NIL: How Does it Work? (Plus transfer rules)

[DBT]

NIL may be great for elite players, but it will hurt a lot of kids who throw away the chance for a college degree trying to chase the golden ring.

A lot of kids will enter the portal only to find they aren’t wanted. They will lose the opportunity to earn a college degree.

Or a kid might make a couple hundred grand but never make the NFL and never earn a degree. A couple hundred grand sounds awesome to a 18 year old who has never had money but try living the rest of your life on that.

As with many things, there is a lot of upside to NIL but there is also a lot of downside.

Less than 2% of NCAA football players make it to the NFL. So, on one hand, they can now make money playing in college. But they still should use the opportunity to earn a marketable degree.

 

[skibum]

NIL may be great for elite players, but it will hurt a lot of kids who throw away the chance for a college degree trying to chase the golden ring.

A lot of kids will enter the portal only to find they aren’t wanted. They will lose the opportunity to earn a college degree.

Or a kid might make a couple hundred grand but never make the NFL and never earn a degree. A couple hundred grand sounds awesome to a 18 year old who has never had money but try living the rest of your life on that.

As with many things, there is a lot of upside to NIL but there is also a lot of downside.

Less than 2% of NCAA football players make it to the NFL. So, on one hand, they can now make money playing in college. But they still should use the opportunity to earn a marketable degree.

All I hear are reasons for a players union.

 

[Buffnik]

All I hear are reasons for a players union.

Exactly.

Out of curiosity, does anyone here still think of college football players at the P4 level as amateur athletes?

 

[Robert Sorell]

Exactly.

Out of curiosity, does anyone here still think of college football players at the P4 level as amateur athletes?

Nope, I think I sort of get what people are trying to say with, "CFB isn't a professional sport," but disagree with the terminology.

The work expectations and compensation make it a profession in my mind.

 

[DBT]

All I hear are reasons for a players union.

Yeah. I think that’s where it’s headed.

 

[GRM]

Meh. 18-23 year olds are far more idealistic than we remember, and they are far more likely to take an individual hit for the collective good.

Bottom line, they'll vote for and support a union at far greater levels than a bunch of 35 years olds; it's their decision and their votes that will create and ratify a players union.

Some of the players may be from States that have their parent's vote, as some state's recognize parental rights to age 19. I even doubt the parents would vote to cut their kids/families worth for the "collective good." Maybe in California. Then I doubt the other young adult football players would cut their worth either.

Yeah, football players are going to vote to unionize college athletics, where they split their NIL pie with all the other sports that they subsidize under Title IX. In what world would that happen? It must be either one where Lenin, Trotsky or Stalin at enforces/oversees the football vote or all college athletes across all the sports vote? Please specify where you get "collective good?" This looks like the classic Communism/Socialism v. Free Market political argument.

Exactly which sport's players as a whole benefit from NIL? Football $$$$$$$$$$$. Which players/sport create virtually all the overall AD revenue? Football $$$$$$$$$$. How do you think they would really vote? They are all in the same profession.

To answer Nik, I do not think P4 football players really qualify as "amateurs." They now have 5 to play 4 and play football/school year-around + free agency (transfer portal) so that is their job so to speak. Even if a player were recruited with no NIL and then don't really pan out, if they are a decent student staying the full 5 years, you have either a double-degree or graduate degree, or primed for graduate school with just the schollie and stipend. Most students do not have that opportunity ever without going 100K+ in debt. College football is such a monster these days, they get an education+, as a benefit not really a priority.

There is no amateur football except maybe the USA football team that Hawklove coached to a championship, and that is only if that qualifies as football. P5 are professionals, but why de-couple them from college? All the other sports would suffer. The players would suffer if they are professionals, as they would not get degrees, as I call them a "benefit." The colleges would get nothing either by forcing minor league football instead of college, expect the major loss of exposure/revenue. This kills college athletics.

In some ways, I think this discussion is based on whether the collective sports should share the NIL and college's pay stipends v. NIL in the football sense. The next step is equalize the colleges by equalizing all the NIL distribution? I don't think it changes unless government (Big Brother) mandates it. I do not have the name of that LSU gymnast that was like #5 last year in NIL, but I don't think her/her family would like to share her NIL across college sports.

 

[Buffnik]

Some of the players may be from States that have their parent's vote, as some state's recognize parental rights to age 19. I even doubt the parents would vote to cut their kids/families worth for the "collective good." Maybe in California. Then I doubt the other young adult football players would cut their worth either.

