How would you fix NIL/Portal if you ran the NCAA

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StudentSectionMenace said:
For NIL I would ban collectives and funds such as Dinkytown Athletics. I would make it so that only businesses approved by the NCAA can offer NIL deals for players and every NIL deal should be documented and be close to the actual value of the NIL. So for example, a national Wendy's ad is worth a lot (maybe like $500,000) whereas an appearance at a local diner should be less (like $1,000). The idea here is that players are still getting paid for their Name Image and Likeness and players like Caleb Williams are still able to get their value, but it stops boosters from directly paying players through NIL "donations".

EDIT: Dinkytown selling branded shirts and apparel would be ok as long as it is reasonably priced, but I would get rid of the donation aspect of it.
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With all due respect, this sounds impossible. The NCAA would have their hands full going through the approval process, not to mention the litigation that would result when millionaire/billionaire boosters' and their businesses get left out. And, as we all know how the NCAA operates, it would be an inconsistent shitshow.

I think altering the transfer rules is the best option. Any talk of regulating how much a player makes on NIL, a team's combined NIL, or who can donate to NIL is a fallacy.

One good thing about collectives is that the money is spread out to most, if not all, players. Not just the superstars.
 

NIL thing is what it is and much of the funny money we hear about is probably bogus. A couple things I would love to see though that would help get things under control.

1. Remove immediate eligibility for non grad-transfers. Go back to making guys sit a year if they want to transfer. That would curb a lot of the poaching that is clearly going on.

2. Find a way to punish teams for poaching guys. Easier said than done but if a player isn't in the portal nobody should be contacting them. However we all know it is happening.

3. If they don't remove the immediate eligibility part in 1 at the very least 100% enforce making second time transfers sit a year. No waivers. If you transfer a second time as a non grad-transfer you sit.
 

I'd like to make commitments more binding in both directions. Players can transfer only if they get their undergrad degree. No restrictions on finding a school with a program your school doesn't have, you are a student and you can seek a grad degree at any program that will have you. Otherwise, you can go to a new school, but won't be playing D1 football.

Flipside to this, scholarships are guaranteed for four years to the player. You ask a kid to commit to your school, he gets a four year atheltic scholarship (short of for cause disciplinary issues).

Also like to see rules preventing you from hiring a coach under contract. In the NFL, you can't take a player under contract for three more years, poach him, and just pay the buyout. Should be same with college coaches. You sign a five year contract, you don't coach at another school for five years.
 

FredCoxRocks said:
With all due respect, this sounds impossible. The NCAA would have their hands full going through the approval process, not to mention the litigation that would result when millionaire/billionaire boosters' and their businesses get left out. And, as we all know how the NCAA operates, it would be an inconsistent shitshow.

I think altering the transfer rules is the best option. Any talk of regulating how much a player makes on NIL, a team's combined NIL, or who can donate to NIL is a fallacy.

One good thing about collectives is that the money is spread out to most, if not all, players. Not just the superstars.
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I don't think an approval process would be impossible, but you would have to hire a number of employees whos full time job would be approving businesses. If you don't want to go that route, you could establish very strict and clear rules on which businesses are allowed to hire players for NIL purposes and provide guidelines for the value of a players NIL and the service given. Boosters' businesses would not be disqualified, but rather regulated so that they cannot give a million for a single appearance. Schools would be required to document the deals and then would be subject to random audits and are guaranteed an audit once every 3 years.
 

FredCoxRocks said:
Preventing a US citizen from making money? I'm not a political science or government studies major but doesn't that go against our basic rights?
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Nothing is preventing them from making money as long as they stay at their original school. Leaving is a choice, and with that choice comes consequences I think is all the OP is saying.
 


