BleedGopher
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Per Norlander:
Five years ago, more than 4,400 Division I men's basketball players were legally and collectively paid a grand total of $0 in NIL earnings. That number is now promised to be in the hundreds of millions.
"It's insane," one high-major assistant told me late last week on the imbalance between how good a player is (or isn't) and how much money they're seeking.
This has been the feeling ever since so-called NIL compensation was made allowable almost four years ago, but it's exacerbated to cartoonish levels with each passing year. The coach quoted above had been recruiting a mid-major player who wasn't even top-three on his team in scoring. Nevertheless, this coach liked what he saw and thought the player could transfer up and maybe fight his way into the starting lineup. His school offered the player north of $500,000 -- more than the coaching staff wanted, but bidding wars lead to some strange recruiting tributaries.
They didn't get the player.
A competing school swiftly came over the top and signed him for $1 million. (Another coach I checked in with to verify the story claimed the number is in fact $1.2 million.) The player was so bowled over by the offer, he signed a contract even before eventually calling and telling the other school what he'd done.
"I could hear it in his voice, just how shocked he was by the amount of money they were promising him," the coach who lost out said.
This is a role player on a mid-major that failed to make the NCAA Tournament. He'll be paid at least $1 million next season.
That's one story. There are hundreds more.
As one general manager at the Power Five level told me this week: "You can't even verify some of these numbers. What's real? What are we bidding against?"
"All of these numbers are insane," an SEC assistant texted Wednesday. "Going to have 4-5 guys [on our roster] making way more than me!
"
While the reasons for college basketball's explosion in player pricing are many, one big culprit is the domino effect from the richest programs in basketball. Approximately a dozen schools are inflating the market because they have the capital to do so and the thirst to chase almost any player, regardless of how big the price tag. This dynamic has fattened in a matter of months.
A year ago, a handful of schools were able to easily clear $5 million. But now? That budget number has doubled -- minimally -- as has the quantity of programs with eight-figure accounts. A recent tweet from 247Sports' Travis Branham shed light on how much money is being injected into the fortunate upper echelon of college basketball.
www.cbssports.com
Go Gophers!!
Five years ago, more than 4,400 Division I men's basketball players were legally and collectively paid a grand total of $0 in NIL earnings. That number is now promised to be in the hundreds of millions.
"It's insane," one high-major assistant told me late last week on the imbalance between how good a player is (or isn't) and how much money they're seeking.
This has been the feeling ever since so-called NIL compensation was made allowable almost four years ago, but it's exacerbated to cartoonish levels with each passing year. The coach quoted above had been recruiting a mid-major player who wasn't even top-three on his team in scoring. Nevertheless, this coach liked what he saw and thought the player could transfer up and maybe fight his way into the starting lineup. His school offered the player north of $500,000 -- more than the coaching staff wanted, but bidding wars lead to some strange recruiting tributaries.
They didn't get the player.
A competing school swiftly came over the top and signed him for $1 million. (Another coach I checked in with to verify the story claimed the number is in fact $1.2 million.) The player was so bowled over by the offer, he signed a contract even before eventually calling and telling the other school what he'd done.
"I could hear it in his voice, just how shocked he was by the amount of money they were promising him," the coach who lost out said.
This is a role player on a mid-major that failed to make the NCAA Tournament. He'll be paid at least $1 million next season.
That's one story. There are hundreds more.
As one general manager at the Power Five level told me this week: "You can't even verify some of these numbers. What's real? What are we bidding against?"
"All of these numbers are insane," an SEC assistant texted Wednesday. "Going to have 4-5 guys [on our roster] making way more than me!
"While the reasons for college basketball's explosion in player pricing are many, one big culprit is the domino effect from the richest programs in basketball. Approximately a dozen schools are inflating the market because they have the capital to do so and the thirst to chase almost any player, regardless of how big the price tag. This dynamic has fattened in a matter of months.
A year ago, a handful of schools were able to easily clear $5 million. But now? That budget number has doubled -- minimally -- as has the quantity of programs with eight-figure accounts. A recent tweet from 247Sports' Travis Branham shed light on how much money is being injected into the fortunate upper echelon of college basketball.
The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos
The price of talent is spiking to record amounts -- again -- now with hundreds of millions at stake in college hoops' unregulated economy
www.cbssports.com
Go Gophers!!
