NIL in college football is already way out of control

[Hawkeye0202]

This is crazy .........kid has a chance to make $13M before getting to the NFL. Hell, if I'm an NFL GM/coach, I'm taking a hard look before drafting one of these kids.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

First, if people are going to be making money off the kid, it should probably be them
I don't think any of these are new expenses, it's just now public with more going to the actual athlete instead of the school, some shady third party
And finally, I don't see why this would cause an NFL GM to think hard before drafting them. If they have all this money at the collegiate level and still perform high, that's probably a greater indicator than when college players weren't paid and you had to wonder if the money will change them

 

[jterrell]

This is being made public and kids are paying taxes on it.
It's a lot cleaner than the old drive the car off the lot in your aunt's name and have a bag of cash in the trunk method.

But the money can be nuts and I am pretty sure people are going to suffer some serious buyer's remorse then stop slinging so much money at kids.

What I love that Texas Tech did was create 10 slots at 50K per year they used for preferred walk ons.
That's essentially scholarship money plus a small stipend.
It has allowed Tech to get much deeper.

Getting the entire roster covered at 50-100K per year seems a smart business model.
Much smarter than locking in 13M on a single player.

 

[atlantacowboy]

The problem is that the courts have made regulating college football player income almost impossible. What these kids do off the field financially is no longer a concern of the university or something the school can regulate. I think we are almost in an era where the schools with the wealthiest alumni and corporate connections will simply buy the best high school talent, instead of recruiting it.

 

[Hoofbite]

The problem is that the courts have made regulating college football player income almost impossible. What these kids do off the field financially is no longer a concern of the university or something the school can regulate. I think we are almost in an era where the schools with the wealthiest alumni and corporate connections will simply buy the best high school talent, instead of recruiting it.

And nobody could have seen it coming, right?

Here's another aspect. Suppose a school forks out this type of money to a player, is there any chance that player is going to be ineligible due to grades, attendance, off-the-field behavior? Hell no!

It's basically going to be a free-for-all at some point where players probably won't even have to go to classes to be a part of the team. Just chalk their schedule full of intramurals and other made up nonsense where they just go to practice, do "film study" (ya know, "Sports Theater" or some other nonsense like that), maybe "Sports Nutrition" where they get an hour credit hour for just going to the team cafeteria and eat while some doofus presents a PowerPoint about what foods give you the most bang for your buck.

It's gonna be a joke. In undergrad, I was undecided for a long time and had many semesters where I only had 11 credits. Didn't want to waste tuition money if I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Housing wasn't an issue as a worked in a private dorm and had free room and board, but I needed 12 credits to be considered "full time" for my student loans. I took bowling 3 times (believe you could take it as much as you wanted but only 3 credits would count), which was just a 1 credit course. Still can't bowl, and haven't bowled since, but I can calculate a score by hand. That's about all I got out of it.

Imagine a situation where a college team devises 12 credit-hour semesters full of nonsense. If you were a player who could get $14M for taking the same credit hours that basically amount to practice and training for the entire duration of your college career (even if only have the credits counted) then who's gonna pass on that? All tuition is going to be covered, living expenses will be covered, and you're earning an income likely greater than 1/3rd of the NFL for 2-3 years, at bets; and, 4 years at worst. Even if you bust and don't make the NFL as you would be expected to with that sort of pay, you're still set for life if you're smart.

This rabbit hole is only going to get dumber and deeper.

 

[kskboys]

And nobody could have seen it coming, right?

Here's another aspect. Suppose a school forks out this type of money to a player, is there any chance that player is going to be ineligible due to grades, attendance, off-the-field behavior? Hell no!

It's basically going to be a free-for-all at some point where players probably won't even have to go to classes to be a part of the team. Just chalk their schedule full of intramurals and other made up nonsense where they just go to practice, do "film study" (ya know, "Sports Theater" or some other nonsense like that), maybe "Sports Nutrition" where they get an hour credit hour for just going to the team cafeteria and eat while some doofus presents a PowerPoint about what foods give you the most bang for your buck.