StudentSectionMenace said:
I don't think an approval process would be impossible, but you would have to hire a number of employees whos full time job would be approving businesses. If you don't want to go that route, you could establish very strict and clear rules on which businesses are allowed to hire players for NIL purposes and provide guidelines for the value of a players NIL and the service given. Boosters' businesses would not be disqualified, but rather regulated so that they cannot give a million for a single appearance. Schools would be required to document the deals and then would be subject to random audits and are guaranteed an audit once every 3 years.
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Sounds like a good idea, but we know how the NCAA has enforced strict and clear rules throughout the history of college sports. I just think NIL can never effectively be policed by the NCAA. In a scenario where a player is given the maximum amount allowed for his services, history shows us that more $ would/could easily be given under the table by the bagman.
 

Amateurism is never coming back in full, that train left the station long ago.

In my opinion, the answer is to convert the sports to for-profit athletic clubs affiliated with the Universities. Discontinue scholarships and academic requirements for players, pay the players a salary along with NIL. If they choose to attend class using their salary, great! If not, that's their choice.
 

StudentSectionMenace said:
For NIL I would ban collectives and funds such as Dinkytown Athletics. I would make it so that only businesses approved by the NCAA can offer NIL deals for players and every NIL deal should be documented and be close to the actual value of the NIL. So for example, a national Wendy's ad is worth a lot (maybe like $500,000) whereas an appearance at a local diner should be less (like $1,000). The idea here is that players are still getting paid for their Name Image and Likeness and players like Caleb Williams are still able to get their value, but it stops boosters from directly paying players through NIL "donations".

EDIT: Dinkytown selling branded shirts and apparel would be ok as long as it is reasonably priced, but I would get rid of the donation aspect of it.
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One thing lost in your idea is the concept of some random fan like us running into a player and offering $20 for a pic and autograph or something. Do I have to register with the NCAA first?
 

MplsGopher said:
Also yes agree fully, the only way you solve NIL now is the way the NFL does: you make it irrelevant

There is NIL in the NFL. Superstars make serious bucks doing actual endorsements. State Farm Mahomes, etc.

Lower guys can probably still make a buck here and there too.

But nobody talks about. Nobody cares. All that matters is …. salaries!


That’s what it will have to be in college. That’s the only way.
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I agree in general. I think the contractor employment method mentioned above also has merit and might also free up the university in terms of Title 9 and benefits compared to full employment. That's how many other entertainment and professional services industries do it.
 



T9 they’ll have to use a different prong to show compliance. There are three.

Previously, you could just point to the number of male and female scholarships to demonstrate compliance.

In the new world, if your football “payroll” is 2x the combined payroll of all female sports … yeah.


The spirit of the law was equal opportunity to participate. They’ve achieved that, in spades. As much as it’s going to be.

You can’t force equal pay when the fan interest isn’t equal.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
One thing lost in your idea is the concept of some random fan like us running into a player and offering $20 for a pic and autograph or something. Do I have to register with the NCAA first?
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Always gonna be a loose thread in an idea written in a paragraph. But you could set a minimum reporting number, like anything under $500 (or whatever you want that number to be) doesn't have to be reported. The problem with NIL isn't random fans giving a player a couple bucks for an autograph/picture. The problem is boosters essentially buying players so that they come to their schools. There's always going to be loopholes but I feel like my plan would at least make it harder and more risky for boosters to do that.
 

mnsportsgeek said:
I would get rid of all this non-sense and make it simple. Contracts.

Player signs a contract with the school and is paid by the school. You want to be paid like an adult then you get treated like every other adult athlete. Conferences or the NCAA can implement a salary cap. Or not. I don't really care about that part.

Contracts regulate the transfer portal. You've got a 2 year deal with USC? Sorry, you aren't transferring till your junior year. Contracts allow the program to be ambitious instead of relying on boosters to pay players for them. You will still have to regulate NIL in addition to this because the Supreme Court said so, but allowing schools to write their own checks levels the playing field a bit.

I would also start a transfer market and allow schools to "sell" their superstars that are under contract to helmet schools. This "sale" would obviously be contingent on the player agreeing to contract terms with the new school.

At the end of the day, stop operating under the guise of amateurism. Because it's killing the sport.
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This contract-based system seems like a very reasonable and doable method that I think is already used in other industries. If fact, I'd be surprised if NIL providers aren't already considering contracts to manage risk. It would be stupid not to. Don't musical and entertainment artists commonly operate under this type of system?

