Thoughts on NIL $ in College / High School sports

To me this whole NIL $ in college and HS sports is getting totally out of hand. At first I thought it was a OK idea. but seeing how big its become I’m not sure I like it anymore. I thought it was good that athletes who were bringing in Big $ for their sports programs should be able to make some $ off of it. Looking at the TOP 20 incomes from NIL $ and seeing all 20 of them over 1 Million $’s seems a little crazy ( Range from 6.1 Million at #1 to 1.1 Million at #20 ) Some seem to be cashing in on it just because of who their parent is, While others are cashing in just based on their beauty. I have to admit I did not even know who about 1/2 of them were. What are your thoughts on the whole situation

I think players should get paid of their image but its getting out of hand! The thing I cant stand is how the portals are open before the season has ended. The transfer portals should not be open until the season is done.

If your team is Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan you like them. If you are pulling for Minnesota you don’t.

The portal and NIL have essentially turned college sports into constant free-agency. You can’t have both open at the same time, and IMO if they’re going to keep NIL a thing, athletes should go back to losing a year of eligibility for transfers.

Post the link to what you are referencing, I’d like to read it. Big fan of the freedom to capitalize during some of, what will be, their biggest earning years. The NCAA is about as corrupt and morally bankrupt an organization as you will find in the US, and them totally fumbling the bag here is right on brand. They should have been far ahead of this curve, and instead will be left behind by it. FWIW Kalen DeBoer (New Alabama HC) is making approx $11M/year (4th highest in D1) and has like 12 coaches on staff making over $250k (Special Teams Coordinator was last, after TE Coach who was making $400k), so yeah I think the players should be able to make some money too.

The portal is way too loose. Its like free agency for college athletes now, in every sport. If you don’t like the paint on the locker room wall, you can transfer somewhere else pretty easily. Recruiting has taken a back seat and now coaches have to coddle their players so they stay.

They need to go back to making players sit out a season of eligibility if they want to transfer.

Here was where I got my $’s from :

Top 20 College Athletes With The Highest NIL Valuations

I guess the link does not work. I just Googled the top paid NIL athletes

Im for it. They worked those deals and its allowed so let them make some cash

Between NIL and the transfer portal NCAA sports are like the wild wild west. It’s pandemonium right now but I assume there will eventually be some regulation. The kids making the money absolutely deserve it though… Why shouldn’t they get paid?

fishthumper wrote:

I guess the link does not work. I just Googled the top paid NIL athletes

The article was from September 2023 and doesn’t list any incomes or salaries – just their valuation. It credited this site for the valuations.

I think the athletes deserve to get every penny they can, but it’s making things really difficult for the non-powerhouse schools to compete.

I am friends with the head men’s hoops coach of a D1 school. His life the last couple years has changed a LOT. There is not a second of rest. If he works his tail off and lands an under-the-radar recruit, then works his tail off developing that kid and coaching him up, he is lucky to get 1 season and the kid is gone, back to square 1. You’re rebuilding every season. Last season he had his top freshman come to his office in tears after the season. The kid’s parents were essentially forcing him to transfer to an east coast school that dangled some NIL money. The kid went from averaging 18 points/game to just over 4. I have to wonder how much fun that is and if it was the best choice for the kid.

The NIL controversy will be nothing compared to the gambling scandals. You think the kids not getting paid are going to just sit back & watch?

I agree kids deserve some $$$$ but not everyone on the team is getting paid. The guy on the bench does just as much work as a starter or the star and gets zilch? That’s not right in my book.
I don’t agree with how the transfer portal works but coaches complaining have themselves to blame. They jump ship for money all the time. They don’t honor contracts so why should the kids?
Personally I think kids should only be allowed to transfer 1 time until they get a degree.

I think it has ruined college sports, especially football. I’m not against the kids making money, but the transfer portal has ruined football IMO. Look at last season’s bowl games for example. Most teams were a shell of the team that played all season, unless the program was in the college football playoffs. Example was Florida State that had only 1/2 of the team available playing Georgia. I know FS was mad about not making the playoffs after an undefeated season to Alabama so the SEC wasn’t left out, but just about every big name program there were players missing that were not going to the NFL because they entered the transfer portal. The new DC for the Packers was the HC at Boston College, and he said he spent more time on the transfer portal recruiting (players from other teams and also trying to keep the players on the team from transferring out) than he did coaching. I agree, let them transfer one time and then they are done until they graduate.

When Little League teams were caught in a cheating scandal… that’s when you know its about $$$ and not a game. Start em young !

Tlazer wrote:

I think it has ruined college sports, especially football. I’m not against the kids making money, but the transfer portal has ruined football IMO. Look at last season’s bowl games for example. Most teams were a shell of the team that played all season, unless the program was in the college football playoffs. Example was Florida State that had only 1/2 of the team available playing Georgia.

The transfer portal does suck and imo is often a disservice to the athlete’s themselves as the grass will always look greener to a 18-24 year old. However, the FSU example was more due to the NCAA not having a playoff, like they do in every other sport, and even football in other divisions, than the portal. What’s the point of playing in a bowl game after an undefeated season doesn’t get you in the tourney?!?

Where else can you get paid for a 2.0 grade point average?

maddogg wrote:

Where else can you get paid for a 2.0 grade point average?

