Frustration, concern builds as Iowa Swarm Collective approaches end of year two
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – This month marks the two-year anniversary for Brad Heinrichs serving as CEO of the Iowa Swarm Collective.
And while he still enthusiastically embraces the daunting task of raising money in this new world of name, image and likeness, he also recognizes that it’s been a struggle that is perplexing to him.
Heinrichs, a former University of Iowa golfer, mistakenly thought when he helped to launch the Swarm in May 2022 that there would be at least 10,000 members by now.
But instead, there are just approximately 2,900 members in the Swarm Collective, including only 400 that are football season tickers holders.
“It’s far too low,” Heinrichs said Wednesday in a telephone interview with Hawk Fanatic. “If we’re going to be competitive, we need to have over 10,000 Swarm members for sure.”
As for only having 400 football season ticket holders in the Swarm Collective, Heinrich said:
“That’s embarrassingly low. If you can afford season tickets, if you’re going to spend thousands of dollars on those season tickets, what I want is every season ticket holder to give $100 per seat to the Swarm.
“If we got that we’re cooking with gas.”
Right now, though, Iowa is running on fumes compared to some other schools in the Big Ten and beyond.
“I heard the other day that Ohio State is spending more money on its quarterback room than we are spending on our entire roster,” Heinrichs said.
It seems that Heinrichs has more sense of urgency than many of the fans, and that disconnect has him frustrated and concerned about Iowa’s ability to stay competitive in the new landscape.
The cost of living is high right now, especially groceries, but that hasn’t stopped other schools from raising massive amounts of NIL money.
It’s survival of the fittest, and right now, Iowa is struggling to survive.
“I’m doing this gratuitously because I want my Hawkeyes to be successful,” said Heinrichs, who lives in Florida and works as an actuary. “And what sort of ticks me off is when we aren’t as successful as some of us would like us to be, a lot of people are complaining, but they’re also not doing anything. They could actually help matters by donating to the Swarm, so we can get better players so that we can be successful.
“A lot of people are complaining, but they aren’t doing anything about it when they have the ability to help. Some people don’t have the ability to (help). You’ve got to take care of your family first. I completely agree. I would not try to tell someone how to spend their money. But at the same time, people need to realize that the landscape has changed.”
Heinrichs doesn’t have the luxury of reaching out to multi-billion dollar businesses in Iowa, or to billionaires with deep pockets simply because there aren’t many in Iowa, if any at all.
So instead, he would prefer to have a large number of fans pay smaller amounts.
He used an example of a football season ticker holder that spends up to $17,000 for four tickets on an annual basis throwing in another $400 each year for the Swarm Collective.
“People give to Iowa athletics to keep up and help maintain facilities and to pay coaches,” Heinrichs said. “But the world has changed, and it’s evolved to if you want good coaches and you want nice facilities, then you continue your current traditional approach. However, there is no longer a connection between facilities and coaches and players, not a direct connection anymore.
“There’s a different component, which is NIL. And if we want good players, we’ve got to have a strong NIL program or otherwise our current players are going to leave and we won’t be able to get any players to come join us out of the portal. It just won’t happen.”
That’s a sobering statement.
But it’s the truth.
Iowa already has lost some key recruits in football and men’s basketball because of not having enough NIL money to help close the deal, and it might only get worse if Swarm membership doesn’t increase significantly.
The Iowa football team won the Big Ten West Division last season, and 10 games overall, but it also had arguably the worst offense among Power 5 teams.
The offense was so bad that Brian Ferentz was fired as the offensive coordinator with four games left in the 2023 regular season.
So, it’s reasonable to assume that the problems on offense have made it more difficult to gain Swarm members.
The Iowa men’s basketball team also hasn’t advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 since 1999, and that could have an impact on its ability to raise NIL money.
There are reports that the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference are having discussions that could lead to a revenue sharing deal between the two super conferences.
But for now, it’s just talk.
“I’ve read that there’s rumbling that the Big Ten and SEC are about to sign some kind of revenue sharing deal and that might change the landscape of a college athletics quite a bit,” Heinrichs said. “And if so, that’ll make things different.
“But until such time, and until something happens, it’s really up to the Iowa fans, and to the Iowa fan bases, to how good we want our teams to be.”
There were rumors and speculation that Iowa lost a substantial amount of NIL money when offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor flipped his commitment back to Alabama shortly after having transferred to Iowa in January.
However, Heinrichs quickly squashed those rumors, saying Proctor, a 2023 graduate of Southeast Polk High School, never received any NIL money that was donated by fans.
Proctor only received a small amount of money from the corporate side of the Swarm Collective, according to Heinrichs.
Proctor’s decision to transfer to Iowa in January caused Swarm membership to increase, but those numbers have since leveled off with Proctor now headed back to Alabama.
The Iowa football team received a significant boost when multiple veteran players, including All-Big Ten linebacker Jay Higgins, chose to return next season.
Heinrichs said that some of the players turned down larger NIL deals from other schools to remain at Iowa.
That says a lot about the Iowa culture, and about the loyalty of the players.
But it would also be foolish to think that Iowa could count on loyalty to always prevail when NIL money is involved.
Heinrichs has tried to spread the word about joining the Swarm Collective on multiple platforms, and yet, the response has mostly been disappointing.
“It’s kind of perplexing,” Heinrichs said. “I use the radio. You guys write about it. It’s easy for a lot of people to say, we’ll let somebody else fund this. We’ll let somebody else do it as oppose to, okay, this is my civic duty to do this.
“Most people could afford 20 bucks a month if it was a priority to them. I’m not saying everybody. But a majority of Hawkeye fans could afford the 20 bucks a month if they wanted to.”
Iowa used to be able to sell playing time, updated facilities, strong fan support and tradition and the chance to compete in the Big Ten Conference to potential recruits.
But that just doesn’t cut it anymore.
“Just because we’ve got a great football stadium and nice facilities, that no longer directly correlates with players wanting to come here and play,” Heinrichs said. “And that’s just a fact.”
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