Even casual observers of college sports might notice that something is afoot. And it’s a bigggg foot.
The latest round of expansion/realignment at the top level of college athletics has sent Southern Cal and UCLA to the Big 10, of all places. This, after Oklahoma and Texas announced last summer their plans to join the SEC, where it just means more.
The super-conference era is upon us, but there’s still a 300-pound gorilla in the corner. You know, the one endorsing checks.
NIL — which refers to the practice of college athletes profiting off the use of their names, images and likenesses — is that gorilla, and the thing is changing the way college sports does business.
Instead of anonymous boosters giving star recruits $100 handshakes or dropping off McDonald’s bags filled with Big Macs, heavy on the “lettuce” (wink wink), NIL has allowed college athletes to benefit financially from the use of their images.
For decades, many profited financially off the use of athletes’ names, photos of them in action.
The same applied to the use of players’ “likenesses” in video games. Everyone knew they were playing Darren McFadden, or Bo Jackson, or Tim Tebow, even if the players’ uniforms didn’t reveal their names on the back.
Fast-forward a few years, and former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (remember him?) was called to the NCAA principal’s office for signing autographs and getting paid a modest amount to do so. He was, after all, the most famous player in college football at the time.
ESPN’s Jay Bilas pointed out the hypocrisy of Manziel making a few bucks for signing autographs when the NCAA was selling replica Manziel A&M jerseys — sans the surname — on its website. Bilas even screen-shot images of the jerseys for sale on the NCAA site and posted them to his social media accounts.
Suddenly, more than just the die-hard fans were taking notice. A group of college athletes sued, the case wound up before the Supreme Court, and the unanimous SCOTUS ruling issued last year eviscerated the NCAA, essentially sounding a death knell in terms of its future involvement with college football at the highest level.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurrence was particularly damning: He wrote that the NCAA’s business model would be “flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America.”
And thus, NIL was born. College athletes now may receive “education-related compensation benefits” without fear of losing amateur status. On paper, who knows if it will be the right thing in the long run. In practice, at least in the short run, it’s the wild, wild west.
These days, those who follow college recruiting share stories about their team missing out on a star recruit because he cost too much, or the first question from blue-chippers to college recruiters being, “How much can you give me?” And by that, they mean, “What kind of NIL deal do you have for me?”
Last year’s public tiff between Alabama’s Nick Saban and his one-time protégé, the Aggies’ Jimbo Fisher, illustrates the madness. In venting to media, as he is wont to do, Coach Saban decried the “wild west” aspect of the new NIL age. And in doing so, he all but called out schools like A&M — ones with almost unlimited resources but who never used to compete for the true blue-chip recruits — for buying players.
The NCAA, meanwhile, has thrown up the white flag, seemingly having resigned itself to March Madness. That doesn’t help. In fairness, it probably was never equipped to deal with Fall Madness, too. But, as will happen when the teacher leaves the room, things get rowdy.
(A good running joke shared among college fans: “Kansas [or North Carolina, Texas; pick your football or basketball blue blood] was just exposed for [insert major violation]. The NCAA is gonna throw the book at Louisiana-Monroe.”)
The Power 5 — in whatever form it ends up taking — needs to govern and regulate itself, at least for football.
Tom McMillen, the CEO of LEAD1 (formerly known as the Division 1A Athletic Directors Association), recently told the Orlando Sentinel:
“We hear from many ADs about how chaotic it is out there. Nobody knows what the rules of the road are. They use the expression the Wild West. There’s no policing going on.”
And when there are no police, bad things happen.