Yeah, football players are going to vote to unionize college athletics, where they split their NIL pie with all the other sports that they subsidize under Title IX. In what world would that happen? It must be either one where Lenin, Trotsky or Stalin at enforces/oversees the football vote or all college athletes across all the sports vote? Please specify where you get "collective good?" This looks like the classic Communism/Socialism v. Free Market political argument.

Exactly which sport's players as a whole benefit from NIL? Football $$$$$$$$$$$. Which players/sport create virtually all the overall AD revenue? Football $$$$$$$$$$. How do you think they would really vote? They are all in the same profession.

To answer Nik, I do not think P4 football players really qualify as "amateurs." They now have 5 to play 4 and play football/school year-around + free agency (transfer portal) so that is their job so to speak. Even if a player were recruited with no NIL and then don't really pan out, if they are a decent student staying the full 5 years, you have either a double-degree or graduate degree, or primed for graduate school with just the schollie and stipend. Most students do not have that opportunity ever without going 100K+ in debt. College football is such a monster these days, they get an education+, as a benefit not really a priority.

There is no amateur football except maybe the USA football team that Hawklove coached to a championship, and that is only if that qualifies as football. P5 are professionals, but why de-couple them from college? All the other sports would suffer. The players would suffer if they are professionals, as they would not get degrees, as I call them a "benefit." The colleges would get nothing either by forcing minor league football instead of college, expect the major loss of exposure/revenue. This kills college athletics.

In some ways, I think this discussion is based on whether the collective sports should share the NIL and college's pay stipends v. NIL in the football sense. The next step is equalize the colleges by equalizing all the NIL distribution? I don't think it changes unless government (Big Brother) mandates it. I do not have the name of that LSU gymnast that was like #5 last year in NIL, but I don't think her/her family would like to share her NIL across college sports.

I'm not an expert on what decoupling of football (and basketball) would look like. I'd assume that there would be licensing revenue to the university, facilities revenue, etc. and likely they would still have to be pursuing a degree at the university in order to represent it.

 

[skibum]

Some of the players may be from States that have their parent's vote, as some state's recognize parental rights to age 19. I even doubt the parents would vote to cut their kids/families worth for the "collective good." Maybe in California. Then I doubt the other young adult football players would cut their worth either.

Yeah, football players are going to vote to unionize college athletics, where they split their NIL pie with all the other sports that they subsidize under Title IX. In what world would that happen? It must be either one where Lenin, Trotsky or Stalin at enforces/oversees the football vote or all college athletes across all the sports vote? Please specify where you get "collective good?" This looks like the classic Communism/Socialism v. Free Market political argument.

Exactly which sport's players as a whole benefit from NIL? Football $$$$$$$$$$$. Which players/sport create virtually all the overall AD revenue? Football $$$$$$$$$$. How do you think they would really vote? They are all in the same profession.

To answer Nik, I do not think P4 football players really qualify as "amateurs." They now have 5 to play 4 and play football/school year-around + free agency (transfer portal) so that is their job so to speak. Even if a player were recruited with no NIL and then don't really pan out, if they are a decent student staying the full 5 years, you have either a double-degree or graduate degree, or primed for graduate school with just the schollie and stipend. Most students do not have that opportunity ever without going 100K+ in debt. College football is such a monster these days, they get an education+, as a benefit not really a priority.

There is no amateur football except maybe the USA football team that Hawklove coached to a championship, and that is only if that qualifies as football. P5 are professionals, but why de-couple them from college? All the other sports would suffer. The players would suffer if they are professionals, as they would not get degrees, as I call them a "benefit." The colleges would get nothing either by forcing minor league football instead of college, expect the major loss of exposure/revenue. This kills college athletics.

In some ways, I think this discussion is based on whether the collective sports should share the NIL and college's pay stipends v. NIL in the football sense. The next step is equalize the colleges by equalizing all the NIL distribution? I don't think it changes unless government (Big Brother) mandates it. I do not have the name of that LSU gymnast that was like #5 last year in NIL, but I don't think her/her family would like to share her NIL across college sports.

Um... No state can actually take away a us citizens federal voting rights (in any situation except felons, including federal labor law), and they certainly cannot give it to another person.

Given this fundamental misunderstanding of federal law, I ignored the rest of your novel.

 

[PAC MAN]

It's going to be interesting to see if Caitlin Clark decides to come back to Iowa for one more season due to the NIL money she's earning compared to what she would be earning in the WNBA. But the articles I'm reading on this topic said that those NIL deals are multi-year deals and she would still be earning that NIL money in addition to the WNBA salary she is earning.

