NIL

What is NIL?

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) are rights of college athletes to be compensated for their efforts through commercial activities.
It came as a result of U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in NCAA v. Alston, which ruled that the NCAA could not restrict education-related benefits for athletes.
As a result of legal pressure and public opinion, the NCAA announced on July 1, 2021, that athletes could begin profiting from their NIL.
This fundamentally ended the amateurism era and opened the door for the modern NIL marketplace we have come to know.
On July 1, 2021, several athletes began to sign the first NIL deals, most notably D’Eriq King, Justyn Ross, and the Cavinder twins. These deals were true NIL like it was intended to be.
King’s was with a South Florida moving company, Ross' was a merchandise deal, and the Cavinders' was with Boost Mobile.

Players are finally able to get paid

For years athletes have made schools a majority of their money and were not compensated outside of scholarships. This led to many not being able to adequately support themselves and their families.
Texas A&M was able to make around $740 million after Johnny Manziel's Heisman campaign, and the fact that he wasn't able to be compensated by either the school or big corporations is wrong.
Athletes are now able to get paid off of their Name, Image, and Likeness. This has allowed many of them to help themselves along with their families, as many student athletes and their families struggled beforehand.

Because not all players are getting paid the same due to different roles, many players who are talented are transferring elsewhere and contributing.
The fact that not every school can offer their recruits the same money means that some blue chip recruits are going to places they normally wouldn't go to because that place will pay them more.
Now that players get paid, they are less likely to go pro early on so they can continue to develop, which has increased competition around the country.
These things have totally enhanced parity across most sports, which can be show by TCU Football, San Diego State Men's Basketball, and Washington Football all playing for national titles in this era.

Loyalty and Culture

Contrary to popular belief, most players don’t just leave when offered more money.
A prime example of this is TCU QB Josh Hoover.
He was approached by programs like Tennessee and Ohio St this past offseason, and Tennessee reportedly offered him $1–2M more than he is getting at TCU.
Josh stayed because he valued the culture over more money.
Another example of loyalty and commitment is former Oklahoma LB and current New Orleans Saints LB Danny Stutsman.
Last year at OU he gave every single walk-on $50K.
It is also common for players with deals to give out free gear and devices to teammates.
The point is that NIL has not destroyed locker room culture and loyalty. Most of these players know what they are worth, and don't have a problem with teammates getting paid more.

The ability to develop a personal brand

Athletes for years have had thousands of followers on social media.
Most people who have that many followers are able to monetize themselves and maybe even make money, but college athletes couldn't up until July 1, 2021.
A prime example is Deestroying, or Donald De La Haye.
Donald currently has millions of followers from making football content.
When he started to grow his page he tried to monetize it, but UCF didn't let him. He still tried to, so he was declared ineligible.
It's unfortunate that he couldn't continue to compete because he was doing something that he loved and could make him money, but that shows just how flawed the system was.
Now many athletes like Livvy Dunne and Shedeur Sanders have been able to make as much money — if not more — from their personal brands than from their athletic performance.

Increased bond with the community

Part of most NIL contracts requires athletes to attend community events and volunteer.
This has strengthened the bond between athlete and community, whether it's putting on a kids camp or meeting with donors about life after sports.
The involvement with the community has allowed student athletes to give back, while also being able to make valuable relationships and learn things that will help them in the rest of their lives.

Lack of regulation

This is definitely the biggest issue, whether it's lack of agent certification or tampering.
Agents and representatives do not have to be certified, unlike pro sports. Because of this, there have been instances where the player has been screwed out of money because their agent was greedy or there was shady stuff going on from the collective side.
The lack of regulation has also created pay for play.
So many of these deals are not legit NIL. Showing up to a few autograph sessions per year is not worth $3M/yr.
NIL was intended to be for a guy like Bryce Young to be in a Coke commercial and get paid, not for bidding wars over 17-18 year old kids.

Pressure

With how much money there is involved, there is more pressure than ever on players, coaches, and donors.
Players now feel more obligated than ever to perform and put so much pressure on themselves. This has led to a rise in mental health issues for student athletes across the country. Mr. Banos has firsthand experience of this. When TCU MBB lost to UNO in the season opener, all of his guys missed class that week.
Coaches are also under pressure, and oftentimes have unrealistic expectations placed on them. James Franklin was 1 play away from playing for a National Championship last year, and was fired 6 games into this year. The harsh reality is that if you are given a top 10 highest-paid roster you are expected to perform, and if you don't, there is no patience. It is very unfair.
Finally, donors are under so much pressure. They already buy season tickets, fund buildings, and much more, and are begged for more funding to help buy a good team. At some point it gets tiring, so people begin to check out more than ever, especially with struggling programs or uninspiring coaches at the helm. It has also led to some collectives being dissolved and moved in-house to the school's athletic department.

Legends stepping away

This whole NIL and Portal era has been very entertaining to watch, but it has been nothing but utter chaos for coaches. The lack of regulation for anything has led to coaches stepping down, and understandably so.
Coaches can almost no longer coach anymore. They have to constantly be meeting with donors, serving as a CEO, being their own GM, recruiting their own roster, all while having to fulfill their normal duties of HS and transfer portal recruiting, and ACTUAL game planning and coaching.
This has led to hall of fame caliber coaches leaving their respective sports with good years ahead of them.
Nick Saban, Jay Wright, Mike Krzyzewski, and Jim Harbaugh.
Chip Kelly stepped down from being HC at UCLA to take the OC job at Ohio St due to the fact that it meant he could actually focus on coaching football again.

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