It's gonna be a joke. In undergrad, I was undecided for a long time and had many semesters where I only had 11 credits. Didn't want to waste tuition money if I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Housing wasn't an issue as a worked in a private dorm and had free room and board, but I needed 12 credits to be considered "full time" for my student loans. I took bowling 3 times (believe you could take it as much as you wanted but only 3 credits would count), which was just a 1 credit course. Still can't bowl, and haven't bowled since, but I can calculate a score by hand. That's about all I got out of it.

Imagine a situation where a college team devises 12 credit-hour semesters full of nonsense. If you were a player who could get $14M for taking the same credit hours that basically amount to practice and training for the entire duration of your college career (even if only have the credits counted) then who's gonna pass on that? All tuition is going to be covered, living expenses will be covered, and you're earning an income likely greater than 1/3rd of the NFL for 2-3 years, at bets; and, 4 years at worst. Even if you bust and don't make the NFL as you would be expected to with that sort of pay, you're still set for life if you're smart.

This rabbit hole is only going to get dumber and deeper.

You went to Texas State in San Marcos, didn't you!!!!

 

[John813]

There's too much money in college sports in general. No wonder why tuition is through the roof at schools when they got 7-10mil salaries just to the head coach of the football team, dumping millions into new athletic facilities for 100 or so kids out of thousands enrolled etc...

I'm all for NILs but with boosters/alumni being able to pay kids to play at their school it's pretty wild, especially with the transfer portal. Guess I was ignorant and thought the NILs was going to be from sponsors not affiliated with schools in any way.

 

[jterrell]

The problem is that the courts have made regulating college football player income almost impossible. What these kids do off the field financially is no longer a concern of the university or something the school can regulate. I think we are almost in an era where the schools with the wealthiest alumni and corporate connections will simply buy the best high school talent, instead of recruiting it.

We have long since been in that era.
It is just now made public and kids who dont get paid can complain publicly.
Before all they could do was snitch to the NCAA and get boosters in trouble 5 years later.

Cam Newton was paid a couple hundred thousand to "take interviews" with SEC schools coming out Texas JUCO.
Rumors are he got a cool million total at Auburn.
That was for a kid with 2 years left.

As the process matures kids will learn what is real and what is fake in this process.
Kids should be signing legally binding contracts with entities with bonded insurance to cover those agreements.

 

[jterrell]

And nobody could have seen it coming, right?

Here's another aspect. Suppose a school forks out this type of money to a player, is there any chance that player is going to be ineligible due to grades, attendance, off-the-field behavior? Hell no!

It's basically going to be a free-for-all at some point where players probably won't even have to go to classes to be a part of the team. Just chalk their schedule full of intramurals and other made up nonsense where they just go to practice, do "film study" (ya know, "Sports Theater" or some other nonsense like that), maybe "Sports Nutrition" where they get an hour credit hour for just going to the team cafeteria and eat while some doofus presents a PowerPoint about what foods give you the most bang for your buck.

It's gonna be a joke. In undergrad, I was undecided for a long time and had many semesters where I only had 11 credits. Didn't want to waste tuition money if I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Housing wasn't an issue as a worked in a private dorm and had free room and board, but I needed 12 credits to be considered "full time" for my student loans. I took bowling 3 times (believe you could take it as much as you wanted but only 3 credits would count), which was just a 1 credit course. Still can't bowl, and haven't bowled since, but I can calculate a score by hand. That's about all I got out of it.

Imagine a situation where a college team devises 12 credit-hour semesters full of nonsense. If you were a player who could get $14M for taking the same credit hours that basically amount to practice and training for the entire duration of your college career (even if only have the credits counted) then who's gonna pass on that? All tuition is going to be covered, living expenses will be covered, and you're earning an income likely greater than 1/3rd of the NFL for 2-3 years, at bets; and, 4 years at worst. Even if you bust and don't make the NFL as you would be expected to with that sort of pay, you're still set for life if you're smart.

