I need a primer on NIL - seriously

[4Q Basket Case]

For reasons Krazy lists, it's not really NIL anymore. It's simple pay-for-play. And several teams have a big advantage because they effectively have owners.

Phil Knight effectively owns the University of Oregon athletic department. Maybe even the whole university.

Jimmy Haslam effectively owns the UTe athletic department.

Jimmy Rane and the Lowder brothers effectively own the barn athletic department. If they would just buy players and quit meddling in the inner workings of the programs, they'd be a lot more dangerous than they are.

Boone Pickens used to own Okie Light (athletics and the school), but passed away several years ago. I have no idea what level of influence his heirs still wield.

UTw and aTm don't have a single name like that, but they do have a small group of boosters who perform a similar function, just by committee.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, we don't have anybody like that. Sure we have big boosters. But even Bryant Jr. isn't that big, and we simply don't have a de facto owner.

 

[KrAzY3]

Phil Knight effectively owns the University of Oregon athletic department. Maybe even the whole university.

So people understand the kind of money we're talking about, several years ago Phil Knight eclipsed 1 billion in donations to Oregon athletics. That's more than the entire Big 10's payout last year. One year I noticed Oregon had a ton of revenue listed, they were over 300 million, well ahead of Texas and Alabama and I was like what's going on here? That year there were something like 200 million in donations. It's still pocket change for Knight who is worth 45 billion.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, we don't have anybody like that. Sure we have big boosters. But even Bryant Jr. isn't that big, and we simply don't have a de facto owner.

Good breakdown of some of the boosters.

It's a mixed bag, I was biased in my anti-NIL stance in part because Alabama was in such a good spot before. They are not the most poorly positioned school (Clemson for instance is more poorly positioned) but Alabama has neither the regional buying power (Ohio for example has over triple the GDP) for large "real" NIL contracts, nor the big money boosters some schools have. So, Alabama won't be winning many head to head bidding wars with Texas or Oregon.

The advantage which you alluded to, is that no outside force is going to run the athletic department. Phil Knight actually turned off funding years ago at one point because he didn't like some things the university said.