Perhaps she won't have to worry about going overseas to play more basketball like Brittney Griner did and end up being held as a political prisoner.

 

[Robert Sorell]

Some of the players may be from States that have their parent's vote, as some state's recognize parental rights to age 19. I even doubt the parents would vote to cut their kids/families worth for the "collective good." Maybe in California. Then I doubt the other young adult football players would cut their worth either.

Yeah, football players are going to vote to unionize college athletics, where they split their NIL pie with all the other sports that they subsidize under Title IX. In what world would that happen? It must be either one where Lenin, Trotsky or Stalin at enforces/oversees the football vote or all college athletes across all the sports vote? Please specify where you get "collective good?" This looks like the classic Communism/Socialism v. Free Market political argument.

Exactly which sport's players as a whole benefit from NIL? Football $$$$$$$$$$$. Which players/sport create virtually all the overall AD revenue? Football $$$$$$$$$$. How do you think they would really vote? They are all in the same profession.

To answer Nik, I do not think P4 football players really qualify as "amateurs." They now have 5 to play 4 and play football/school year-around + free agency (transfer portal) so that is their job so to speak. Even if a player were recruited with no NIL and then don't really pan out, if they are a decent student staying the full 5 years, you have either a double-degree or graduate degree, or primed for graduate school with just the schollie and stipend. Most students do not have that opportunity ever without going 100K+ in debt. College football is such a monster these days, they get an education+, as a benefit not really a priority.

There is no amateur football except maybe the USA football team that Hawklove coached to a championship, and that is only if that qualifies as football. P5 are professionals, but why de-couple them from college? All the other sports would suffer. The players would suffer if they are professionals, as they would not get degrees, as I call them a "benefit." The colleges would get nothing either by forcing minor league football instead of college, expect the major loss of exposure/revenue. This kills college athletics.

In some ways, I think this discussion is based on whether the collective sports should share the NIL and college's pay stipends v. NIL in the football sense. The next step is equalize the colleges by equalizing all the NIL distribution? I don't think it changes unless government (Big Brother) mandates it. I do not have the name of that LSU gymnast that was like #5 last year in NIL, but I don't think her/her family would like to share her NIL across college sports.

You're citing a lot of extreme cases of high NIL earning to argue that none would support equalization; Olvia Dunne (LSU gymnast) may well vote in self interest against a union, but what of the other 643 DI gymnasts on scholarship?

That said, equalizing NIL distribution is never going to happen; and an honest consideration of a players union shouldn't even consider this. No professional sports union has a member distribute their earnings from endorsements to all members of their team or league.

Still, the numbers game with big earners and players with no significant NIL value is still informative for unionization. If we project your Ayn Randian concept of pure self interest onto every DI football player with a vote in unionization the numbers still favor a collective approach. There are maybe 20-30 guys on a top tier team that are going to have big NIL earnings; what of the other 55-65 scholarship players on that roster? What of the bulk of teams that are realistically going to have more like 5-10 guys with big NIL potential and 75-80 guys whose NIL potential is either non-existent or not appreciably different than what a collective bargaining agreement could secure them?

 

[BlackNGold]

In order to have a union you have to have an employer. Once college athletes become employees you will see dramatic changes in college sports with a lot of colleges dropping athletics altogether, IMO. Too big of a can of worms. I also see these NIL entities as a big problem with little or no oversight. Waiting for the lawsuits when they don't deliver the money promised.

 

[Buffnik]

Unionizing should have no impact on any athlete's endorsement deal. Caitlin Clark's State Farm wouldn't be impacted just as the NFL CBA doesn't have anything to do with Mahomes' State Farm deal.

The other part is that these unionized athletes would need a governing body with which a CBA could be negotiated. That doesn't exist. There needs to be a new governing body which could negotiate and enforce. The NCAA does not have that power over schools and conferences.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

The entire structure has to change.

And they could pay players - just call it a stipend that's part of the scholarship agreement. The issue there is Title IX. The universities don't mind playing football players or even M/WBB. Those sports have positive value with media, other revenues and marketing of the university. But they'd be forced to pay every student athlete the same based on Title IX. This is why there's the talk about football being split off as a separate business venture. It may be the only viable path forward.

Do you really think that Congress is going allow government institutions to diminish equal rights/access for Women under title ix? No mater how badly a bunch of middle aged MALE football junkies want it?