This rabbit hole is only going to get dumber and deeper.

People keep treating this like it is new but it isn't.
Go look at the top 10 classes the last few years.
Compare it to 6 years ago pre-NIL.

There's very little change.

Why??

Because these kids were always getting paid by those top 20 schools.

 

[joseephuss]

This is crazy .........kid has a chance to make $13M before getting to the NFL. Hell, if I'm an NFL GM/coach, I'm taking a hard look before drafting one of these kids.

I don't see how this changes what NFL GMs and coaches will evaluate players. The kids still have to play and produce on the field. That is really all that matters. Some of these guys will live up to the expectations and money and some won't.

 

[joseephuss]

The problem is that the courts have made regulating college football player income almost impossible. What these kids do off the field financially is no longer a concern of the university or something the school can regulate. I think we are almost in an era where the schools with the wealthiest alumni and corporate connections will simply buy the best high school talent, instead of recruiting it.

Is it really that much different than it has been? And does it matter? There may be 122 FBS teams, but only a small percentage are really the big boy programs. That will continue to be the case with those schools buying the players. Podunk Directional College wasn't competitive before and won't be now. If anything, this will push the NCAA into Superconferences made up of the programs that invest highly in football and separate out the ones that don't.

 

[ghst187]

People keep treating this like it is new but it isn't.
Go look at the top 10 classes the last few years.
Compare it to 6 years ago pre-NIL.

There's very little change.

Why??

Because these kids were always getting paid by those top 20 schools.

1000%. It’s minor league sports now and zero reason to be “shackled” down by the illusions of connections to academic institutions. Time to remove tax money and breaks from schools

 

[Hoofbite]

People keep treating this like it is new but it isn't.
Go look at the top 10 classes the last few years.
Compare it to 6 years ago pre-NIL.

There's very little change.

Why??

Because these kids were always getting paid by those top 20 schools.

I have no doubt some were getting some money, but the best recruiting schools were often times the one's that had a history of winning. That use to be their bargaining chip because if you win, you get more exposure, and you increase your chances of going to the league. Nobody is going to BFE University if they can get a full ride to Alabama to play football. The bigger schools didn't have to fork out million dollar agreements before. Maybe they slipped a kid enough to sway his decision away from another contender but ultimately being on an SEC team that wins a championship will always do more for you than going to perennial loser in the Mountain West.

Back when I worked in the dorms about 18 years ago, we had this track athlete brag his housing allowance from the University was greater than his housing costs through a private dorm that included a meal plan. So every semester, he basically got a refund check for "cost of living". I don't know the amount and I wouldn't put it past this kid to have been completely full of crap because he generally was, but big time athletes on campus were definitely getting something.

I don't know how much it has changed. I would assume the only real change is the dollar amount and openness of it all.

 

[jterrell]

I have no doubt some were getting some money, but the best recruiting schools were often times the one's that had a history of winning. That use to be their bargaining chip because if you win, you get more exposure, and you increase your chances of going to the league. Nobody is going to BFE University if they can get a full ride to Alabama to play football. The bigger schools didn't have to fork out million dollar agreements before. Maybe they slipped a kid enough to sway his decision away from another contender but ultimately being on an SEC team that wins a championship will always do more for you than going to perennial loser in the Mountain West.

Back when I worked in the dorms about 18 years ago, we had this track athlete brag his housing allowance from the University was greater than his housing costs through a private dorm that included a meal plan. So every semester, he basically got a refund check for "cost of living". I don't know the amount and I wouldn't put it past this kid to have been completely full of crap because he generally was, but big time athletes on campus were definitely getting something.

I don't know how much it has changed. I would assume the only real change is the dollar amount and openness of it all.

This is not all one thing.
Those schools became powerhouses and brand names because they spent and made significantly more money.
Georgia has a recruiting budget of 4.5M!! Not NIL or collective money because thats seperate but just recruiting.
Teams paying coaches 10M a year....