Sign all players to contracts. Got a late bloomer that blows up enough that other teams want to poach and the player wants to leave? Great, sell that player's contract at a premium. Got an overpaid 5-star that didn't pan out? That player leaves at a much lower cost.
 
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NCAA ain't ever going to regulate NIL and the inevitable lawsuits. The only reasonable thing would be to restrict movement via transfer. 1. No freshman transfer without a coach change,honor the commitment made 1yr prior. 2. all non grad transfer must sit a year
 

Some good thoughts
MNfootballfan said:
Curious to see what your plans would be if you were in charge of the NCAA and how you would fix the entire NIL/Transfer Portal situation? For starters, I am not against the Transfer Portal. I think there are some major positives to it for the players. I think it sucks for fans and coaches. Part of the fun of being a fan is seeing players progress and getting to "know" them. I also think it makes it harder for coaches because it seems like you have to recruit your own team harder than those not on your team.

With that being said, giving kids a chance to move to a better situation for themselves is allowed. Lesser known players like JJ Gudet can move to a lower level team and have a much better chance to play. Higher profile players like Jalen Hurts may not be in the NFL right now without the portal. History has proved only a handful of backup quarterbacks get drafted into the NFL.

With that being said, here are two solutions I would possibly incorporate if given the opportunity.

Transfer Portal Solutions
1) Get rid of redshirting (medical redshirting allowed). Players are given 5 full years of eligibility. Anytime you transfer (end of semester/year) you are immediately eligible but it costs you a year of eligibility.
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2) Players get free transfers after their second year and fourth year of college. Any other year they have to sit out a season. This gives coaches a chance to at least kind of plan who is going to be on their roster.

NIL Solutions
* I don't have any good solutions for players coming out of high school that would make sense.
1) Players are not eligible for NIL after a transfer. You can only earn NIL at your original school. I think this would eliminate buying players from other schools.
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2) If a player transfers and receives NIL money the receiving school has to give the sending school the same amount of money. For example, if Bucky Irving received $1 million to go to Oregon. Oregon has to pay Bucky $1 million but also pay the U of M NIL Fund $1 million. Could be a way to create parity with schools that don't have as deep of funds for NIL. Think of what this would do for a school like New Hampshire with Max Brosmer?

Fun to think of some ideas... I am curious what creative ways you have thought about fixing it.
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Some good thoughts, but I'd simplify it - sit out a year, period. As to NIL, drive a stake through its heart by revisiting the Supreme Court, hopefully to ban any payment to college athletes other than scholarships.
 

So_Money said:
It has not left the station entirely. The ruling only applies to the NCAA for one, not the schools individually or the conferences. Additionally the ruling deferred to the states the ability to impose their own rules and regulations on NIL money, meaning it isn't something that is protected legally speaking, just that the NCAA can't be the deciding factor. In short it is left to the states or the institutions. You could absolutely have a leauge contingent on amateurism should states, institutions or conferences agree on it and be compliant with the ruling. This might cause another court case but it is less likely to prevail.
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There is no federal law limiting regulation of NIL. This is a state by state thing. The federal rulings only say education cost reimbursement cannot be limited. In fact, the final ruling explicitly said NIL would be a bad thing…

The NCAA could roll NIL back, but would be in court with a dozen, maybe dozens of states. That ship sailed a few years ago.
 

NIL should be its own organization that sits within the NCAA, all player positions need to have a salary associated with them with an appropriate bonus structure. All NIL $ go into a huge kitty and are distributed evenly based on the scales set up. Dollars get awarded similar to draft picks where teams that finish in the bottom get boosted the next year to pick up needed talent.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
There is no federal law limiting regulation of NIL. This is a state by state thing. The federal rulings only say education cost reimbursement cannot be limited. In fact, the final ruling explicitly said NIL would be a bad thing…

The NCAA could roll NIL back, but would be in court with a dozen, maybe dozens of states. That ship sailed a few years ago.
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Again, if the states, institutions or conferences impose restrictions on or outlaw NIL it is possible to preserve amateur sports in some fashion. You could have amateur and "pro" college athletics it would require some realignment and and will obviously very by state and/or institution who would have their own conferences which would effectively act as leagues both amateur or otherwise. It will just take time, probably a lot of it until things settle as this is still new and not in a final form. No ships have sailed, trains have not left the station.
 

