[Marcello] Arkansas super booster John Tyson when asked why he can't do for Arkansas football what Cody Campbell is doing for Texas Tech: "He's got oil, I've got chickens."

[u/redwave2505]

https://x.com/bmarcello/status/2107163032639955392?s=46&t=BnbVRJKuTJ91_xw0Gc4vwg

[u/Normal-Hornet8548]

Yep, and from what I understand the Walmart family has spent a ton on improving NW Arkansas, including charities in the area, etc.

[u/FloggingJonna → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

Mostly just Alice. And uh there’s a reason it’s the Walton College of Business. The money just doesn’t make it to athletics.

[u/meta_irl → u/FloggingJonna]

No, not just Alice. The Waltons set up four $100MM funds for restaurants and nightlife venues in each of the four cities in NWA. One of the kids was really into mountain biking, so he hired the best trail builder in the PNW to build incredible trails in the Ozarks.

Once Walmart decided a few years ago to keep the HQ in NWA instead of moving to Dallas or KC, they decided to make the area attractive enough to compete with Amazon for talent. They've made a ton of investments. There are a lot of things to criticize Walmart for, but the Waltons, from Sam on down, have used their money to lift up that entire region.

[u/swellfie → u/meta_irl]

The education system there is actually insanely good, too, and there are free museums funded by the family. That area is insanely high QOL.

[u/GhostOfDrTobaggan → u/swellfie]

The Waltons are absolutely not to thank for the education system of Northwest Arkansas (at least not public education). They routinely advocate for voucher systems for private schools to take money away from public schooling and give it to private (Christian) schools. In Arkansas, over 90% of the vouchers went to kids who were already in private school.

Walmart's success as a company has created a biproduct of increasing property value in the area which helps education transitively through property taxes and increasing funding for education; however, their advocacy is directly contrary to public education in the state. They believe a significant portion of the increased tax revenue in Northwest Arkansas should be funneled back to schools that really only help the children of their upper management. That cannot be overlooked.

[u/meta_irl → u/swellfie]

Yeah, a friend of mine almost moved there for a fantastic-sounding job working for Crystal Bridges. I consulted with her a bit. It has a surprisingly high amount of amenities, but it would probably be difficult for her to find the sort of community that she typically surrounds herself with.

[u/carlmoss666 → u/meta_irl]

They have more people on food stamps than any other private employer in the country. It is an enormous propaganda machine that convinces people that money doesn’t work when poor people spend it, but any money spent by a billionaire is the hand of god showing favor on the wretched, poor, working class.

[u/turtle2829 → u/meta_irl]

Not going to speak on how they treat employees, but NWA is a hidden gem. Soon to wife's family is there and it has many walkable communities and bike trails everywhere. It has a growing food scene. Sure the suburbs are suburbaning but the cities themselves are not too bad.

[u/dontshoot4301 → u/FloggingJonna]

Sam didn’t even go to Arkansas - also we sold that for an embarrassingly low price compared to what it costs to name a business school these days…

[u/desymond → u/dontshoot4301]

kind of funny to poorly negotiate a business school name

[u/AldermanMcCheese → u/desymond]

They were contractually obligated to sell it for an Every Day Low Price.

[u/monoDK13 → u/AldermanMcCheese]

The Walton Family bought it on Rollback.

[u/srs_house → u/desymond]

You'd be surprised at how often a school has subject matter experts and then does dumb things because god forbid you actually involve those people.

[u/MAHOMES_10_TIME_MVP → u/srs_house]

It was a running joke in the business school that the finance professors were bad investors. They teach for a reason.

[u/velociraptorfarmer → u/MAHOMES_10_TIME_MVP]

"Those who cannot do, teach" was the common phrase tossed around when i was in engineering school

[u/lava172 → u/desymond]

On brand for Arkansas though

[u/I_Am_Dynamite6317 → u/desymond]

Pretty on brand for Walmart to get a discount though

[u/Due_Rope_6061 → u/desymond]

Would be nice if they could rollback that decision

[u/Normal-Hornet8548 → u/dontshoot4301]

Yeah it’s not like they built Arkansas a palace for basketball that has the name Walton on it.

[u/FloggingJonna → u/dontshoot4301]

Where did Jim and Rob go? Bud didn’t go to Arkansas either and his name is on Arena.

[u/booxterhooey → u/FloggingJonna]

Rob owns the Broncos. So same deal with Jerry, can't contribute due to conflict of interest

[u/mjst0324 → u/booxterhooey]

How do the Haslams get away with it at Tennessee? Serious question I just don't know how it works

[u/toomanydeployments → u/mjst0324]

Just a quick Google search said he primarily does department and facility support but is restricted from direct NIL financing.

My guess is he found a workaround to pay for buildings, maybe got another booster or group of boosters to pledge matches to be used for NIL?