Fans bury their heads in the sand and say ohh thats all perfectly cool.

I played college football in the very early 90s and promise you the track athletes are getting peanuts but the football players always had it made.
New cars, 100-dollar handshakes all over town, free food and drink, unofficial jobs like working security on a car dealership with no one around and you never even showed at all but still got paid... all very real.

On my recruiting trip I was 18 and had at least 200 worth of tequila shots purchased for me, at least 500 in cash in hand and was introduced to many, many college women.
And I was a low 3 star to high 2 star level guy. Pretty much a spare.
Hanging with someone like Bam Morris though?? Was a different universe.
Clubs had VIP sections for him where we ALL drank for free. He had free car service. He had real cash.
Had 3-4 tutors who not only did his work but sat in the classes for him to make sure he got attendance credit.

Again, the proof is in the pudding.
The very same schoosl are winning recruiting now that did then.
TAMU was paying very well in the late 80s and is paying very well now.
Bama, Tennessee, OSU, UT, LSU. Check, check, check.

It's not like Harvard with enough multi-millionaires to buy up all the best talent is now topping recruiting.
It's the same football factories as always.
So what has really changed??

 

[atlantacowboy]

We have long since been in that era.
It is just now made public and kids who dont get paid can complain publicly.
Before all they could do was snitch to the NCAA and get boosters in trouble 5 years later.

Cam Newton was paid a couple hundred thousand to "take interviews" with SEC schools coming out Texas JUCO.
Rumors are he got a cool million total at Auburn.
That was for a kid with 2 years left.

As the process matures kids will learn what is real and what is fake in this process.
Kids should be signing legally binding contracts with entities with bonded insurance to cover those agreements.

Cam did not get paid millions or anything close to it. That is pure garbage that keeps getting passed around. The NCAA investigated the heck out of Cam and the school and could find nothing wrong. Literally nothing. Sure he probably got perks for being who he is but that is a far cry from claiming he got millions of dollars for attending Auburn. If he had accepted that much money and paid taxes on it, then it would have been a simple matter to investigate and punish. BUT, If he got that much money and didn't pay taxes on it, then it becomes much bigger than just an NCAA issue. That gets the IRS involved. Its all moot now b/c it didn't happen.

I think NIL deals are great. People who are old enough to vote and get killed in wars are old enough to earn money off their own image. The balance of power is shifted far more by the crazy transfer rules that anything else. Dieon Sanders is going to transform Colorado from last in the pac 10 to a top 20 program in just one offseason.

 

[atlantacowboy]

This is not all one thing.
Those schools became powerhouses and brand names because they spent and made significantly more money.
Georgia has a recruiting budget of 4.5M!! Not NIL or collective money because thats seperate but just recruiting.
Teams paying coaches 10M a year....

Fans bury their heads in the sand and say ohh thats all perfectly cool.

I played college football in the very early 90s and promise you the track athletes are getting peanuts but the football players always had it made.
New cars, 100-dollar handshakes all over town, free food and drink, unofficial jobs like working security on a car dealership with no one around and you never even showed at all but still got paid... all very real.

On my recruiting trip I was 18 and had at least 200 worth of tequila shots purchased for me, at least 500 in cash in hand and was introduced to many, many college women.
And I was a low 3 star to high 2 star level guy. Pretty much a spare.
Hanging with someone like Bam Morris though?? Was a different universe.
Clubs had VIP sections for him where we ALL drank for free. He had free car service. He had real cash.
Had 3-4 tutors who not only did his work but sat in the classes for him to make sure he got attendance credit.

Again, the proof is in the pudding.
The very same schoosl are winning recruiting now that did then.
TAMU was paying very well in the late 80s and is paying very well now.
Bama, Tennessee, OSU, UT, LSU. Check, check, check.

It's not like Harvard with enough multi-millionaires to buy up all the best talent is now topping recruiting.
It's the same football factories as always.
So what has really changed??

