Sid if you're going to compare college football to baseball, we'll need a salary cap or some sort of tax on schools that overspend. It takes a certain amount of desire and pride for a player to compete in college and be accomplished enough to play at the next level. The driving force has always been the big NFL contract. If kids are handed millions in college the desire part of the equation is gone. I'm sure every coach in colleges wants his players to be hungry for playing time, wins, championships and a career. NIL destroys the hunger.
I've said for a long time that I believe that about 60 schools will end up leaving the NCAA and forming their own organization. They may not have to now. The NCAA is just about totally irrelevant as it is today.
Here's a kid who in my opinion represents the attitude of the vast majority of college football recruits, not because he's coming to ND, but because he's excited about playing D-1 football and believes he has the talent to play successfully at a top tier program. The conversation here about NIL centers on the top HS recruits and recruits portal transfers. Granted, these are players who can greatly enhance programs, but each top-level recruit/transfer is only one player among 80 - 100 in his program. It's the players we don't hear about and the coaches who recruit and coach these players who form the culture of the programs and collectively contribute to the programs' successes. We all know who those coaches are, but we rarely think about their players beyond the well-publicized top recruits. This kid may or may not have an impact. In his own words, "If it doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t work out. But at least I can say that I tried." Wyoming DB Luke Talich discusses choosing Notre Dame walk-on spot over Power Five scholarship offers
Certainly an interesting decision for him and his family. Besides being one of those kids who always wanted to come to Notre Dame and thus living his dream, but also his parents have a significant tuition vs free ride at Utah or Washington State.
Exception or norm among ALL NIL recipients? Probably exception but a nice story. What a gift: Indiana basketball player Anthony Leal uses NIL money to pay off his sister's student loan debt
Just read a story on Forbes. As if this could not get any more perverse, some NIL's are setting themselves up as 501C-3s and soliciting donations based on tax exempt status.
Not so surprising. If the bulk of the organization's revenue supports legitimate causes which make it eligible for 501c3 status, why not? In these cases, the payments to the athletes are not the sole focus. The payments are for promotion. The IRS makes the determination regarding eligibility.
I don't think in reality this is accurate. But regardless the NIL thing is ruining College football. In my humble opinion.