1. Outlaw the use of the word "committed" since it has no meaning.
2. Eliminate eligibility rules, both seasons and academic.
3. Put portal players who wish to play again the following year into a pool from which a draft patterned after the NFL draft is conducted. If they don't wish to be drafted, they can pick whatever school they want but must sit out a year.
4, Reward schools that have the fewest transfers out and in by paying for academic scholarships for deserving students.
 

So_Money said:
Again, if the states, institutions or conferences impose restrictions on or outlaw NIL it is possible to preserve amateur sports in some fashion. You could have amateur and "pro" college athletics it would require some realignment and and will obviously very by state and/or institution who would have their own conferences which would effectively act as leagues both amateur or otherwise. It will just take time, probably a lot of it until things settle as this is still new and not in a final form. No ships have sailed, trains have not left the station.
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Again, any attempt to regulate will end up in the courts, with a high probability of losing. Your realignment and amateur/pro scenarios are complete non-starters.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Again, any attempt to regulate will end up in the courts, with a high probability of losing. Your realignment and amateur/pro scenarios are complete non-starters.
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Again, exactly what I said, except it would be unlikely to prevail... SCOTUS left it to the states, not all states have NIL or laws governing it... I think it is in the 30s for states that have legalized NIL for college, not HS athletes. So that case could come any day but hasn't from one of the states yet to adopt or from a HS kid basically anywhere.
 

MNVCGUY said:
NIL thing is what it is and much of the funny money we hear about is probably bogus. A couple things I would love to see though that would help get things under control.

1. Remove immediate eligibility for non grad-transfers. Go back to making guys sit a year if they want to transfer. That would curb a lot of the poaching that is clearly going on.

2. Find a way to punish teams for poaching guys. Easier said than done but if a player isn't in the portal nobody should be contacting them. However we all know it is happening.

3. If they don't remove the immediate eligibility part in 1 at the very least 100% enforce making second time transfers sit a year. No waivers. If you transfer a second time as a non grad-transfer you sit.
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This is the answer. If the NIL money is real, I don't think there is anything we can do about it. If it's funny money, it'll sort itself out.

I think the biggest thing would be to eliminate immediate eligibility unless there is a coaching change or a grad transfer.
 

get rid of it...
Simple. Significantly impacts the parity of the sport, which is why so many of us love it.
 

Who says that parity is needed? I get why Minnesota fans would feel that way but non-parity is already a pretty essential part of FBS football; imagine if Power 5 played only each other for all 12 games... that is not the game we have in 2023 here. Instead we accept a Michigan schedule that started out with East Carolina, Bowling Green, and UNLV. Most CFP contenders will read similarly. Meanwhile other leagues without parity (in soccer) are the most followed in the world. MLB did not have parity when it was the big sport in America; it's fallen way behind the NFL but not for that reason. If it was all about parity the "loser point" NHL would be the most popular. Instead the NBA is more popular than the NHL with far more disparity between haves and have nots.

The NIL fixes here seem a little wishful thinking for mid-grade power five, aka "ourselves." For sure the Gophers seem to be losers in the current system, and, maybe that's not an indictment of the system so much as it is just unfortunate for Minn.

Intentionally poking the premise, and, I am for the players more than any individual school and so I'd be against any drafts or caps that limit what they can earn even if it benefits other programs more than the local one here. I'd get rid of salary caps in all the sports if it were (as it's clearly not) up to me. They are pretty obviously a cost control on the part of owners that suppresses the athletes pay... owners sell them differently to the public but that's just selling.
 