Football players should be treated better than track athletes or the women lacrosse team b/c football is a revenue generating sport and supports all the other sports. The athletic scholarships don't come out of the schools general funds. They come directly out of that athletic department budget which at most big schools is funded mostly if not entirely by the football team. The athletic departments provide tutors for all student athletes. I know b/c that how I paid my way through college. I had football players and gymnasts. Even the smart ones are required to be in the study halls a certain amount of time every week.

 

[jterrell]

Football players should be treated better than track athletes or the women lacrosse team b/c football is a revenue generating sport and supports all the other sports. The athletic scholarships don't come out of the schools general funds. They come directly out of that athletic department budget which at most big schools is funded mostly if not entirely by the football team. The athletic departments provide tutors for all student athletes. I know b/c that how I paid my way through college. I had football players and gymnasts. Even the smart ones are required to be in the study halls a certain amount of time every week.

I understand as I was what is now called a P5 athlete in football.
I ate at the Athletic dining Hall (with a dietary directive) with many athletes across sports.
I also know a handful of athletes that attended zero tutoring or classes.
A few I am certain you have heard of.

I ultimately agree about revenue until you get to the part where schools ONLY want to offer athletic programs that make them money.

 

[jterrell]

Cam did not get paid millions or anything close to it. That is pure garbage that keeps getting passed around. The NCAA investigated the heck out of Cam and the school and could find nothing wrong. Literally nothing. Sure he probably got perks for being who he is but that is a far cry from claiming he got millions of dollars for attending Auburn. If he had accepted that much money and paid taxes on it, then it would have been a simple matter to investigate and punish. BUT, If he got that much money and didn't pay taxes on it, then it becomes much bigger than just an NCAA issue. That gets the IRS involved. Its all moot now b/c it didn't happen.

I think NIL deals are great. People who are old enough to vote and get killed in wars are old enough to earn money off their own image. The balance of power is shifted far more by the crazy transfer rules that anything else. Dieon Sanders is going to transform Colorado from last in the pac 10 to a top 20 program in just one offseason.

He got paid a quite large sum of money but it was likely not millions.
It is widely known and accepted.
Plenty of people are on the record including Charles Barkley who says he paid up to go in the kitty on that deal and that it was worth every penny. --He has also stated later he was joking about this but used the 200K detail very familiarly.

But three things we learned with that incident are:
1.Always pay cash.
2. Use cut outs so cash is never seen hitting a players hand directly or from any coach directly.
3. The NCAA had lost all power and control.

That became the de facto model.
The satchel of cash.

Cam Newton's representative made it known he would need 300K on arrival at any visit.
Miss St backed out, Florida and Auburn apparently paid it but Auburn offered some unknown additional incentives and won Newton.


-----=-
"I reported the conversation to the Mississippi State Athletic Department," Bond said. "I was told by the Athletic Department that Mississippi State would not respond to the overture that was made to me, and that Mississippi State would continue to recruit Cam Newton as it does any other football recruit."

ESPN.com, which first reported the story, cited unidentified people who said Bond's former teammate Kenny Rogers was the one soliciting payment. The website reported the school refused to get involved with Rogers, who has separately come under scrutiny from the NFL Players Association and the NCAA.

Rogers has a company called Elite Football Preparation, which holds camps in Alabama, Chicago and Mississippi, and matches football prospects with colleges.

Attempts by the AP to reach Rogers were unsuccessful.


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https://larrybrownsports.com/colleg...y-laundered-money-to-players-cam-newton/39981


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[Hawkeye0202]

I don't see how this changes what NFL GMs and coaches will evaluate players. The kids still have to play and produce on the field. That is really all that matters. Some of these guys will live up to the expectations and money and some won't.

This is true but there are things called character and maturation. Keep in mind, these kids are driven to be the best, spoiled by teammates, coaches, and parents that they are the best. Now give them access $500-1M in their bank account. Look, I'm not saying I would not draft them but the character, and background would be even more of a priority.

 

[Hawkeye0202]