Thoughts on NIL

[GboyBama]

The NCAA won't touch it. If they make a single move that could be seen as restricting players' rights, they're looking down the barrel of congressional oversight and civil rights lawsuits. They're content to let the game become NFL 2.0 as long as they don't have to stick their necks out.

Back when everybody was saying players were working hard and they were the only ones not getting rich, there should have been a more robust push back. They were getting a stage where they could become stars with every imaginable support for their development. Failing that, they were getting an education for free, if they wanted it. For those both not good enough to play professionally and not interested in learning, what can I say? You got on TV.

 

[TheRealPokeChop]

My thought are if you do or don't like it, thats irrelevant.

It simply is what it is and its past time for you to adapt.

If you want your team to win and you have the means and are not contributing, you do not want your team to win. I would encourage anyone who isn't already to join Yea Alabama.

Sabans strategy doesn't work without him in the HC role and we have to get more aggressive to compete at a high level regardless who the coach is.

We basically need a comolete 180 on strategy moving forward. Unless you like losing the iron bowl because we aren't talented enough to gut out a win.

We have a great staff in place but that really won't matter much in the SEC without top tier classes, the week to week scheudle is just to grueling, even in a 12 team playoff.

Embrace it or prepare to lose. No ones fixing it, any attempt to fix it gets hammered to death in court and will continue that way until legislation is passed and yall that isn't happening.

 

[imauafan]

I fail to see where fans have any power in this situation.

Stop watching. Stop going to games. Stop buying school merchandise. etc. I've been of the opinion for a few years now that the most enjoyable football to watch going forward is going to be the lower tier schools that have a fierce, regional rivalry. It may get to where watching JSU play UNA is more exciting than watching Bama play Texas because the players are mostly playing for the love of the game and for the pride of their school.

 

[TideEngineer08]

I fail to see where fans have any power in this situation.

You're going to have to stop watching.

I'm here on this site because on some level I still love it. It was deeply ingrained in me as a child. My dad and I shared a deep bond over Alabama football. This bond has never developed between me and my 2 sons though. For me it grew to a love of college football in general as well. I always bought all of the preseason magazines. Paid subscriptions to sites like BOL and bamamag when all of that started.

ALL of that is dead to me now. Due to moving and building a house, I've been without reliable high speed internet, so the streaming services were taken away from me. And I realized... I'm ok with that. So I've watched less football this season than my entire life since childhood. I'll get our house built and we'll have high speed internet again, but I don't know right now if I'm coming back to Youtube TV or whatever else.

The way things are right now, I do not like it. And I'm a person who spent all of that money and time during the Mike's era! I'm not spoiled. But the out in the open paying and poaching of players, which didn't happen in the darkest of days in the old SWC!!! has ruined what love I had left for the game.

The new coach and this site keep me engaged for now. We'll see what next Fall brings. But make no mistake. We the fans DO have power. We just have to choose to exercise it. If my boys don't give a rip about it... what keeps bringing me back as I age with all of these disastrous changes? I have not been able to answer that yet.

 

[denver]

I think it was a UGA WR, Green maybe?, who complained that they were selling his jersey and he was making nothing from it...that seems like the genesis of NIL...but its created unintended consequences....now ANY player recognizable or not can get an NIL deal....its just become a sham vehicle to pay players to play for the program..its really not for their name/image or likeness because the majority of players getting NIL are anonymous to 99% of the fans.

 

[TideEngineer08]

I think it was a UGA WR, Green maybe?, who complained that they were selling his jersey and he was making nothing from it...that seems like the genesis of NIL...but its created unintended consequences....now ANY player recognizable or not can get an NIL deal....its just become a sham vehicle to pay players to play for the program..its really not for their name/image or likeness because the majority of players getting NIL are anonymous to 99% of the fans.

I don't think "collectives" should have ever been a thing. They are nothing more than boosters doling out cash. If a player can take his name, image, or likeness to market and make money off them, great. But that's not what is happening.

 

[GP for Bama]

Go look up where the Alabama NIL collective ranks among CFB and you will see why we are losing the players. We could rely on our coach alone to recruit and retain players. That is no longer the case and we are currently way behind on this aspect of recruiting and retaining players.

Where do you look that up? How accurate is the info?

 

[GP for Bama]

NIL is simply pay for play. High school players will commit where they get the best financial deal. Then they will become free agents..at least once... with little loyalty to the first school. The schools have no cap on what they can pay, so the teams with the most financial resources will get the players.

 

[crimsonaudio]

I thought I had a few more years of interest in CFB, even with NIL - but seeing how these young men are chasing money has made me wonder if I'll make it through the 2024 season.

I'm pretty disgusted by the (lack of) character being displayed by some of these players. And unless something changes radically (and soon), I'll be less and less interested in watching (even Bama) college football anymore.

Here's the deal - MOST people are interested in high-level sports. There's a reason that FCS, the WNBA, etc have far fewer viewers than FBS, the NBA, etc - people want to watch the best play against the best. NIL is turning CFB into the NFL-lite and honestly, CFB players largely suck compared to pro players. What's kept me interested in CFB all these years is the fact that these players (historically) proudly wore the jersey and represented the school. They were team players and generally played four years at Bama, becoming part of the lore. If the NCAA (read: uni presidents) don't care enough to keep CFB from becoming the NFL-lite, they'll lose people like me - if I want to watch what amounts to hired mercenaries with no real attachment to the university play football, why would I watch an inferior product? I won't, I'll just go back to watching the NFL (or find something else to do with my time).