PotatoMan said:
Who says that parity is needed? I get why Minnesota fans would feel that way but non-parity is already a pretty essential part of FBS football; imagine if Power 5 played only each other for all 12 games... that is not the game we have in 2023 here. Instead we accept a Michigan schedule that started out with East Carolina, Bowling Green, and UNLV. Most CFP contenders will read similarly. Meanwhile other leagues without parity (in soccer) are the most followed in the world. MLB did not have parity when it was the big sport in America; it's fallen way behind the NFL but not for that reason. If it was all about parity the "loser point" NHL would be the most popular. Instead the NBA is more popular than the NHL with far more disparity between haves and have nots.

The NIL fixes here seem a little wishful thinking for mid-grade power five, aka "ourselves." For sure the Gophers seem to be losers in the current system, and, maybe that's not an indictment of the system so much as it is just unfortunate for Minn.

Intentionally poking the premise, and, I am for the players more than any individual school and so I'd be against any drafts or caps that limit what they can earn even if it benefits other programs more than the local one here. I'd get rid of salary caps in all the sports if it were (as it's clearly not) up to me. They are pretty obviously a cost control on the part of owners that suppresses the athletes pay... owners sell them differently to the public but that's just selling.
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My "loser point" is that the rich are getting richer and the mountain is getting steeper to climb. The NIL initiative has run wild and is IMO hurting the rich tradition of the sport. As for your salary cap points, that's a wild take and a discussion for a later time.
 

Ski U Master said:
Amateurism is never coming back in full, that train left the station long ago.

In my opinion, the answer is to convert the sports to for-profit athletic clubs affiliated with the Universities. Discontinue scholarships and academic requirements for players, pay the players a salary along with NIL. If they choose to attend class using their salary, great! If not, that's their choice.
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The only question now is how soon before the madness creeps down into high school football?
 


NIL is as crazy as AI! It is all about $$ and not about the student athlete anymore. Big Ten Conference now extends all across the country = longer travels. NIL...which kids cares about taking classes anymore.

There should be some NIL for upperclassmen with good academics and on pace to graduate. There should also be a cap limit of NIL(like a salary) that gets spread to those whom qualify. This is a team sport right? This would also mean Ohio State football doesn't have 500M NIL vs others less than 1M. The NIL could come from anywhere so if the NCAA doesn't cap it soon it is going to get ridiculous.

Tranfers

Students should only get 1 transfer after their freshmen year, or if any head coaching change, or if any certain position coach change for that particular player position, or grad transfer.
 

DrunkDons said:
get rid of it...
Simple. Significantly impacts the parity of the sport, which is why so many of us love it.
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Ah yes, as we all know CFB has always been known for its level playing field.
 

PotatoMan said:
Who says that parity is needed? I get why Minnesota fans would feel that way but non-parity is already a pretty essential part of FBS football; imagine if Power 5 played only each other for all 12 games... that is not the game we have in 2023 here. Instead we accept a Michigan schedule that started out with East Carolina, Bowling Green, and UNLV. Most CFP contenders will read similarly. Meanwhile other leagues without parity (in soccer) are the most followed in the world. MLB did not have parity when it was the big sport in America; it's fallen way behind the NFL but not for that reason. If it was all about parity the "loser point" NHL would be the most popular. Instead the NBA is more popular than the NHL with far more disparity between haves and have nots.

The NIL fixes here seem a little wishful thinking for mid-grade power five, aka "ourselves." For sure the Gophers seem to be losers in the current system, and, maybe that's not an indictment of the system so much as it is just unfortunate for Minn.

Intentionally poking the premise, and, I am for the players more than any individual school and so I'd be against any drafts or caps that limit what they can earn even if it benefits other programs more than the local one here. I'd get rid of salary caps in all the sports if it were (as it's clearly not) up to me. They are pretty obviously a cost control on the part of owners that suppresses the athletes pay... owners sell them differently to the public but that's just selling.
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It’s not needed but it does drive considerably more revenue. Parity or the illusion of parity will keep a much larger percentage of fans interested in college football.
 

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