Arrival of NIL doesn't have to change college sports
Berry TramelOklahoman
The shotgun blast sounded at midnight. The earnings restrictions on NCAA athletes were gone, and some were ready.
Quarterbacks McKenzie Milton of Florida State and D’Eriq King of Miami announced late at night their partnership with Dreamfield, a platform focused on booking live events for student-athletes.
A few hours later, OSU wrestling star A.J. Ferrari announced he had signed with wrestling apparel company Nearfall.
Then OU quarterback Spencer Rattler released his new marketing logo, complete with a snakehead coming out of the S for Spencer.
Everyone associated with collegiate athletics, from NCAA administrators all the way to fans, appear to be in much angst over what the new Name/Image/Likeness freedom means. What will happen? What to do?
Everyone except the athletes, that is. They knew what to do. Market themselves and cash in.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
The Friday ScissorTales looks at OSU's exceptional all-sports year, and we continue our series of repicking NBA Drafts. But we start with the brave new world of Name/Image/Likeness.
The NIL era began Thursday, and it should be the best of both worlds for college sports. The athletes who long have felt exploited finally will get paid. But the universities don’t have to pay them. A market economy is a beautiful thing.
I’m no expert on NIL, and I don’t know if anyone is. But I do have some thoughts.
► Everybody settle down.
It’s silly to believe that NIL is going to change college sports as we know it. It’s likely to change the lives of athletes, but it's not likely to change the sporting landscape.
The NCAA’s immediate-eligibility rule for transfers has a far bigger impact than NIL. College sports are changing. But not because of NIL.
► Competitive (im)balance will not be affected.
Is Alabama suddenly going to struggle to recruit? Is Alabama suddenly going to have greater recruiting advantages?
Before NIL, Alabama gets most of whoever it wants. Why is NIL going to change that? And on a lesser scale, the same is true of Clemson in the Atlantic Coast, OU in the Big 12, Ohio State in the Big Ten, and on down the line.
Basketball, same way.
Now, other sports could be different. Baseball, for instance, only hands out 11.7 scholarships per year, divided up among 30 or so players. A sharp baseball player who knows how to make money via NIL avenues could migrate to the Southeastern Conference powers, where baseball players are regional celebrities, and make some cash that would offset the discrepancy in a lesser scholarship. But we’ll have to see.
► Star players don’t have the corner on NIL riches.
Yes, it helps to be Rattler or Spencer Sanders or Brock Purdy or some big-time quarterback. But the biggest NIL winners will be those who know how to market themselves via social media.
We’ve all read the stories of athletes we’ve never heard of but who have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, and how those numbers appeal to business entrepreneurs.
Firing a tight spiral 50 yards downfield is beneficial in the economic arena. But knowing how to brand yourself is even better.
► Don’t worry about jealousy.
Old-time coaches are quite concerned that chemistry issues will arise from a quarterback making $100,000 on NIL will be counting on blocking from a left guard making $475 on NIL.
I certainly suppose that’s possible. But are there chemistry issues on staffs with a coach making $5 million a year, counting on a receivers coach to beat the bushes for talent making $200,000? Are there chemistry issues now, with some players driving sportscars purchased by their parents and some players without the money to see a movie?
Probably the answer is yes. And still teams function.
► The transfer portal and NIL don’t have to be a combustible mix.
Some worry that the transfer portal will go into overdrive, when you add the NIL factor.
But I don’t see it. First off, the portal is in overdrive already.
Players are transferring en masse for two primary reasons: they’re having success and want to try a bigger stage (higher level, stronger league, more prestigious program), or they’re not having success and want a fresh start with more opportunity.
Could economic wanderlust creep in? Sure, it’s possible. But a player who’s content with his role and his athletic environment isn’t likely cast a wavering eye at geography when it comes to economic benefit.
Us old-timers think of Alabama car dealers as the source for all this NIL money. But that’s nonsense. The black gold is social media. And players can strike that from anywhere.
► Rogue boosters are not the boogeyman.
Does NIL give boosters carte blanche to funnel money to athletes? Yes. Will boosters funnel money to athletes? Yes. Is this a huge problem? I don’t see how.
The basketball coach at LSU, on this very day, is Will Wade. The same Will Wade who was captured on FBI wiretaps three years ago talking about buying players.
The NCAA got out of the enforcement business long ago. It’s time to stop worrying about the corruption and just learn to live with it.
And heck, for all I know, the new transfer rules will cause rogue boosters to settle down. They like their money as much as the rest of us like money. Maybe they’ll ask, do I really want to give Johnny Linebacker $10,000, when he could pop into the portal next week?
Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen with NIL.
But I know that the International Olympic Committee spent almost a century fighting the relaxation of amateur rules. The Olympic movement not only survived the fall of amateurism, it has thrived.
I know that professional sports considered free agency the devil incarnate. Turns out, the lack of free agency was what impeded the entertainment of sports.
I know that new OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg pointed out Thursday that the addition of cost-of-attendance to athletic scholarships was painted as a radical revolution, and now, “We don’t even talk about it.”
Who knows what NIL will bring? But there is no reason to believe it will change anything of substance except the amount of money in athletes’ pockets.
