Can we stay competitive in the NIL era?

[billga99]

It will all come down to money and the difference is already big for the top programs versus everyone else. The SEC with the add of UT and Oklahoma will have a big TV revenue advantage with the Big 10 second and everyone else significantly behind. Add stadium seats sold and athletic contributions and I don't know how you don't have a system stacked where very few programs have a legitimate chance to compete. I really think any school with a chance to jump to the SEC first and Big Ten second would do it to realistically compete. For that reason, I do see one or two super conferences emerging (at least in football) and everyone else will suffer. Maybe eventually you have 3 Division 1 levels (Top 30-40), second level with about 100 programs and 3rd level with about 100 programs. As long as football has very little oversight from the NCAA, this will be a real mess (not that the NCAA is any great shakes but at least they try to have rules).

 

[iceeater1969]

I think it’s going to take more than NCAA scholarship cuts. With all that’s going on, I’m not sure scholarship numbers even matter. Ran out of scholarship spots and still need a running back? NIL deal pays for (or pays enough) to cover all college costs... it doesn’t have to be a “scholarship” per se. if they can give you cash and apartments, why not compensate the kid to cover his tuition costs too? Scholarship limits resulted in roster limits because kids won’t pay tuition to ride the bench if they can get a scholarship elsewhere... but if their tuition is paid by NIL, what good is the scholly limit?
Im sure the NCAA doesn’t want to get into a roster cap battle and the big boys would fight that tooth and nail anyway. besides, the NCAA doesn’t even really have standing over FBS CFB anymore. Something like that will have to come from the conferences, and none of the P5 are going to proactively put themselves at disadvantage for the sake of the “greater good.” The best chance of that would be the “alliance” the Big Ten was tossing around but again, why would the alliance conferences cap their rosters and watch the SEC schools carry 125+ players?
I don’t know the answer but the solution will almost certainly be messy and will almost certainly not come soon enough for a lot of schools.

 

[Randy Carson]

Maybe we can become known as a Women's Basketball school.

 

[RamblinRed]

Pandora is so far out of the box that there is no chance to go back. In less than a year the NIL is already being used in ways that were not intended.
The idea was for athletes to be able to generate income off their NIL, but it has already become a way for boosters to straight out pay for players - which is still an NCAA violation, but the NCAA is completely impotent when it comes to FBS football and frankly has been for close to 20 years.

There is going to be a new NCAA constitution and eventually I believe there will be new divisions within the highest levels of college football. I expect there will be a 'Super' division of no more than 32 schools, of which I doubt GT will be a part of, that are the schools that are just completely running circles around others in spending money. There will be a second division, that I think GT will be in, that will likely have 50-60 schools that are going to compete with more similar budgets. Finally there will be a third division that is below the second one for really small money schools.

NIL, combined with the portal, is the end of college football as we know it. NIL is not being used in the spirit in which it was intended, instead it is just becoming legalized buying of prospective athletes.
To make an analogy to professional sports. The idea was to let athletes receive compensation for helping an individual/company promote its products or services. What it has actually become is rich fans of a team saying "hey i'll give you an extra $X above what my favorite team is giving you in your contract to come play for my fav team".

 

[Root4GT]

The spill over impact from the money differential the SEC gets from football is clearly showing up in basketball.

They now have higher paid BB coaches and staffs, less Duke, than the ACC does. Their facilities are as good or better in most ACC places and they pay their players better.

Sadly the bottom line is the SEC is now a better basketball conference than the ACC. That should make us all sick to our stomachs!

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Pandora is so far out of the box that there is no chance to go back. In less than a year the NIL is already being used in ways that were not intended.
The idea was for athletes to be able to generate income off their NIL, but it has already become a way for boosters to straight out pay for players - which is still an NCAA violation, but the NCAA is completely impotent when it comes to FBS football and frankly has been for close to 20 years.

