I have no idea if Meyer is right or not, but I’ll bet he is close at least. NIL was created to help the student athlete but it seems all it has done is muddy the water.
John Papenhagen
Link to article
The Athletic has a related article today on NIL, featuring anonymous interviews with players, agents, coaches, and NIL collective leaders: Inside how college football’s transfer portal works: Coaches, players and agents dish on NIL - The Athletic It really sounds like NIL is driving the recruiting and transfer portal buses right now.
(I have five 30-day guest passes to The Athletic for those who want to read behind the paywall. )
Since NIL payments are more closely guarded than Top Secret Presidential documents, we don’t know for sure but I would not be at all surprised if there weren’t multiple players (and not just QBs) who will make more money from NIL in college than they will ever make in the NFL.
Matt Rhule is one of the few coaches who’s been up front about what it costs to get top players, and my guess is those numbers are out of date already.
I have said many times that the current state of NIL looks a lot like a money laundering scheme.
Yeah, NIL was intended to help the student through school and not make the student rich. That is in the past. I would guess Caitlin Clark, for example, would be set for life without ever playing a minute in the WNBA. There is more and there will be more.
John Papenhagen
I get it but the NCAA is in an unwinnable situation. They tried to prevent athletes from being paid based on their fame and that was crushed by the courts. The system we have is something that is actually legal.
One thing that always has to be considered when talking legal or illegal. Something is illegal only if it goes against the law. It doesn’t mean something is right or wrong.
Laws are meant to protect the citizen and in most cases they do that. But, there are cases where a law was passed believing it was for the best but later found out it isn’t working.
Laws are put in place by humans and humans do occasionally make mistakes. In my opinion that is what has happened with NIL. It was meant for good but it gotten out of hand.
John Papenhagen
What was illegal was the NCAA preventing athletes from making money. It was really bad and that’s what started this mess.
I remember in the early 90’s a Bball player on UNLV had a t shirt business that was successful enough that he gave up his scholarship and paid his way so he could play and still make some money. The NCAA made him stop the business or be declared ineligible.
The NIL was a result of the court case for EA sports royalties. Former NU QB Sam Keller, UCLA BBALL player Ed O’Bannon and others sued the NCAA because their likenesses were being used and the NCAA kept the money.
The EA sports case was certainly part of this mess. I think there’s a much broader causation here. The NCAA’s refusal to compromise in face of manifest injustice is what swayed public opinion against them in this area. And NIL came about partly but less because of the EA case and more because of an attempt to survive what looks like a mountain of pending anti-trust litigation.
I am certain that the IRS is going to get involved in the collectives and the DoJ may have some equities in investigating them as well. The are about as transparent as my oak front door. I think the anti-trust litigation is going to end the NCAA forever in the next five years and that the endstate is student athletes become employees of the athletic department subject to state disclosure and ethics laws.