Just because this separate entity may be or is created to try and skirt that such an arrangement WILL find its way into the courts. And most likely the women will win and everyone will have to get paid.

Having to pay everyone will likely end college sports at a lot of universities. Which starts to throw into doubt the viability of the sport and the pipeline the NFL depends on. Which then leads to minor leagues and youth programs which is where the best athletes will go instead of college.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

I agree. Scounton made his NIL deal by proving he is a college star, not a HS recruit. He earned it on the open market. His value goes beyond just his football talent, but his signing perhaps bailing out a sinking ship. A@M had to start somewhere to turn things around. Just like SS and Hunter, who make more, he could prove to be the bedrock for changing A&M's entire football situation.

I do not believe there is another way around Title IX. If you unionize college football, you cannot make a certain sport a split off union, and all the other sports non-union--it has to be all or none. Football funds all the other sports.

I think the best structural changes is doing away with early HS signing period and perhaps moving HS signing day out into March. That demonstrates a BIG commitment between a school and that student to hold out that long. The earlier transfer portal period sets rosters and depth charts to a degree. Right now it is a mess with transfers and HS recruits all going at the same time. There should be an exception for HS signees that can enter into school early, ie. Spring semester.

With all the 4*-5* underclassman entering the portal it is a mess for a HS recruit. Upperclassman move the depth chart for a couple years. The touted HS underclassman entering the portal this year it has changed things for HS recruits immensely. The more information that they have prior to signing is better for them. Plus, Scounton signed his intent and NIL deal as a young adult (20), not at 17-18, where the parents can dictate things. Hate to see CU miss out on this guy, but props to him for earning it.

If the CBA is national with the NCAA what then prevents a draft?

 

[MiamiBuffs]

In order to have a union you have to have an employer. Once college athletes become employees you will see dramatic changes in college sports with a lot of colleges dropping athletics altogether, IMO. Too big of a can of worms. I also see these NIL entities as a big problem with little or no oversight. Waiting for the lawsuits when they don't deliver the money promised.

The lifetime healthcare for on the job injuries and pension obligations, for one (really two).

 

[Buffnik]

Do you really think that Congress is going allow government institutions to diminish equal rights/access for Women under title ix? No mater how badly a bunch of middle aged MALE football junkies want it?

Just because this separate entity may be or is created to try and skirt that such an arrangement WILL find its way into the courts. And most likely the women will win and everyone will have to get paid.

Having to pay everyone will likely end college sports at a lot of universities. Which starts to throw into doubt the viability of the sport and the pipeline the NFL depends on. Which then leads to minor leagues and youth programs.

Yes.

They will either find a way to allow revenue sports to have a different level of associated financial compensation for athletes or we'll see at least football but probably MBB & WBB decoupled from university and AD administration to remove them from Title IX strictures.

If not, college athletics will simply die. Having one set of legislation & court rulings in opposition to another (our current situation) has created a situation which cannot hold as is - and the "solution" of every college athlete for every sport getting paid the same isn't financially feasible.

 

[GRM]

You're citing a lot of extreme cases of high NIL earning to argue that none would support equalization; Olvia Dunne (LSU gymnast) may well vote in self interest against a union, but what of the other 643 DI gymnasts on scholarship?

That said, equalizing NIL distribution is never going to happen; and an honest consideration of a players union shouldn't even consider this. No professional sports union has a member distribute their earnings from endorsements to all members of their team or league.

Still, the numbers game with big earners and players with no significant NIL value is still informative for unionization. If we project your Ayn Randian concept of pure self interest onto every DI football player with a vote in unionization the numbers still favor a collective approach. There are maybe 20-30 guys on a top tier team that are going to have big NIL earnings; what of the other 55-65 scholarship players on that roster? What of the bulk of teams that are realistically going to have more like 5-10 guys with big NIL potential and 75-80 guys whose NIL potential is either non-existent or not appreciably different than what a collective bargaining agreement could secure them?

I agree with some of your points and respect them all. The differential between the #1 NIL guy to the other players on a roster, reminds me of the old Dan Marino isonoter gloves commercial... SS keeping the Oline happy and recruiting Olineman sending them the gloves. Your point about splitting NIL across a gootball roster (but not an even split), could be a necessary to keep a locker-room happy. IMO, over a championship season, you probably need substantial contributions for 60 guys, counting injuries, something not working out, step-ups, step-downs, so that is a great point. I go back to the SS life-size cut-out at our Conoco pitching gatorade and muscle milk. SS is there, CU is there, Prime probably somehow gets a cut, thus it looks like a joint venture of sorts. If the CU portion stays in FB, then I see NIL opportunties to equalize a bit with SS getting the biggest cut--it is his poster!

