In July of 2021, name, image and likeness officially went into effect in collegiate sports, meaning athletes could now make money on their personal brand. Unsurprisingly, it took off and is a major aspect of today’s college sports world. But has it been a good or bad thing?
Well, it depends who you’re a fan of. If you root for “rich teams,” you probably love that your university can now pay player after player to don your school’s colors. The University of Oregon football team has certainly benefited from an “unlimited” NIL fund courtesy of “Uncle Phil” Knight himself.
If you grew up rooting for Akron or Kennesaw State, you might have strong feelings about rich schools ‘buying players’. If a school doesn’t have substantial NIL funds, it simply will not be able to recruit on the same level as other programs.
It’s no secret. Everybody knows it. Some even poke fun at it. For instance, before Marshall University’s game against Ohio State, Marshall head coach Charles Huff jokingly offered unlimited biscuits to any Ohio State players that transferred to his program. NIL has clearly and swiftly divided college football into specific tiers, no longer by talent, but by budget.
NIL has also hurt some players and set their careers back. For instance, two University of Las Vegas Nevada players — including the starting quarterback — have announced in the past week that they would be sitting out the rest of the season and transferring due to unfulfilled NIL promises.
This is a new aspect of the transfer portal that not many saw coming. Everyone anticipated players leaving poorer teams for greener pastures (bigger paychecks), but a school flat-out not holding up its end of a bargain? Absurd. Seems like a good way to ensure UNLV never gets a good recruit again. Talk about a PR nightmare.
As far as Oregon’s move to the Big Ten goes, the Ducks again benefit from NIL. This new money will separate the rich teams in the conference from the poor, setting the more-wealthy programs up for success. Expect to see the financial powerhouses (Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State and Nebraska) create a large gap from the rest of the conference.
So, for players, NIL has undoubtedly been a massive success. Fans of programs with deep pockets say “keep the talent coming,” but the loyalty that was college football has shifted from loyalty to a team or a coach to loyalty to a bag full of cash.