[u/NotWith10000Men → u/toomanydeployments]

sounds like what jerry's done at arkansas, there's a training facility with his name and a dallas star on it

[u/IMASHIRT → u/FloggingJonna]

They both went to U of A.

[u/FloggingJonna → u/IMASHIRT]

That’s exactly right. It’s how I was refuting the “Sam didn’t go there” thing. Everyone always brings up Mizzou but those are Buds daughters not Sam’s. And Sam’s kids have more money.

[u/dontshoot4301 → u/FloggingJonna]

I just find it funny that Sam’s name is on the college - it’s the Sam M Walton College of business

[u/nosotros_road_sodium → u/FloggingJonna]

Speaking of Mizzou, their basketball arena was named after one of the Walton descendants for just three games, before it emerged that she paid her roommate to do her U of Spoiled Children coursework.

[u/khoelzeman → u/dontshoot4301]

At the time it was the largest donation to a business college, but it was also nearly 30 years ago.

[u/moffattron9000 → u/FloggingJonna]

As a foreigner, the part where wealthy people are pouring tons of money into education, then have an army of alumni and fans of the school sports team get angry that it went to education will always baffle me. Like, I get the logic, but that logic still seems insane.

[u/olduvai_man → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

They have given a lot to the surrounding area and to the university, but their priority for athletics is Mizzou and professional teams.

There's been some articles that insinuate that they've held off supporting as much due to not getting the chancellor they preferred years ago but no idea on the truth of that or whether it would have even moved the needle.

[u/FuckChadMorris → u/olduvai_man]

There were 2 finalists for chancellor a few years ago. One was supported by Tyson and Johnelle Hunt, and one was supported by Stuart Walton. They went with the first one

[u/olduvai_man → u/FuckChadMorris]

Would explain why we are competitive in both baseball and basketball and abysmal in the sport that shall not be named.

[u/meta_irl → u/FuckChadMorris]

Hmm, and Tyson is kinda famous in the area for being as asshole. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little bit of a rivalry there

[u/RCocaineBurner → u/olduvai_man]

RIP Paige Laurie Arena we’ll never forget you

[u/jaxonya → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

Nwa is lit as fuck.. i love this place

[u/Normal-Hornet8548 → u/jaxonya]

I have visited, at one time or another, every SEC campus town and for my money, Fayetteville is the best college town of the lot. Absolutely gorgeous.

(It’s also interesting how they engineered it so everywhere you walk is uphill both ways, or seems so. It’s like if MC Escher did the landscaping.)

[u/Smoocci-Mane → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

At Arkansas, the Freshman 15 actually refers to the amount of muscle mass you gain in your legs.

[u/BeatNavyAgain → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

they must have duplicated West Point's layout then -- I always recommend to visitors to WP that they prepare for walking uphill regardless of starting and ending points

[u/RCocaineBurner → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

Little Rock is the most fun job interview I’ve ever gone on, like going to the bars after. Man they hated Chad Morris.

[u/RagePoop → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

I for one love how we depend on the whims of billionaires to improve our college football teams and overall living environment lol

[u/Daroo425 → u/RagePoop]

For real people praising the Walton’s in here for extracting billions from the working class and the government but they fancy up a town with less than a percentage of what they made and now all is right in the world, fuck that.

[u/Somecornbread → u/Daroo425]

I'm not super familiar with them, are you saying that they shouldn't be viewed positively for all of their philanthropic efforts? How exactly are they extracting billions from the working class? Isn't Tyson foods Wal Mart an absolutely massive enterprise providing tons of jobs while also giving back to the community? Do they have a shady history or is this a rich = bad type of comment

[u/Daroo425 → u/Somecornbread]

The Walton family is worth half a trillion dollars and Walmart has only been around for less than 70 years.

Tons of jobs that pay below the poverty line, requiring a huge percentage of their workforce to be on federal assistance, so much so that they offer classes when you’re hired on how to apply for these benefits.

Plenty of mom and pop shops that have closed down throughout the world due to Walmarts coming in and undercutting each product until they ran the stores out of business.

They absolutely have a shady history of things ranging from union busting to wage theft.

I’m honestly surprised you haven’t heard any criticisms unless you’re very young.

[u/Normal-Hornet8548 → u/Daroo425]

Putting all that aside and steering back to the topic, should they be compelled specifically to give to Arkansas football, lol?

If they were taxed at some incredibly high rate, would that money have magically been spent on a QB, OL and DL?

For that matter, would it be specifically spent in NWA?

My first visit there, before Wal-Mart‘s real ascent, the nearest airports were in Fort Smith and Tulsa. Not much in the Bentonville/Fayetteville area at all apart from a university more or less in the middle of nowhere.

Would that area be transformed if your view of wealth distribution were somehow enacted?

[u/mitchmatch26 → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

i think the argument would be that if they paid more honest wages and didnt undercut local small businesses then they wouldnt need to provide so many philanthropic efforts especially where HQ is. The increased wages and prosperity in NWA would come from its citizens wealth and not donations that generally have strings attached.

as far as the increased taxes and how that gets into the football program, you would probably see less of a concerted effort from billionaire alumni in that situation. but better schools, QOL, etc. is probably a price most are worth paying vs having good ball.