There is going to be a new NCAA constitution and eventually I believe there will be new divisions within the highest levels of college football. I expect there will be a 'Super' division of no more than 32 schools, of which I doubt GT will be a part of, that are the schools that are just completely running circles around others in spending money. There will be a second division, that I think GT will be in, that will likely have 50-60 schools that are going to compete with more similar budgets. Finally there will be a third division that is below the second one for really small money schools.

NIL, combined with the portal, is the end of college football as we know it. NIL is not being used in the spirit in which it was intended, instead it is just becoming legalized buying of prospective athletes.
To make an analogy to professional sports. The idea was to let athletes receive compensation for helping an individual/company promote its products or services. What it has actually become is rich fans of a team saying "hey i'll give you an extra $X above what my favorite team is giving you in your contract to come play for my fav team".

I gotta ask who ever thought that NIL wouldn’t be used exactly as it is now? If so, why did you think it would be used any other way? It was easy to see (and most of us here saw it) that it would be used to buy players. I just don’t understand how college football fans can be so shocked at anything. The entire history of the sport is one of corruption and graft. And even if they split into different divisions there will still be corruption in every division. Take the 2nd tier where you think GT will be. You don’t think those 60 teams will be cheating? Heck, high school football as tons of corruption and there is very little big money on the line, yet every legit team has kids using fake addresses, etc. It’s simply the nature of competition. The only way to reign it in is to have a strong dictator with the ability to smite anyone who steps out of line. In our country that is no longer allowed so the beat go on.

 

[RamblinRed]

I gotta ask who ever thought that NIL wouldn’t be used exactly as it is now? If so, why did you think it would be used any other way? It was easy to see (and most of us here saw it) that it would be used to buy players. I just don’t understand how college football fans can be so shocked at anything. The entire history of the sport is one of corruption and graft. And even if they split into different divisions there will still be corruption in every division. Take the 2nd tier where you think GT will be. You don’t think those 60 teams will be cheating? Heck, high school football as tons of corruption and there is very little big money on the line, yet every legit team has kids using fake addresses, etc. It’s simply the nature of competition. The only way to reign it in is to have a strong dictator with the ability to smite anyone who steps out of line. In our country that is no longer allowed so the beat go on.

I'm not shocked at all - you certainly shouldn't read my post that way.

Dictators are bad and should never be allowed period. The whole point of the American Experiment is to protect against dictators.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

I'm not shocked at all - you certainly shouldn't read my post that way.

Dictators are bad and should never be allowed period. The whole point of the American Experiment is to protect against dictators.

You know I didn’t really mean dictators right? I meant a strong governing body who won’t let Saban or Schnellenberger or Rockne or Switzer or Dooley do whatever they want. The entire sport of college football has fallen apart because there has been zero enforcement of their own rules - and shocking, people took advantage of that to their own benefit. We are seeing the same thing all over when rules don’t matter. I can tell you what- I work for an organization that absolutely has a “dictator” and we all love the fact that we can all make money doing the work of the business without distraction.

 

[g0lftime]

Enforcement is supposed to be done by the president's of the various NCAA members but the athletic directors and head coaches call the shots plus most of the big universities-especially in the SEC- have president's that allow whatever it takes behavior.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Enforcement is supposed to be done by the president's of the various NCAA members but the athletic directors and head coaches call the shots plus most of the big universities-especially in the SEC- have president's that allow whatever it takes behavior.

Yep. But that’s why we are where we are. When you let the school enforce itself that’s just a ridiculous system. And I’ve watched it for my entire life be ridiculous. What you need is a completely independent body who has zero loyalty to anyone and really doesn’t care about the results. That’s the only way a Bama will be judged no different than a Kennesaw State. But, I know that will never happen so I’ll keep being a fan of a fixed sport because there is nothing close to it in my mind that I enjoy watching. If they do break up into tiers I’ll enjoy that as well as it’s not much different for us GT fans now. We watch our tier 2 matchup at noon and then switch over for the real games at 3:30 and then watch another real game in prime time. That’s been our GT fandom for awhile now.

