Alabama football coach Nick Saban says Texas A&M 'bought every player,' questions whether current NIL model is sustainable

Gotta love the spectacle and absurdity of it. Weeks away from this




 

I'm outraged that someone has accused me of being a dishonest cheater.

I'm an honest cheater. There's a difference.
All the Bama players with their fancy wheels must all go to Honest Abe Nick for their car service.
 
Last edited:


Pure college athletics no longer exists. The pre-cursor was the NCAA’s neutered responses to blatant violations by prominent programs in the past. I love all things Gopher athletics but my admiration for college sports has taken a serious hit.

At the end of the day, the NFL will be the only credible sport to follow with their hard cap. Even with that, smart Cap managers can also manipulate the system. Awesome times when politics enters amateur athletics.
 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sec-...-seeing-just-straight-payments-174126956.html

SEC commissioner on NIL deals: ‘We’re seeing just straight payments’


Alabama football head coach Nick Saban alleged that Texas A&M is paying its players. Meanwhile, Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher has denied the claims, instead telling reporters to look into how Alabama runs its sport-dominating operation.

While the public bickering between two college football giants provided a humorous offseason moment, their argument highlighted a much larger issue with the state of name, image, and likeness (NIL) in the NCAA.

“There are some concerning trends,” Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey told Yahoo Finance. “We're not seeing name image and likeness activity — we're seeing just straight payments. And I think it's important that we recenter ourselves on what's supposed to be happening here and the desire to keep that activity out of recruitment to benefit young people economically but to do so in a healthy way.”

Yahoo Finance spoke with Sankey and five NCAA Division I athletic directors about the state of NIL at the Sports Business Journal Sports Business Awards on May 18. Their concerns and references to “chaos” rang true over the following 24 hours as Saban claimed Texas A&M “bought every player on their team,” and Fisher suggested reporters “dig into” how Saban has been so successful throughout the years.

The public display of displeasure with NIL policies comes as collectives, often organized by wealthy university donors, have taken over the NIL industry with direct payments to players regardless of what their name, image and likeness is worth. A Miami player recently signed a $800,000 deal around the time he transferred. ESPN reported a Boston College receiver was flashed six-figure deals to entice him to transfer. If either offer was made prior to the decision to transfer, it would be a direct violation of NCAA policies.

“We feel like we’re in a little bit of crisis, a little bit of chaos,” Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour, who was named Athletic Director of the Year at the event, told Yahoo Finance. “I think ‘chaos’ is the word that’s been used and so, I think we’ve got to find a solution pretty quickly.”

The solution likely won’t come anytime soon, though. Sankey doesn’t believe much will change within the market prior to kickoff of the 2022 season in August. With state laws impacting some schools, and not others, conferences are hamstrung regarding regulation. Schools want to remain competitive and have a compelling interest to stretch the rules as far as possible.

...


Sankey told Yahoo Finance he doesn’t believe the NCAA alone can solve the problem. He and coaches like Saban have instead called on Congress to develop broad rules.

“We've been clear about the need for a national standard and that you're going to have congressional activity,” Sankey said. “And whether or not Congress sees that as a need, the protection and support of college sports in a healthy way, is part of the conversation that's not going to adjust anytime soon.”
 


Pure college athletics no longer exists. The pre-cursor was the NCAA’s neutered responses to blatant violations by prominent programs in the past. I love all things Gopher athletics but my admiration for college sports has taken a serious hit.

At the end of the day, the NFL will be the only credible sport to follow with their hard cap. Even with that, smart Cap managers can also manipulate the system. Awesome times when politics enters amateur athletics.

- I'm not sure "pure" college athletics ever existed. Certainly not in my lifetime, and I'm 65 years old.

- Regarding the NFL and their hard salary cap: why must there be a salary cap for employees? Why shouldn't an NFL owner be able to pay his or her players whatever the free market can bear? I guess we love capitalism and the free market, until it messes up our entertainment. Then we don't love it anymore.
 

- I'm not sure "pure" college athletics ever existed. Certainly not in my lifetime, and I'm 65 years old.

- Regarding the NFL and their hard salary cap: why must there be a salary cap for employees? Why shouldn't an NFL owner be able to pay his or her players whatever the free market can bear? I guess we love capitalism and the free market, until it messes up our entertainment. Then we don't love it anymore.
The NFL has the weakest union of any major sport.
 

Seems to me the best solution of the NIL controversy would be no NILmoney awarded until the players SECOND year at the institution. Thus no recruiting advantage, no NIL money until the player proves himself. Would seem to me the boosters would approve so as they aren’t spending money on a recruiting mistake.
 

Seems to me the best solution of the NIL controversy would be no NILmoney awarded until the players SECOND year at the institution. Thus no recruiting advantage, no NIL money until the player proves himself. Would seem to me the boosters would approve so as they aren’t spending money on a recruiting mistake.
That might help a little on the recruiting front but it would just shift the focus to poaching players off rosters. Until they figure out a way to make sure NIL deals are you know actually NIL deals as opposed to straight payments this mess is just going to get worse in football and basketball as more and more schools figure out ways to give players money through collectives.

The real shame is seeing something that was long overdue bastardized into something it was never intended to be. Not that anyone anywhere should be surprised this is what happened. Was easy to see coming from a mile away.
 









Top Bottom