“The existence of “Bagman NIL” (pay-for-play, athletic salaries, whatever you want to call it) has actually introduced a chilling impact on true marketing activity. I’ve heard from so many school officials, agents, marketing reps and brands that getting athletes to actually do marketing work has become much harder. If you’re getting $500,000 for “nothing” (i.e. just playing football at a high level), why would you be interested in getting $2,000 for a marketing activation that actually requires some level of work?”
More on a broken system:
“If we don’t have talent on the field or the basketball court … we have no opportunity at all to increase our revenue streams,” he said. “If you stop spending now, you lose.”
That may be the truest sentence spoken about college athletics this year.
"Because everyone understands the trap.
If you stop spending, you fall behind competitively. If you keep spending, you deepen the financial hole."
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Take the path to not being broke.
I pray your title to this topic is right - oh do I pray. I for one am ashamed at what my sport has become and sickened when I hear players give up a degree from Miami to just get more cash now. Have you ever watched the Youtube I believe of the female financial guru give the speech to a room of college athletes from various teams at an obvious D1 school informing those now “semi-pros” what tax brackets mean, lease deal nightmares, etc? The look on their faces - priceless. Players paid more than their Assistant coaches and definitely more than their professors - not that many NILers grace a classroom thanks to online coursework, makes the state of D1 college athletics so many things I cannot put into words without profanity. The monetary value of the actual college education/degree gets an “eh” response anymore from NIL athletes, while their college age fans/peers in the stands face insane debt for decades all to obtain that same degree. The NCAA created this mess and I doubt has the morals or guts to fix it. Ok…climbing down from my box.
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The NCAA did not create this. I hate when people say that. The NCAA tried diligently to stop this and lost, and lost, and lost again. (O’Bannon vs NCAA 2014), (NCAA v Alston 2021), (Fair Pay to Play Act CA 2023) and the myriad of other state regulations that have passed. And they cant fix it because they will lose again. This needs federal intervention by congress. Until then its just noise as every state can do whatever the hell they want, (here’s looking at you Mississippi and Tennessee). So while I agree with your sentiment overall, the target of your animosity is not factually correct.
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If you think the NCAA is the culprit (or only culprit) here, you have been greatly misinformed or you simply haven’t been paying attention. Secondly, if you believe that before the NIL era student-athletes (or any college student, for that matter) were some how more financially literate than today, you are again grossly mistaken.
I believe “back in the day” when for example, the NCAA made such strict transfer rules for athletes while at the same time signing the big media deals so as to “stay up with the Jones” aka conference big boys while…follow along… at the same time treating the different sports so nauseating different - bling enough to gag on for a few, bare minimum for everyone else…that’s when the NCAA showed their hand. Speaking from personal experience, when an athletic department has its annual rule book reaching 2 3/4" thick and yet examples exist like a) not putting the athletes’ safety first (physicians not allowed to sit in the booths overhead watching for brain injuries in football or soccer but do in the pros), while b) the student-athlete’s scholarship security is a joke as D1 coaches have 2 players on the same scholarship offer “compete” during spring semester, while c) playing the role of marketing director, police, and judge all while only asking for a signature on a piece of paper at the end of the school year from each employee of each D1 athletic department confirms he/she did not witness any NCAA rules being broken AND THEN turns it into the respective ADs who sends the documents to NCAA headquarters as per the blessed manual (you truly have to be brain dead stupid to get caught breaking the blessed rules as a department and/or very secure in your savings to sign that document truthfully) that all led to the joke of the entity we call the NCAA. Yes, IMHO when the NCAA took over the AIAW back in the 80’s, that showed the impact a Federal entity could have on bettering college sport decades ago. But once Title IX gave women the great opportunities it did, it only led to certain men’s sports take a huge financial hit and ultimately end while a certain others choked on that aforementioned NCAA-allowed bling… showed its hand and lost its way all the way back then. Lived it - witnessed it. And to ejt40…oh the target of my animosity is most certainly factually correct - I was offered a job by the NCAA once - told them to stick it where the sun will never shine but did so using my best Miami education verbage of course. They blew the foundation that was asked to uphold and the marketing charade since is exposed for all to see leading to these NIL deals. Incredibly sad.
To many people lose the difference in these terms, which is understandable as the ESPN talking heads do it all the time. NIL is name, image, likeness. That is what the article at the top of this thread is talking about being dead. Not roster money contracts. Those are alive, well and thriving. Simply stated NIL is dead because college athletes now can sign contracts and get paid without having to do any other work than play the sport.
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This isn’t all at the NCAA’s feet by a long shot, but showing even the slightest bit of forethought back in, say, the 1990s would have come a long way toward preventing what this became. The amateurism thing was going to work until it wasn’t, and rather than plan for the next world, they insisted on amateurism or bust until they ran up against judges who wouldn’t tolerate it.
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Soon as sports became a revenue driver, it was over.
And glad NIL is dead. The athletes bring in the money and recognition. Better to get paid for that work than for doing a used car dealer commercial.
Want to make sports be about the student athlete? Don’t limit the students. Cap the price of a ticket. Amateur scholastic events shouldn’t cost much to watch.
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Athletes bring in the money at what….5 schools….otherwise, they’re a drain on the system
When will “Student fees” come under scrutiny?
Did Miami ever teach you about paragraphs?
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NIL v. Roster Money-Explanatory Chart:
Key Differences
| Feature [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] | NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) | Roster Money (Revenue Sharing) |
|---|---|---|
| Source of Funds | Third-party businesses, alumni, and fan-run collectives. | The university’s athletic department (tv rights, ticket sales, etc.). |
| Purpose | Brand endorsements, marketing, appearances, and autographs. | Compensation for being on the team, participating, and remaining on the roster. |
| Regulatory Cap | Unlimited; determined by fair-market value and what external groups are willing to pay. | Capped; the NCAA sets a strict annual limit on the exact dollar amount schools can share with athletes. |
| Tax Status | Taxed as independent contractor/self-employment income. | Often processed more like an employee wage with taxes withheld. |
You’re talking about athletic departments as a whole (and it’s more than five).
There’s two immediate counter-arguments:
- There’s zero incentive for a school to be frugal in spending. If they have the money, they’ll dump it on facilities, coaching salaries, etc…
- There’s no reason the football/basketball players (or other sports at a handful of schools) shouldn’t be considered a drain just because the AD as a whole is forced by the NCAA/Title IX to subsidy other sports.
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Was reading about Nojus Indrusaitis, a Chicago kid who started at Lemont HS, then transferred to St Rita HS, briefly at St Laurence HS, then to Brewster Academy (NH) for his Senior year. Played his Freshman college year at Iowa State, his sophomore year at Pitt and will play his junior year at Cal-Berkley.
His longest stint at a school is the 2 years at St. Rita.
Ain’t the whole NIL thing grand? 
Brewster…is it Punky Brewster…or Brewster’s Millions….
Brewster’s Millions.
Nice.
Nice…..
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Brewster Academy is a NEPSAC D2 prep school in beautiful Wolfesboro, NH. I’ve been on its campus several times. Its athletics niche has been as a basketball PG year provider for talented D1 players who need an intensive year of training on how to be a real student in order to survive academically in college. There has also been an emphasis on preparing foreign players for being a college student/athlete.
Cheshire Academy has played a similar role for football.
Can he read?
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