Kyle is not wrong about NIL

but why say it now when asked about Lincoln Riley? LR was nothing but complimentary when asked about Kyle; “one of the best coaches in the PAC 12”

FTFO!

Legitimizing what some schools were doing under the table for years, and proliferating it doesn’t make it a good thing. Riley and others are riding this horse to the NFLDL level. Pretty soon football will be a handful of teams with all the talent money can buy, and the rest. Wouldn’t surprise me if some of the NFL teams outright funded the NIL of these schools.

In short, unless they figure out how to keep the money from degrading the product, college football will die.

14 Likes

Everyone knows Kyle is right. Also, I’m pretty sure that unless NIL is brought under fair and reasonable controls, it will hasten his retirement.

4 Likes

I agree with NIL being bad for college football. I also don’t care for the transfer portal. I understand the part about the players getting a share of all of the money that is out there. But long term, many players will go to where the most money is, whether it be to schools in big cities/big money or big donor schools; It will be difficult for universities in smaller cities to compete.
BTW, I am a USC fan. I like the turn-around that Lincoln Riley has done, but long term, it will be damaging to the sport. We are driving up for the game, leaving Thursday.

6 Likes

We hope you enjoy your visit! But not too much. :wink:

@Buhbye for NCAA Commissioner. Or at least PAC-12 Associate Commissioner. Maybe POTUS.

1 Like

:exploding_head:

You know it’s a bad system when the NFL will have more to say on what can or cannot be done (player/draft tampering) than the NCAA. But I can see this. Oy vey.

NIL + transfer combo is 1+2 knockout punch for parity and equality (not really the intent, but a semi-level playing field based on things other than $, but agree that $ will drive talent, quality, rankings, etc.).

The intent of NIL is good - that athletes can make money off of their talents - endorsements, video games, jersey sales, etc. But the execution has been poor. The schools should actually probably NOT be involved at all, but it would be even more madness if there wasn’t some oversight from the schools. Catch-22. ‘How much can you get me and promote me’ vs. hey, you earned playing time and people like you and want you to endorse their _____ and people are buying your jersey, so work it out with them and here’s your cut. And then come in the agents …

Then with easier transfer rules, you go to bigger markets, schools with loose pocket donors, etc. and you get back to getting millions of dollars for showing up to one event or something to show that there is ‘value’. Bryce Young on a DP commercial - ok, that’s worth celebrity endorsement. What did Ewers even have to do to get his $1M at Ohio St. as a re-classification then he transferred from to Texas and could play immediately (disclosure: I’m a Texas alum and happy he is back from injury)?

I get transfer rules if a coach leaves or you graduate. And players work around redshirts or sit out after the 4th game to be able to play somewhere else the next year. This all has to be fixed to incentivize the right things and disincentivize others.

I’m working on NIL deal generation almost in a daily basis as a booster for the Utes, so I’ve studied what can and cannot be done. There are still many unknowns on NIL regulations. Your ideas for NIL regulation by capping amounts at a university or conference level are great but they likely won’t happen even though I wish they would. Remember the key distinction of NIL: the university is not permitted to negotiate NIL deals directly. In fact, they’re expressly prohibited from doing so. NIL deals are purely private market negotiations between the sponsor and the athlete. They have to notify the university that it’s occurred but the university does not control the deal terms or dollar amounts. Placing a cap on NIL deals would be deemed to violate the private market component. Furthermore directing NIL deals back to players based on something akin to a percentage of revenue generation for a university violates this private market structure. Plus non revenue generation sports and Title IX requirements might object to that type of structure. Athletes that receive NIL deals receive 1099’s and the sponsor expenses the NIL transaction as a normal business marketing expense, so there’s no way to directly prohibit a tax benefit from the NIL deal. Once again, it’s deemed a private party transaction between two separate willing parties. I support your ideas, but they ain’t gonna happen….

1 Like

Seems to me, that we’re fast approaching D1 football, more or less, becoming a de facto minor league to the NFL. I saw it mentioned recently that perhaps the football programs should become (in my summation) wholly owned subsidiaries of the schools. This would allow the schools to still use the programs as advertising for the schools, while forcing the football programs to be self-sufficient. The athletes would then be employees of the football program, not the schools directly. This would circumvent some of the education “requirements” of being part of the NCAA.

Yes I can see this spilling over into BBall and baseball. Perhaps this would take some of the burden off the students, in fees etc that subsidize the athletic departments.

This is all off the top of my head, and not thoroughly thought out. So I know that there are issues in my ideas and suggestions. Would this idea “fix” CFB as we know it? In part, yes, I think so. As we know, people are creative and find ways around the rules.

1 Like

Kyle is absolutely right about all of this. I also am of the opinion that student athletes shouldn’t get paid at all. They’re getting a free education and if they want to make money playing sports, then they should go pro. College is losing sight of what it’s supposed to do - prepare students for life afterwards.
Also, if Gameday were here this week I had already planned to make a sign that said something to the effect of:
“Hey U$C, you can buy all the players and coaches you want, but you can’t buy a win today”

5 Likes

And remember we can all thank UCLA for this cluster #%^* called NIL. Thanks a lot Ed O’Bannon. You younger board participants, look him up. He’s the one that started this entire situation.

6 Likes

It would take somebody like Elon Musk adopting a school like UNLV and then having OC Greg and other USC fans pick their jaws off the floor when all the 5 stars they’ve pulled in start heading to LV for $5 million apiece.

“We give a $1 Million for each star. Apply “here””

It’s all relative… and highly distorting.

6 Likes

The amazing part is that most of the high profile/highest paying schools will just get the same recruits they always got, but they’ll instead be paying them seven digits a year now. No joke, that’s the current market rate for 5 and high 4 star recruits.

2 Likes

Sorry for the DNews link, but this tidbit caught my attention. We’re not doing awful.

University of Utah athletes, teams have inked NIL deals totaling some $1.6 million thus far place it among the top of schools in the West

Meanwhile, among the top 10 football teams from the AP Top 25, the No. 1 school for player NIL valuation — based on average earnings across the team— is Texas A&M at $85,000. Rounding out the top five are the University of Michigan, Oklahoma University, University of Georgia and University of Alabama at fifth, despite having some of the biggest single NIL deals on its roster, according to Action Network.

The website ranks the University of Utah No. 9 for $29,000 average earnings across the teams.

Deseret News: How much money have Utah athletes made in NIL deals?.

1 Like

Don’t bring your distributions and statistics into this! :wink: I’m sure the mean and median are pretty far apart for all schools. As probably intended - certain people are more marketable/recognizable than others. There’s no gaurantee that anyone’s NIL is worth much just for being a D1 athlete.

2 Likes