Mark Pope asked and Big Blue Nation has delivered in a big way, raising over $915,000 since donations opened for Club Blue’s NIL initiative ahead of the NEW ERA Men’s Basketball Event on June 15.

The Kentucky head coach announced the meet-and-greet event on April 29, setting a May 15 deadline for new subscribers to participate. In a few short weeks, Club Blue has raised just short of the $1 million goal it set following Pope’s arrival and is hoping to clear that mark by the time the deadline hits Wednesday evening at midnight.

“I mean, it’s everything for us and for this program. And we’re so close. We’re at like 915,000 (dollars) and we want to get to a million recurring (dollars) here,” UK assistant coach Cody Fueger told KSR on Tuesday. “We’ve got a huge event going on June 15 and everybody who signs up for this can come meet the team and take photos. It’s going to be kid friendly, free food and games for the kid. It’s going to be an unbelievable event, but we really need to get this thing up to a million. We are so close — $915,000. We’re right there and we’re hoping to close that thing out.”

Pope shared a similar message on KSR a few weeks back, stressing the importance of Club Blue and its impact on Kentucky’s roster in 2024-25 and beyond.

“What we’re talking about is the most important thing. Listen, Club Blue is real. This is the focal point of our whole NIL life right now,” Pope said. “We have some amazing people that are helping to run this. There is no overhead with this program. 100% of the money goes exactly where we want it to go.”

The clock is ticking for those hoping to participate in the meet-and-greet event on June 15, down to 36 hours and change at the time of this post. If you want to hang out with Pope, his staff and the new team, you’ve got to be an active subscriber and help clear that $1 million threshold.

Want to join in on the action? It’s simple. Just head to ClubBlueNIL.com and click on the subscription that best suits you — the Pope $41 Package is a hit, one that gives you exclusive access to merchandise, entries into a monthly giveaway, a Club Blue Swag Bag, a $15 voucher to the Club Blue Store and a Mark Pope exclusive print.

“It’s going to be so much fun,” Fueger said Tuesday.