NIL.
Those three letters mean Name, Image and Likeness. It sends shivers down the spines of true college sports fans because it is leading them down a dangerous road.
Through partnerships and sponsors, college athletic programs can pay athletes above the table instead of in secret. Players can profit from personal education-related payments and go to the highest bidder. And, as of last April, it allows players to jump from school to school without consequence.
For loyal alumni, it means rosters will be constantly changing. For example, at the University of Miami, 6-foot-5 sophomore guard Jakai Robinson stopped long enough to play 17 games last year before entering the transfer portal for the fifth time.
Keep in mind that associations, not state-funded departments, run athletic programs. Tax dollars don’t pay for college coaches or NIL budgets. A program generally starts with a NIL budget and “pays” players.
According to an attorney in Tallahassee, six former basketball players at Florida State, Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton failed to pay them $250,000 in NIL Rising Spear Collective compensation last season.
UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka quit the team after three games this season after he claimed the Rebels owed him $100,000 in NIL money, and quarterback Jaden Rashada left the University of Florida for Georgia after he claimed head coach Billy Napier owed him $13 million in NIL money.
NIL is so out of control that former UCF coach Gus Malzahn lost $17.5 million to take the offensive coordinator job at Florida State to close the Knights’ checkbook.
By quitting UCF before June, he lost $13 million in guaranteed money and had to pay the Knights $6 million for breaking his contract. He will make $1.5 for the Seminoles.
He considers it money well spent.
“The job description of a head college football coach has changed dramatically in the last two years with everything – transfer portal to collectives to agents and everything that goes with that,” Malzahn said. “I’m just an old-school football coach.”
NIL played a significant role in driving Nick Saban off the sidelines. It made some players more focused on making a buck instead of teamwork. Football was supposed to be about running and passing, not balance sheets.
Saban expressed his disgust with the system recently on “The Pat McAfee Show,” saying:
“The first year we had name, image and likeness, four or five years ago, we had $3 million, and everybody was happy. Then, the next year, it was seven. Then the next year it’s 10. Then this year, it’s 13. Now they’re looking at 20. I mean, where does it end? And the people who are supporting this, they get no benefit for it. And I’m sure that there’s going to be some instances in the future where those people don’t want to continue to support players that aren’t there.
“Guys are looking to where can I develop value right now and more about what can I get instantly in terms of getting in the portal or going to another school,” Saban said. “No one talks about the college experience anymore. Nobody talks about graduation, all these things are probably important to the future.”
Basketball’s Caitlin Clark, who certainly helped define NIL when she played at Iowa, earned endorsements from Nike, State Farm, Panini and Gatorade when she played in college. She said by the time she graduated, she told Travis and Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” Podcast the NCAA’s current approach on the NIL and transfer portal essentially has no rules or oversight.
She called the transfer portal “egregious” and likened it to a trend of free agency – especially in football – a “minor league.” She believes when athletes jump around, it reduces amateurism, which makes sports fun for athletes and fans.
One solution may be to use a mix of the current and the old system when transferring. In the past, unless a school signed a waiver, an athlete had to wait a year before being eligible to play. Perhaps an athlete should be allowed to transfer once without penalty. If an athlete wants to transfer again, they must wait a year to play.
And as far as NIL is concerned, paying all athletes a stipend might be best. Put $300 a week in the pocket of every player so they can go on a date, buy a hamburger, and save money to buy an airline ticket for the holidays.
That way, payments to the superstars will go back to under the table like the old days.
