I do NOT like what NIL and the transfer portal has done to college sports...

[DSouthr]

Absolutely hate it, hold what ever opinion you want but I will as well hold my own.

NIL is total BS, but oh these kids deserve this, they deserve that, deserve? Look, it was simple, every kid that EVER played college sports prior to NIL knew, this is the deal, you come play for our program but you must be a student, the compensation for your playing for us is you get your scholarship, tuition, books, food, lodging, use of facilities, tutors, academic advisors, a millions of fans cheering your every move. You got the best training for your future career imaginable, at no cost to you, you got NBA connections, you got a great spotlight to show the world your ability and you got a great education that will serve you long after your playing days are done. EVERY single kid that signed to play for a college program not only knew the deal but wanted it badly. Now all that is considered nothing at all, of holding little to no worth at all? The NBA stocked it's rosters with former college players, the NCAA gave them a absolutely free training program, much better than the G league now days, would there even be a NBA with out NCAA players being fed to the NBA?

Now there were things that should have been changed, the scholarships should have included some amount of monthly walking around money, Dean spoke about this constantly and rightfully so. But now we are talking about a kid that plays in high school getting around $4MI to play 1 and only 1 college season next season? I am fine with a kid that wants to monetize his success, if the local car dealer wants to pay a player to do a 30 second spot for his dealership, fine by me, if Nike wants to hand Cooper Flagg a shoe deal go for it but that is far different from college out right buying players to just come play for them. Colleges put you in the perfect place to make sweet cash and you want to charge them for it? Can you imagine a kid just entering Med school and charging the school a MILLION BUCKS just to be a student there? It is happening every day in college sports BUT don't look now because it is as well happening in high school, coming to a middle school near you? Seems like our educational system is really good at teaching one lesson, greed, that everything does and should revolve around money, that there is NOTHING more important than just you? You deserve it, it is your right to claim, there would be no college sports without the players, well how many players would there be without college sports? Give it to them & how dare you ask them to earn it? And we wonder why our county is falling apart?

Oh and the transfer portal, yes sir now that is a wonderful life lesson to teach young men and women, don't worry about making a commitment and then going away from it, I mean how out dated is that "your word is your bond" deal anyway? Why worry about fighting thru adversity when it is so much easier to skip off to a school that is not as competitive where I can guarantee that the spot light is mine and mine alone and I don't have to work as hard. I see a kid like Seth and have some hope, kid that had every right to transfer out but elected to come back even realizing he would likely be playing behind the NCAA pre-season POY in RJ? That kid decided to come back and put in the work, he now is our starting wing at 6'3" with 2 freshman 5 stars and a kid that was considered to be the best jump shooter in the last portal. I would say this kid learned the right lesson that will serve him well thru the rest of his life, not just limited to his playing days, kudos to his parents and Hubert for developing that in him, it is far more important than a jump shot will ever be. .

 

[Ozheelfan]

Ditto

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

Me too.

And if they are paying players. I'm criticizing them how I want too.

 

[montana_heel]

The problem is this isn't NIL. It's free agency.

Couldn't have happened at a worse time with a neutered NCAA at the same time as conferences become consolidated. Even worse, the biggest consolidated conference isn't exactly known for playing by the rules and that is being extremely kind on my part.

 

[NathanFielder]

I'm never going to criticize anyone from trying to make as much money as they can possibly make, especially in sports. Most of these kids have 4 years to squeeze the money out of their basketball (or whatever sport) talent. If they're fortunate and talented enough to play beyond that, they probably have at most 15 years to squeeze the money out of their pro careers. There's no other industry really where your career lifespan is 20 years max. So again, I don't fault them for getting what they can even if it hurts the idea of the college game of yesteryear.

Also, I think typically the players are fine and they play hard and make games really interesting and compelling to watch. I believe it's the grownups in charge of this multi-billion dollar operation that do much more to harm the sports than help it. I can argue conference realignment has done much more damage to the sport than NIL has.

It isn't my cup of tea, but change is hard to accept in life. Change is REALLY HARD to accept in sports. Everyone will say basketball, football, baseball, etc was better when they were kids or better 20-30 years ago.

I don't think the med school student analogy is really relevant. No one is watching a med school student, specializing in surgery, in the operating room. Even if you offered tickets to that, no one will watch it. So I don't think the comparison is valid at all. You can question whether fans are watching the teams for the team or the individual player. I think that's a worthy discussion. But comparing them to average students isn't valid IMO. Also, I think in most cases, the average student is free to make money however they want to make their money as long as it's legal. That obviously wasn't always the case for college athletes. So now, college athletes have similar rights to the average student. The college athlete just gets paid a lot more.

 

[KeeLo]

NIL has become inflated auctioneering, driven by desperation, and the related domino effect, to keep a student athlete from attending a rival school/program or because a team needs players to fill a roster. Nevermind that the athlete hasn't even played a game at the college level or against a major conference/competition.

Allow private entities to approach and offer prospects deals. Stay out of a prospect's business decision with said entities. But the school doing the work for the kid securing NIL "packages" and putting a money value out there (a bid) is what needs to be regulated.