwin.

With the athletics department operating at a loss and millions being spent on now-unwanted facilities, it'll be interesting to see how Fertitta's NIL arguments fare.

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