McDonald’s!

The NCAA putting Alabama with 1 loss in the playoff over Florida State ranked #4 with an undefeated season, upset many of the FS football players IMO. I agree with them, telling the NCAA if we aren’t good enough after going undefeated we don’t need to play in the bowl game either. If I’m correct over 30 players opted out of playing in the bowl game, and because of that the game was a farce.

I think the NIL and transfer portal is ruining college sports. Northern Michigan has lost all but 4 of their Mens hockey players to the portal.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I think the NIL and transfer portal is ruining college sports. Northern Michigan has lost all but 4 of their Mens hockey players to the portal.

i totally agree. on the fence about the NIL stuff. think they should get something but its getting out of had.

the portal………that needs to be cleaned up big time. i like the idea of one move and lose a year of eligibility!!!

glenn57 wrote:

i like the idea of one move and lose a year of eligibility!!!

That’s what it used to be and what it should go back to. Sit out a year if you transfer.

Dutchboy wrote:

If your team is Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan you like them. If you are pulling for Minnesota you don’t.

It does, but Nick Saban mentioned as one of the reasons he retired is all his guys could ask after the season is about how much money they could get through NIL.

My point was if you are a blue blood program and have the cash the players will come. They aren’t coming to Minnesota for cash, there doesn’t seem to be any.

MX1825 wrote:

I agree kids deserve some $$$$ but not everyone on the team is getting paid. The guy on the bench does just as much work as a starter or the star and gets zilch? That’s not right in my book.

That’s my problem with it as well. Some getting lots, and Lots getting some or none. I wish there was a way there could spread out the money so more college athletes were getting some.

Of course the colleges and coaches like Saban hate NIL and the portal. The LAST thing the colleges and NCAA want is somebody else besides them making money on college sports!

And they certainly don’t like kids having any choices as to where they play! They want the good old days when colleges were raking in the cash and sharing it with nobody and the players were chained to the program once they committed with few options to transfer that didn’t seriously (and punitively) hinder their career. The colleges LOVED the good old days of total control.

If there’s any form of money or compensation involved, it’s a profession. Giving a scholarship is a form of compensation and therefore college athlete = professional athlete. Giving sports supplies, training, special residences, special cafeterias, special training facilities, all that is also a form of compensation even if no scholarship is involved.

And to the point of NIL, it wasn’t even close, guys. The NCAA got as close as you can get to being laughed out of court on that ruling. They got their asses handed to them utterly and completely. There is absolutely no way the NCAA would be able to reverse NIL now.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>glenn57 wrote:</div>
i like the idea of one move and lose a year of eligibility!!!

That’s what it used to be and what it should go back to. Sit out a year if you transfer.

Just a thought about transfers, what if a person goes to a specific college to play for a specific coach, or was even recruited by the coach, and then the coach leaves? I feel the athlete should be able to transfer for that type of situation without losing a year of eligibility, but not to transfer because they can get paid more unless then sit out for a year

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>MX1825 wrote:</div>
I agree kids deserve some $$$$ but not everyone on the team is getting paid. The guy on the bench does just as much work as a starter or the star and gets zilch? That’s not right in my book.

That’s my problem with it as well. Some getting lots, and Lots getting some or none. I wish there was a way there could spread out the money so more college athletes were getting some.

Sounds pretty socialist tbh. But some kids on the bench are getting paid, shoot Arch Manning is one of the highest paid and he has barely seen the field. And lots of top recruits get paid before finding out the next level isn’t for them for a number of reasons. And the JJ Watts of the world that bounce around, before growing into their bodies will be cashing checks on their way out the door to the NFL. And is it that bad for a kid to “just” get all the traditional benefits of being a college athlete?

Not sure if you guys saw this one, but there is an 5 star OL from Iowa that went to Bama, transferred back home to Iowa for the spring and $100k, and now is going back to Alabama for the fall after starting every game as a true freshman. I think that’s called having your cake and eating it too!

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Of course the colleges and coaches like Saban hate NIL and the portal. The LAST thing the colleges and NCAA want is somebody else besides them making money on college sports!

And they certainly don’t like kids having any choices as to where they play! They want the good old days when colleges were raking in the cash and sharing it with nobody and the players were chained to the program once they committed with few options to transfer that didn’t seriously (and punitively) hinder their career. The colleges LOVED the good old days of total control.

If there’s any form of money or compensation involved, it’s a profession. Giving a scholarship is a form of compensation and therefore college athlete = professional athlete. Giving sports supplies, training, special residences, special cafeterias, special training facilities, all that is also a form of compensation even if no scholarship is involved.

And to the point of NIL, it wasn’t even close, guys. The NCAA got as close as you can get to being laughed out of court on that ruling. They got their asses handed to them utterly and completely. There is absolutely no way the NCAA would be able to reverse NIL now.

I don’t disagree, the millions and billions that are thrown at coaches and tv money is how we got here. It’s basically pro sports now with no salary cap and that’s the issue (or not, depending on your take).

BigWerm wrote:

Not sure if you guys saw this one, but there is an 5 star OL from Iowa that went to Bama, transferred back home to Iowa for the spring and $100k, and now is going back to Alabama for the fall after starting every game as a true freshman. I think that’s called having your cake and eating it too!

Read that he never received a cent from Iowa.