 

[slugboy]

Interesting hypothetical?
I’m of the opinion that the NCAA was being unreasonable and unfair in their restrictions on athletes, but have managed to turn NIL into an incomprehensible hash in the other direction.

 

[iceeater1969]

Cant wait to see our alumni step up and do an NIL that puts Miami to shame.

 

[FlatsLander]

Cant wait to see our alumni step up and do an NIL that puts Miami to shame.
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My best guess is you're going to have to wait a while for Tech do have something like this, if it ever happens at all. There's a reason we have been at the bottom end of the FBS teams in budget for many years.

 

[iceeater1969]

My best guess is you're going to have to wait a while for Tech do have something like this, if it ever happens at all. There's a reason we have been at the bottom end of the FBS teams in budget for many years.

Ncaa is being killed by NIL.


We have our own donation problem that keeps us at bottom quarter inspite of several competitive advantages.

I hope that cgc and the boys of 22 can win big

Our school admin is doing more, but it's too to little too late.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

I’m telling y’all now, this NIL stuff will adjust itself. When Miami doesn’t live up to the hype, the bagmen will just move on to the next guy or guys. Eventually it will fizzle out when the results don’t pan out. Or coaches will bet vilified. Think of Kirby sitting a million dollar NIL player for a walk on. He would never be allowed to do that. This system will work itself out.

 

[bobongo]

I’m telling y’all now, this NIL stuff will adjust itself. When Miami doesn’t live up to the hype, the bagmen will just move on to the next guy or guys. Eventually it will fizzle out when the results don’t pan out. Or coaches will bet vilified. Think of Kirby sitting a million dollar NIL player for a walk on. He would never be allowed to do that. This system will work itself out.

It kinda has the air of irrational exuberance about it. Boom and bust.

 

[bobongo]

I’m telling y’all now, this NIL stuff will adjust itself. When Miami doesn’t live up to the hype, the bagmen will just move on to the next guy or guys. Eventually it will fizzle out when the results don’t pan out. Or coaches will bet vilified. Think of Kirby sitting a million dollar NIL player for a walk on. He would never be allowed to do that. This system will work itself out.

Another thing. Folks are going to pour money into players that turn out like this, and it's going to make them gun shy (pun intended):

Former Georgia football player named as suspect, arrested in Oconee RaceTrac shooting death

The Oconee County, Georgia, Sheriff's office announced the arrest of Ahkil Crumpton in the slaying of Watkinsville RaceTrac clerk Elijah Wood.

www.onlineathens.com

His gun is also linked to another murder in Philadelphia.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

The NIL stuff won’t last because there will be way more busts than booms. And eventually the coaches will be at odds when they want to bench the million dollar 20 year old who sucks. If all these rich fat cats want to throw money at a group we all know arent very dependable then let them. It won’t work out like they think when you do it en mass. Now, throwing bucks at a Gibbs or Bryce Young then no problem. And the smart money guys will do that. But what TAMU and others are doing won’t work in the long run.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

The NIL stuff won’t last because there will be way more busts than booms. And eventually the coaches will be at odds when they want to bench the million dollar 20 year old who sucks. If all these rich fat cats want to throw money at a group we all know arent very dependable then let them. It won’t work out like they think when you do it en mass. Now, throwing bucks at a Gibbs or Bryce Young then no problem. And the smart money guys will do that. But what TAMU and others are doing won’t work in the long run.

You are predicating this opinion on the faulty assumption that the NIL money will be run like a business by business minded people. If the money were coming from corporate sponsors, then yes, the busts would eventually stem the flow of stupid money.

At issue is the shell corporations funded by fanatics (fans) of factory schools that already funnel stupid money into the programs. It will continue as long as fans with money exist. People spend beyond their means as long as they believe there is a big payoff around the corner. That's why the lottery and casinos are so addictive.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

The question should be, "Can Tech become competitive", not "Can Tech stay competitive". It's been a while since we have been competitive.