TPTB need to be really careful here - they're close to killing the golden goose for some folks. Maybe they don't care, maybe they think there's no way they'll lose relevance. But as a reminder, NASCAR felt the same way...

 

[GP for Bama]

Schools that can organize "collectives" that enroll many, many fans, ticket holders and boosters can tremendously help a school stay competitive.
However... having boosters that have very deep pockets ( billionaires or "almost billionaires) that are able and willing to make very large (hundreds of thousands up to millions ) contributions to "NIL" are what make the difference.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

NIL is simply pay for play. High school players will commit where they get the best financial deal. Then they will become free agents..at least once... with little loyalty to the first school. The schools have no cap on what they can pay, so the teams with the most financial resources will get the players.

That's the thing, NIL is NOT supposed to be connected to the school in any form or fashion...

 

[BAMAVILLE]

My thought are if you do or don't like it, thats irrelevant.

It simply is what it is and its past time for you to adapt.

If you want your team to win and you have the means and are not contributing, you do not want your team to win. I would encourage anyone who isn't already to join Yea Alabama.

Sabans strategy doesn't work without him in the HC role and we have to get more aggressive to compete at a high level regardless who the coach is.

We basically need a comolete 180 on strategy moving forward. Unless you like losing the iron bowl because we aren't talented enough to gut out a win.

We have a great staff in place but that really won't matter much in the SEC without top tier classes, the week to week scheudle is just to grueling, even in a 12 team playoff.

Embrace it or prepare to lose. No ones fixing it, any attempt to fix it gets hammered to death in court and will continue that way until legislation is passed and yall that isn't happening.

I agree and I have no problem with the scholar athletes taking full advantage of the system that's currently in place. I'm for anyone getting paid the top of their value with the hopes they can convert it to generational wealth.

As much as we may not like whats currently going on as fans, there is more to life outside of sports for all of these scholar athletes. I'm thankful for what they've done at UA as a player but at the end of the day, they need to do what's best for them personally.

And just because some of these schools/boosters can afford to spend top dollar on some scholar athletes doesn't mean it will equate to success on the field. This past season proved that.

Like RPC said we can choose to join "Yea Alabama", we continue to cheer on the players that will represent the Alabama brand in 2024 and hope our new coach and staff can put our players in the best position possible to be successful.

But as of now, this is what it is ... it sucks to lose players but its not the end of the world. We will gain and lose our share of talented scholar athletes just like any other school will ... its just compounded because we also lost the best coach in this era, who was the catalysis of the standard of what Alabama Football has become.

 

[bamamc1]

What I struggle with is where has the education piece of this went as it relates to players? Can anyone sight a recent example of a player struggling academically or worse looking at being ineligible? I certainly can’t. Are these players there to receive an education?

When I was at UNA we were able to give 11.2 baseball scholarships which were divided up between the entire roster of approximately 25 players. Of course, pitching consumed a large amount of what was available. I’ll defer to 81 on this but I think that scholarship allotment is still pretty close to that number today. How is this equitable to those athletes, women’s sports, or other non revenue sports?

I’m glad players can profit off their NIL but just receiving what amounts to be a paycheck from a collective doesn’t seem to fit the original theory. This is a complete mess that appears to have been instituted without much forethought by the powers that be.

 

[B1GTide]

NIL is a farce. A disguise for pay for play designed to keep NCAA football protected as an amateur sport.

I want players to be able to make money. This is not the way to do it.

 

[Jack Bourbon]

There either need to be rules rules governing this or no rules at all. If its the latter, they may as well go to the nfl. Like in cbb.

 

[TheRealPokeChop]

NIL is a farce. A disguise for pay for play designed to keep NCAA football protected as an amateur sport.

I want players to be able to make money. This is not the way to do it.

I agree with everything you said, NIL itself is fair but using it as a base income for players absurd since that should come from the schools and conferences as part of revenue sharing and NIL should be for marketing yourself and your own brand.

Regardless, it is what it is and we adapt or die.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

There either need to be rules rules governing this or no rules at all. If its the latter, they may as well go to the nfl. Like in cbb.

There's rules?!?

 

[UntouchableCrew]

NIL is a farce. A disguise for pay for play designed to keep NCAA football protected as an amateur sport.

I want players to be able to make money. This is not the way to do it.

It's on the schools. Share the revenue, collectively bargain, and get the kids under contract.

Stop building put put golf courses and waterslides to pretend this isn't a business.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

You have to make College Football like the NFL essentially. There is no way around it.

You're going to have to pay players a % of revenue and have contracts.

 

[TideEngineer08]

I agree with everything you said, NIL itself is fair but using it as a base income for players absurd since that should come from the schools and conferences as part of revenue sharing and NIL should be for marketing yourself and your own brand.

Regardless, it is what it is and we adapt or die.

Perhaps.

I think the game as a whole is sitting on death row waiting to be called back to the chair. We'll see if the call from the governor ever comes and the game is pardoned.