{"id":423145,"date":"2026-01-22T15:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/423145\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T15:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:39:07","slug":"magic-owners-should-contribute-to-ucfs-nil-kitty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/423145\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic owners should contribute to UCF’s NIL kitty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Far be it for me<\/a> to spend other people\u2019s money, but\u2026 if we\u2019re already living in the golden age of college sports capitalism, we might as well lean all the way in.\u00a0 Hey, if Indiana can win a national championship<\/a>, in part, thanks to NBA billionaire Mark Cuban<\/a> playing benevolent NIL fairy godfather, then surely the DeVos family \u2014 owners of the Orlando Magic \u2014 could consider sprinkling a little of that pixie dust on UCF\u2019s NIL program.<\/p>\n

Mind you, this is purely a thought experiment because I would never, ever presume to tell billionaires how to allocate their resources. I\u2019m just saying: imagine the goodwill and think of the press releases written entirely in glowing adjectives. Central Florida would eat it up. \u201cLocal billionaire NBA owners invest in hometown university athletes\u201d is the kind of headline that practically writes itself and comes with sunshine, goodwill and local TV anchors beaming on the 6 o\u2019clock news.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s be honest about scale here. We\u2019re not talking about yacht money. We\u2019re talking about a few million dollars a year \u2014 couch-cushion cash for the DeVos family. Heck, they probably spend that much just making sure Jalen Suggs\u2019 knee feels emotionally supported during rehab.<\/p>\n

The logic chain gets even better when you consider the existing connections. Alex Martins, longtime Magic honcho and UCF alumnus, currently chairs UCF\u2019s Board of Trustees. No tin-foil hat needed to connect those dots.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s not pretend the DeVos family hasn\u2019t already dipped a toe into the UCF waters. They spent nearly $10 million to establish the DeVos Sports Business Management Program at UCF\u2019s College of Business. If sports business is the classroom, then a championship-caliber football (and basketball) program is the ultimate hands-on lab. Nothing teaches ROI like sold-out stadiums and national TV slots.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the central question: what could possibly be better for UCF\u2019s business than a football program that flirts with the playoff conversation instead of just politely waving at it from afar? Championships are branding campaigns you don\u2019t have to explain. They recruit students, attract donors, juice applications and turn casual fans into unhinged message-board philosophers. Marketing departments dream of this stuff.<\/p>\n

Again, I\u2019m not suggesting anything reckless. This isn\u2019t about buying wins; it\u2019s about strategic generosity. Call it philanthropy. Call it community investment. Call it enlightened self-interest wrapped in black and gold. After all, college sports has already embraced the reality that money talks.<\/p>\n

So, yes, far be it for me to spend other people\u2019s money. I\u2019m just saying, since the DeVos family has already donated mega-millions into this community over the years and if you\u2019re going to donate anyway, why not\u00a0 donate in a way that occasionally ends with confetti, trophies and a fan base that names their children after the starting quarterback?<\/p>\n

Just something for the DeVos family to consider.<\/p>\n

No pressure.<\/p>\n

Short stuff:\u00a0 The Miami Dolphins have hired Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to become their next head coach. I\u2019m not saying this is an unsexy hire, but if this were a Tinder profile, the bio would read: \u201cNice guy. Stable. Likes routine.\u201d By the way, Hafley is the eighth straight head coach hired by the Dolphins who had no previous NFL head coaching experience. In other words, the Dolphins are continuing their proud tradition of on-the-job training. \u2026 Question: Why wouldn\u2019t the Dolphins try to hire recently fired Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott, whose teams won five straight AFC East titles before this season? Short answer: Because the Dolphins are allergic to the obvious. \u2026<\/p>\n

Did you see where LeBron James will not be an All-Star Game starter for the first time in 21 years? Not that it matters. LeBron still leads the league in relevance. \u2026 CJ Stroud just threw another interception. \u2026 The SEC was once considered the gold standard of college football, but the Big Ten has won the last three natties. In other words, the SEC may still have the hype, but the Big Ten has the hardware. \u2026\u00a0 Hallelujah, the legendary Marta, who is about to turn 40, is back for another season with the Orlando Pride. Marta is so ageless and so respected that Father Time just asked her for an autograph. And, by the way, congratulations to Marta, who just married her former Pride teammate Carrie Lawrence. From what I could see online, it looked like a beautiful ceremony. And the best part? No VAR needed! \u2026 As we head into the second half of the NBA season, the Magic\u2019s defense has become so accommodating, equipment manager Jacob Diamond should consider ordering welcome mats to put in front of the opposing team\u2019s basket. \u2026 Mikey likes: Patriots over Broncos by 7, Seahawks over Rams by 5, U.S. over Greenland by March.<\/p>\n

Last word: Amid the divisiveness in our nation and with today being the birthday of John Hancock, the original signer of the Declaration of Independence, let us remember what Hancock once said: \u201cThere must be no pulling in different directions. We must stick together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my new radio show \u201cGame On\u201d every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com\/listen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Far be it for me to spend other people\u2019s money, but\u2026 if we\u2019re already living in the golden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[6815,14207,355,1606,11950,99,7944],"class_list":["post-423145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-indiana-hoosiers","tag-mark-cuban","tag-nba","tag-nil","tag-orlando-magic","tag-sports","tag-ucf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}