[u/Normal-Hornet8548 → u/mitchmatch26]

Truth is you have two politicians running for office and one says ‘I will lower your taxes’ and the other says ‘I’m going to be honest here, we need to raise your taxes but we will provide better education and services‘ and we both know who’s going to win.

On top of that, most people (with good reason) don’t trust the government to do with our tax money (a) what they say they will do, and (b) what they should do.

None of that is fixable in the short term, or perhaps over a long time.

As for wages, would all the hiring be local by Wal-Mart? Or Tyson?

Local wages for NWA for Wal-Mart would be executives/management, right? We fighting for the suits to get higher pay? Tyson has one of its 140-odd processing plants in Fayetteville … while it would help those workers if they (let’s say) doubled their wages, would the city be transformed by that?

[u/Somecornbread → u/Daroo425]

I originally typed my comment about the Tyson family and then realized that you were referring to the Waltons. Wal Mart has plenty of criticisms but it sounds like some of the Walton family has done a lot for the region so there is a fair bit of nuance.

[u/RagePoop → u/Somecornbread]

If I rob your bank account, and prevent you child from the ever even having one but then give you food stamps do I warrant credit? Is there nuance in this scenario?

[u/RagePoop → u/Somecornbread]

They shouldn’t be viewed positively because their wealth is stolen by virtue of having so much of it. Their mere existence is antithetical to the democratic process and incredibly harmful to the fabric of any healthy society. This level of inequality is inherently unstable.

[u/buffinator2 → u/Normal-Hornet8548]

https://x.com/SarahHuckabee/status/2107148846677803244?s=20

$100 million for something about healthy moms and babies. Anyone saying the Waltons need to give more can kindly shut up too because, yeah, they do a ton for NWA already - they just don't directly support paying the football players. I don't blame them though, have you seen our players and coaches? They're all overpaid already.

[u/sdogg → u/buffinator2]

it’s kinda more complicated isn’t it? they built up bentonville because they require their executives to live there, but that whole city just feels fake, soulless, and not inviting at all. i guess that’s on brand.

yes they’ve invested a lot into NWA, but the family is richest in the world worth 520,000,000,000 - it’s an unfathomable amount of money no one could possibly earn morally. when obamacare was passed they hired “full time” just under the hours they would be obligated to offer healthcare benefits. it’s one one the top companies that have employees on government assistance while they take insane profits. your tax money is partly going to walmart employees because Sam’s kids grew up wealthy and never worked in their life. but they do vanity projects like crystal bridges so we should thank them? but why should we think we need to rely on private business owners to provide things for public good?

there is so much poverty in arkansas and how are they addressing that? oh sorry they’re not. they’re building up Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville to be unaffordable for most residents and it’s all transplants. It’s gentrification based on what a billionaire family wants to do.

[u/LonelyWobbuffet → u/sdogg]

Crazy that you got downvoted for suggesting that a family who've hoarded ill-gotten gains pay back a proportional amount of it.

The Walton's profits are subsidized by the taxpayers. They have more employees on medicaid and foodstamps than anyone else.

They're garbage people.

[u/sdogg → u/LonelyWobbuffet]

and building crystal bridges and mtn biking trails and performing arts venues, and concert venues gives them tax breaks that the public doesn’t doesn’t know how much because of “corporate tax privacy laws”. arkansas is a joke. it’s a beautiful place (in parts) and some really good people, but it’s overshadowed by corporations that take advantage of an easily corruptible government.

[u/LonelyWobbuffet → u/sdogg]

Agreed, and sadly my home state of NC is trying to race to meet them. We'll see what next month brings.

[u/die_maus_im_haus → u/buffinator2]

They put a lot of money into social causes and arts/culture in NWA. Crystal Bridges (art museum for the uninitiated), the Walton Arts Center, all the stuff like that wouldn't exist without them.

[u/sdogg → u/die_maus_im_haus]

how about this: the family is worth $520,000,000,000 and if Arkansas wasn’t such a corrupt state and we didn’t live in a capitalist hellscape and taxed corporations and billionaires that money could go to improving the lives of so many people, but they created an art museum and built mtn biking trails and they opened the walmart amp and other projects while they rely on government funding for their employees.

there is so much poverty in Arkansas and NWA priced out many residents and it’s just transplants. why does Walmart deserve an unfathomable amount of wealth while a lot of people struggle to survive?

NWA is beautiful, but it’s so fuckin fake and with how expensive it’s getting you get people moving there who think they’re better. how many people from Arkansas do you know that live in the NWA. I hardly know any.

[u/WTAP1 → u/[deleted]]

Very comparable in size to the fort smith metro. Which if you're central Arkansas likely means it was small as hell to us.