NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) where college athletes can make money off of their names and brands while attending prestigious colleges and universities. The places where these young athletes make billions of dollars for the schools they attend through ticket sales, merchandising and TV deals. It’s been a long time coming and athletes are finally making significant money from brands they should’ve been getting paid for decades ago. These athletes are making money off of the backs of former college athletes who carried basketball and football to new heights. But now comes a myriad of problems with this…the transfer portal.
With athletes no longer being forced to sit out a year before they’re eligible to participate in their specific sport, kids are moving on from college and universities as if they’re leaving a big corporation in America. That spells problems for head coaches, other universities and also the mind of the athlete.
Here’s where things get interesting. A young kid has a right to make the decisions they choose to go to school. The question becomes how many times can an athlete transfer? When you see someone transferring from one school to the next, it becomes the question of why? Is it coaching, is it family and friends in an athlete’s ear telling them to transfer for better opportunities, is it a better NIL deal at another school being promised to the athlete? All of these questions and not many answers.
Next becomes the athlete and how mentally tough and strong they are to ride the bench for a while before their opportunity comes. The kid who is not getting time on the court or field who was the man/woman at the high school level is dealing with a little adversity and they feel it’s time to go. The majority of these athletes won’t play professionally and will join the confines of Corporate America when it’s all said and done.
Now when a kid goes into Corporate America, they’re not getting the money they deserve or the promotion they want, are they ready to bail? Then again, there isn’t much loyalty in the corporate world at this point of the world. But when the going gets tough, a lot of athletes are gone. The reality of it is, the top athletes who are bound to play pro, most of them won’t transfer as quickly but some are starting to.
There are those who will say NIL and the college transfer portal is ruining sports. What about coaches who are willingly able to leave schools and go somewhere else after they recruited certain players? Do they get as much scrutiny as these young athletes who are entering the transfer portal? Some kids know they’re not playing professionally so if an NIL deal can set themselves up for success when they get their diplomas, then why not, right?
What happens with the coaches though? Are they under more pressure to play athletes and give them what they want or will they stick with what they feel is best and risk losing an athlete to the transfer portal? A prime example of this is the University of North Carolina Tarheels Men’s Basketball Team who lost six players to the transfer portal when the season ended. Does it make Hubert Davis’ image look bad or is it kids wanting their time on the court and not riding the pine as a cheerleader when another coach will promise them the playing time they want?
Now it’s not just coaches looking at high school athletes and junior college players for their teams, but also other athletes at other schools. It wasn’t as prevalent years ago but now that’s the case with basketball and football. How do coaches go about recruiting with NIL deals on the table? Does it change the landscape of how coaches recruit now? Maybe it does for some, but the prestigious coaches, it might not.
I watched a great interview with University of Texas Football Coach Steve Sarkisian on 'The Pivot' podcast with Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder. Coach Sarkisian addressed the NIL deals, coaching and recruiting. He stated that NIL deals are the last thing he discusses. He talks about the prestige of the University of Texas, the winning culture, the opportunity to win, work hard and then NIL deals. He understands and knows the realities of it but did say that when a kid wants to leave, he can’t come back.
While the men are making good money with NIL deals, so are the women’s basketball players. There are athletes like Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson, Hailey Van Lith and others who are making millions off of their name, image and likeness. In a nutshell, they’re making more money than professional athletes in the WNBA. Which is concerning if you look at the bigger picture of it.
The WNBA has been in existence for 25+ years and they’ve finally addressed maternity leave, pay raises and contracts and other issues that plague the league. This is where Angel Reese, the NCAA champion of the LSU Tigers said on The Pivot podcast that she’s in no rush to go to the WNBA. I mean, do you blame her?
Hailey Van Lith, a star athlete and future WNBA guard has taken advantage of the transfer portal along with her NIL deals and moved on from the Louisville Cardinals and transferred to the champion LSU Tigers. In hindsight, the NCAA has turned into a free agent frenzy as if this was the NBA or NFL and it’s exciting in a lot of ways.
The NCAA is learning about a lot and the future of college sports on the fly and I know it’s been challenging in so many ways. The good news is the women’s basketball side is growing significantly because of the parity, the teams and the star athletes. So the NIL deal has been a gift in a lot of ways.
Who knows how the NCAA is going to tweak and change things going forward with NIL deals and the transfer portal. I know that athletic directors and presidents of college and universities have more to deal with than they imagined. Now comes how long do you hold onto coaches when kids transfer, how much leeway do coaches get with that on the palette? How do they manage keeping kids happy and getting a full college experience (with the exception of those going pro with men’s college basketball)?
There’s so much to discuss in the coming months and even years but it is good to see kids making good money off of their name and image. They’ve earned it and even if some of them don’t play professionally, they have money to invest, travel and do things they love and are passionate about.
Remember, only 3-4% of college athletes go on to play professionally in their specific sport. That’s a very small percentage so to make money in school while getting an education is huge.
The future is bright with NIL deals, but it also spells a lot of questions to answer. Always remember, money talks and a lot of kids are going to walk….
