Does Alabama football have what it takes to compete in this new world of NIL money wars?

rjtide

1st Team
Dec 15, 1999
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People knew it was coming

Coaching and evaluating are going to become paramount again.
Those things, in American tackle football, have always been of paramount importance. If Bama has sustained success on the football field it will be because of DeBoer's ability to coach up players and get 'em ready for the NFL.....not b/c Bama cant spend $25-30+ mil per year on NIL. Which we will be able to but NIL money availability wont make or break Bama......the coaching ability of DeBoer will.
 
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BhamToTexas

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Dec 25, 2020
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It must. Because the answer to the original question today is a no.
Agreed. The simple answer is no we don’t have the money to compete with some of these schools. We can buy a playoff team but probably not a championship team. The rules need to change.
 

Power Eye

All-SEC
Aug 3, 2005
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I don’t know how one can say we don’t have the money to compete with certain schools, unless “those schools” are Texas and Ohio State. According to a USA Today article from last March, Alabama’s total athletic dept revenue was third behind OSU and Texas at $214mm annually. I recognize that that’s different than NIL money, but that money comes from somewhere. It can be diverted to NIL. We just aren’t doing NIL collectives correctly.
 
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bamaslammer

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Jan 8, 2003
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I don't think it's just an Alabama problem. Aside from the Texas schools Southern states are historically poor compared to the Midwestern behemoths. There are other areas of the country with lots of money but they don't care about football. But when you talk about Michigan, OSU, Penn State, Notre Dame these are schools that are both willing and able to outbid southern schools easily and consistently and every single year. The only way you're going to compete is if the 4 schools I mention all eat each other enough to bring them down a bit. From the activity at OSU last week I'd say it's a real pool of sharks up there right now.
 

AlexanderFan

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Jul 23, 2004
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The Oakland Athletics comparison is pretty spot on, but teams will be able to draw from a gigantic pool of talent, not just high school recruits.

Build a solid team through evaluations, sprinkle in some experienced major college football players, and try to land a few superstars. Then hope for injury luck for your team, and bad luck for other teams.

Alabama is perfectly capable of doing that.
 
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cdub55

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The Oakland Athletics comparison is pretty spot on, but teams will be able to draw from a gigantic pool of talent, not just high school recruits.

Build a solid team through evaluations, sprinkle in some experienced major college football players, and try to land a few superstars. Then hope for injury luck for your team, and bad luck for other teams.

Alabama is perfectly capable of doing that.
From greatest dynasty in football history to the now defunct and non-existent Oakland A's. Goody goody gum drops
 

Bamabuzzard

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Unsustainable.


Even the richest can't keep throwing gobs of money at this and expect to be fiscally healthy over the long term. Unless guardrails are put in, players will keep asking for "more, more, more" and schools will simply run out of funds. This will correct itself sooner rather than later.

Once the current case in the courts is settled, every P4 AD is about to get a $20 million bill that currently isn't in their budget.
 

cdub55

1st Team
Aug 13, 2024
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Unsustainable.


Even the richest can't keep throwing gobs of money at this and expect to be fiscally healthy over the long term. Unless guardrails are put in, players will keep asking for "more, more, more" and schools will simply run out of funds. This will correct itself sooner rather than later.

Once the current case in the courts is settled, every P4 AD is about to get a $20 million bill that currently isn't in their budget.
Under the current system, what incentive other than wanting your favorite team to be successful does a billionaire have to dump ten's of millions into college athletes. The ROI is simply not there unless there is something beneath the surface occurring.
 

DzynKingRTR

TideFans Legend
Dec 17, 2003
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Under the current system, what incentive other than wanting your favorite team to be successful does a billionaire have to dump ten's of millions into college athletes. The ROI is simply not there unless there is something beneath the surface occurring.
throwing money at a college athlete with no return to you is a very good way for a billionaire to not be a billionaire anymore
 

Tideflyer

Hall of Fame
Dec 14, 2011
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You have plenty to compete. The game will change from year to year until there is a players union. Just be patient
B1G, I wish I could agree, and maybe with some sort of changes we will, but RIGHT NOW I don’t think so. Compete in the current environment with Texas, A&M, your Bucks, no doubt some others? JMO, but I don’t think so. Maybe they have, but I haven’t heard of senior admin staff at other major universities going hat in hand publicly to solicit donations so that their program can compete specifically in the pay-for-play game .
 
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Tideflyer

Hall of Fame
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It will create contracts and standards across the sport. It would end the annual roster turnovers that we are seeing today.
B1G, your description above sounds like something that, in comparison to the absolute travesty that we have now, would NOT be in the best self- interest of the players. If that’s accurate, and if it’s not, please correct me, then why would the players want to do it? That all sounds like something that would have to be imposed ( by whom/what ? ) upon them.
 

davefrat

Hall of Fame
Jun 4, 2002
6,134
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There also needs to be some kind of salary cap.

The fact that a player like Carson Beck can make as much money in 1 season of college football as he would over a 4 year period in the NFL were he picked in the 4th round is absurd.

The only way to actually control all aspects of this situation is to make the players full-time professional athletes with contracts, CBA's etc.
 
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jjv0004

All-SEC
Dec 13, 2017
1,102
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You compete by having the best coaching if you can't get the best players. And you have a stud QB. That evens almost all things up. I like that we have a stud coming that might just end up being the best QB in college football in 2026 and 2027.
 
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