Interesting NIL Perspective

[AdamOnFirst]

Was on a call with an FCS HC earlier this week and a question was asked about the guys on the roster from Florida, how they were doing etc., and it led to an interesting comment:

The school’s NIL collective was able to step in and help a couple of the families in evacuation areas with some of their expenses, ie, put them in a hotel instead of some school gym, help pay for the gas, a couple got satellite phones to stay in touch, little things like that. It was cited as one of the positive things NIL allows programs to do for their players and families now.

Different level of ball than the million dollar contracts at the power conference level, but a reminder what positive impact the players being able to receive money from the sport can be.

 

[NUCat320]

Was on a call with an FCS HC earlier this week and a question was asked about the guys on the roster from Florida, how they were doing etc., and it led to an interesting comment:

The school’s NIL collective was able to step in and help a couple of the families in evacuation areas with some of their expenses, ie, put them in a hotel instead of some school gym, help pay for the gas, a couple got satellite phones to stay in touch, little things like that. It was cited as one of the positive things NIL allows programs to do for their players and families now.

Different level of ball than the million dollar contracts at the power conference level, but a reminder what positive impact the players being able to receive money from the sport can be.

Memories of anecdotal horror stories from decades ago. “They bring in millions of dollars for the university, but we couldn’t even buy him a plane ticket for his grandmother’s funeral.”

Some of the hypocrisy is being removed. I understand lots of people hate that these players have even more freedom than pros at this point, but it’s because they were starting from a century of no freedom, of indentured servitude, and the public finally realized the absurdity of the system.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Memories of anecdotal horror stories from decades ago. “They bring in millions of dollars for the university, but we couldn’t even buy him a plane ticket for his grandmother’s funeral.”

Some of the hypocrisy is being removed. I understand lots of people hate that these players have even more freedom than pros at this point, but it’s because they were starting from a century of no freedom, of indentured servitude, and the public finally realized the absurdity of the system.

Honestly public opinion is utterly detached from nearly all of this, it's being nearly entirely hammered out by the courts. The general public's only real contribution is eyeballs.

As to that horror story, I know at least one former NFL player (not a name most would recognize, but played for nearly a decade with one team) who played in the heart of the Big Ten but is from the east coast. His parents never saw him play in college due to cost of travel (he was a mega star in the conference at the time) and he missed nearly every (maybe every) holiday break at home all four years, also due to cost of getting too and from campus.

Things are much better now.

 

[NUCat320]

Honestly public opinion is utterly detached from nearly all of this, it's being nearly entirely hammered out by the courts. The general public's only real contribution is eyeballs.

Public opinion drove the courts’ willingness to end the charade, I believe.

(There are a few issues where courts choose not to behave in line with public opinion, but those are … different types of issues… Climate of the era, not weather of the day.)