I still do not see a union or multi-sport NIL split for the "collective good," as that may end many college sports programs. You need a fix and also a work around about Title IX. I support women's and olympics sports and they are for the good, but the revenue to carry them is basically all from college football or endowments (Stanford has a ton). For this, rather than looking at shared NIL (micro-sharing), you have to sort of look at the entire Macro of having those sports. Except for a few (the gymnist, WBB hoops star, olympic champion), they don't get the NIL or the funds to cover their sports with a large # of participants who get schollies. If a Title IX case comes to fruition on this micro/macro issue, I would be interested to see whatever opinion shakes out from whatever Supreme Court decides it--2, 5, 10, 20 years from now. IMO, it is certainly in the good to protect women's and olympic sports, but football pays it.

 

[GRM]

Um... No state can actually take away a us citizens federal voting rights (in any situation except felons, including federal labor law), and they certainly cannot give it to another person.

Given this fundamental misunderstanding of federal law, I ignored the rest of your novel.

I was just mentioning that per State laws, some parental rights provisions go past the age of 18. In CO, co-parents are on the hook until age 19. This even applies to an 18 yo taking a plea bargain in a criminal case. 18 yo's get to vote, but many things are limited until age 21--even some states moving gun ownership. I'm sorry you cannot read the rest of what is written. It appears your views are set in stone.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

Yes.

They will either find a way to allow revenue sports to have a different level of associated financial compensation for athletes or we'll see at least football but probably MBB & WBB decoupled from university and AD administration to remove them from Title IX strictures.

If not, college athletics will simply die. Having one set of legislation & court rulings in opposition to another (our current situation) has created a situation which cannot hold as is - and the "solution" of every college athlete for every sport getting paid the same isn't financially feasible.

Well, the law says Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) prohibits sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity) discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

The Supreme Court says the players are entitled to NIL and one off agreements.

I dont see that changing. Title ix is not gonna get repealed. And it could be 10 years or more before the court changes enough to repeal NIL.

So it seems to me that as long as the Universities NEVER get placed into the position of employing/directly paying players everything will be fine. Olympic sports keep going and TV funds it. But that means no CBA.

I think the real issue behind your comments is that youre quite correctly scared of NIL because you know as I do that CU will likely NEVER have the NIL power that say Texas A&M, Notre Dame, or USC and several others do. I believe thats why you want employment and a CBA to attempt to drag the landscape back to a level playing field. Other wise teams with money will just keep buying other teams players and the game will continue to be lopsided. I just dont see the Univ presidents or even ADs wanting that and the pandoras box of nightmares that come with it. I suspect a lot of them would just drop athletics.

 

[skibum]

I was just mentioning that per State laws, some parental rights provisions go past the age of 18. In CO, co-parents are on the hook until age 19. This even applies to an 18 yo taking a plea bargain in a criminal case. 18 yo's get to vote, but many things are limited until age 21--even some states moving gun ownership. I'm sorry you cannot read the rest of what is written. It appears your views are set in stone.

State stupidity doesn't trump the constitution or federal labor law. Until you provide cogent legal arguments as to why 18 year old college football players get similar special treatment in federal courts as unborn fetuses do, I'm just gonna assume that the supremecy clause and federal labor law overrides your precious provincial "laws."

 

[Agent Dave Kujan]

.

I think the real issue behind your comments is that youre quite correctly scared of NIL because you know as I do that CU will likely NEVER have the NIL power that say Texas A&M, Notre Dame, or USC and several others do.

This is 100% true. There isn’t enough stupid, easy money in Colorado to keep up with the trust funded oil money in Texas or the plantation money in the Deep South.

I have a moderately successful small business and there is no way that I would make a donation of any real size to an NIL fund without an opportunity for some return of value. Making a large donation to watch a better football team is not enough for me.

If there was a way for me to make a donation with the understanding that it would help my business in some way, I would make a far more impactful contribution.

The NIL fund that figures out how to return real value to its contributors, and not just be a rebranding of the under the table booster money that has gone on for years, will be able to better compete with the blue bloods.

I am intrigued by the conflict between donations to an NIL fund and contributions to an athletic department or to the school at large. I wonder if the reason that CU has been so slow to the NIL game is this conflict.

 

[hokiehead]

In order to have a union you have to have an employer. ...

I don't think that's true, at all. I think it's actually normal for unions to have unemployed members.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

I am intrigued by the conflict between donations to an NIL fund and contributions to an athletic department or to the school at large. I wonder if the reason that CU has been so slow to the NIL game is this conflict.

CU struggles in the donations department across the board. One would assume that any NIL donation is a donation that the AD used to get. Though Im sure there are some philanthropist types out there that have funded or prefer to fund scholarships versus paying players directly.

 

[Agent Dave Kujan]

CU struggles in the donations department across the board. One would assume that any NIL donation is a donation that the AD used to get. Though Im sure there are some philanthropist types out there that have funded or prefer to fund scholarships versus paying players directly.

Balancing all of this is going to be an art form

 

[BlackNGold]

I don't think that's true, at all. I think it's actually normal for unions to have unemployed members.

Okay, for the anal retentive, you need an employer to have a CBA with. Is that clear enough?

 

[Buffnik]

Okay, for the anal retentive, you need an employer to have a CBA with. Is that clear enough?

That's crazy talk. Why would there need to be an entity with standing to bind a second party to an agreement in order to legally bargain and bind an agreement?

 

[Highlander]

CU struggles in the donations department across the board. One would assume that any NIL donation is a donation that the AD used to get. Though Im sure there are some philanthropist types out there that have funded or prefer to fund scholarships versus paying players directly.

I found the wiki for University endowment size.

List of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

28th in the US isn't horrible. Probably about where we should be. Notable schools in front of us though:

• NU
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Virginia Commonwealth University

Notable schools behind CU:

• Univ of Georgia
• Univ of Alabama
• LSU
• Univ of Oregon
• ASU
• U of A
• UU
• Oklahoma State
• TT
• ISU

As far as I can tell, Kansas is the only Big 12 school with a bigger endowment than we have ($2.2B vs $1.9B).

I didn't start this post for this reason, but it will be nice to not be out-resourced in the B12.

 

[BlackNGold]

I found the wiki for University endowment size.

List of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

28th in the US isn't horrible. Probably about where we should be. Notable schools in front of us though:

• NU
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Virginia Commonwealth University

Notable schools behind CU:

• Univ of Georgia
• Univ of Alabama
• LSU
• Univ of Oregon
• ASU
• U of A
• UU
• Oklahoma State
• TT
• ISU

As far as I can tell, Kansas is the only Big 12 school with a bigger endowment than we have ($2.2B vs $1.9B).

I didn't start this post for this reason, but it will be nice to not be out-resourced in the B12.

Sorry but university endowment has little to do with athletic resources. Donations to the athletic department would be a better indicator. It will be interesting to see where CU ranks in 2023 - they ranked 51st in 2022 in athletic budget.

 

[Highlander]

Sorry but university endowment has little to do with athletic resources. Donations to the athletic department would be a better indicator. It will be interesting to see where CU ranks in 2023 - they ranked 51st in 2022 in athletic budget.

I don't disagree. Miami's post that I responded to stated "CU struggles in the donations department across the board."

I was providing evidence to contradict that statement.

Yes, if we want to be elite, we need significantly more athletic donations. If we can be top 25-ish in endowment, why can't we be the same for athletic donations and budget?

It just takes focus.

 

[goalline]

Most of this discussion seems to ignore some basic facts.

NIL: name image likeness. It means players may sell specific endorsements. This is what Bloom wanted to do. A collective payment fund is not an exchange of celebrity for marketing exposure.

Forming collectives is also not sharing the TV broadcast dollars that supposedly justified all of this. It’s additional funding pumped into the sport and is not about the original inequity of benefits that started this debate. If universities want to pay players, then make them employees. So far, the money going to players is not coming from the university or the TV ad revenue. It’s providing subsidized services for the entertainment industry. And, people will say, they were being paid before, just under the table. True, but I am confident that bringing it into the open has dramatically increased the level of these outside payments. Fan bases are falling over themselves to pay players now.

As for disassociation to avoid title IX, that would simply be an NFL minor league and would lose all the appeal that has led to the fan bases as they are now. Top donors wouldn’t be interested in funding a team that happens to play somewhere in Alabama. It’s because it’s related to the university that fans support it.

I think the fad will fade. What do people get for their dollars? If left as is, no one will win a championship that hasn’t in the last 20 years and teams will fall off the bottom end as inability to compete gets worse. No one outside the top 25 will garner enough interest or loyalty. The P4 will drop to P2 and the point of college athletics is destroyed.