I think NIL was always going to be more complicated than just opening the doors and letting players make money. Even Sam Webb talks about how Michigan should be getting rich alums involved and do some sort of “NIL Fair” for the athletes. But I have yet to understand what that would even mean. Are we asking guys like Larry Paige just to pay Hunter cash? Are we talking about Larry Paige setting Hunter up for a Google commercial? (Which is a lot harder with publicly traded companies that have a lot of red tape.) Jerseys and apparel were never going to make millions for people. I also don’t think Alabama’s QB is making $1M already in the way Saban implied (or else I think the IRS would like to take a peek at that set up).
I think the people with some good quick wins on NIL are taking money from local, private investors and funneling it to athletes. Maybe it is “legit” like signing them up for autograph sessions or commercials for that car dealership. Maybe it is just taking all of the booster money that was being funneled in paper bags into an above-the-table payment.
The other part of it is that people might be surprised to find that their NIL isn’t worth as much as they think. In time I think everyone will get better with this. The wild west nature of the NCAA giving in has caused a bit of chaos and once agents, marketing companies, local sponsors, etc. get up and running I think it will settle into something decent - but not millions, for athletes.
I think Sam’s main point was pretty clearly a values-based one – time to treat the kids right already – with some facts on the ground that illustrate the freedom how available to schools to just go and do the right thing. No need to add complication with an extra layer of judgemental whathaveyou, or wait for the NCAA to be specific about how to comply. Just get started.
For me personally, I agree with the idea that this will soon enough settle into a typical thing in which most schools do it the same way, and I very much hope Michigan is one of those schools. I’d rather not see a Michigan-specific version of this. Just go observe what’s legal and effective and do it.
One thing I’d like to see is CBS, ESPN and the like should have to pay athletes for all the game broadcast stuff they do (spinning a basketball in front of a green screen, etc)
The goofier the request, the higher the pay. The 2018 team would have been instant millionaires for shooting that Final Four promo in which they all had to dance on some stage like it was a nightclub.
If there wasn’t a Super Conference already forming, I’d agree. I’d liked the 12 team league better.
However, the ship already left the dock. The SEC already has had the perception of being the premiere football conference for the last 15 years. Sometimes the reputation was earned and sometimes they got the benefit of the doubt. Adding Texas and Oklahoma pretty much ends the discussion unless the B1G can counterpunch. Adding Kansas is more like a poke than a punch. The B1G still might have an argument in basketball but even there the gap is closing.
I’m also sure the SEC isn’t done. I’d guess Clemson and FSU are their next targets.
Now, if you’re okay with the B1G being more like the ACC when it comes to football then things are going fine.
I think adding USC, UCLA, Colorado, Oregon and Washington out west and Virginia, Syracuse, UNC, BC out east might force ND to join up. I guess that still lands the conference at 24. But then there’s Duke and also now a scenario where Kansas makes sense and then you’ve got to look at whether Illinios and Minnesota make the cut or if the Domers following in NYC makes Rutgers matter at all.
Adding Arizona and ASU might help in basketball but they don’t do much (save ASU beating Sparty on the regular) at all for football.
I don’t think anything you’re saying is “wrong” at all…I just don’t get it. I consider myself a pretty analytical and strategic person and yet I’m confused as to where the end game is for all of this. Let’s say you collected the best 25 programs in the country…then what?
You can’t play each other all the time because there aren’t enough games in the season.
You need a playoff system that allows these super conference teams to still be eligible even if they beat each other up all the time
How do you settle a conference championship?
Can you fit all of this on one TV network or are you trying to mimic the NFL and sign up all of them?
I know the ship has sailed on 12-team leagues, but to me, that’s the dream. In football, create five 12-team leagues and mandate that they play each other all the time. It crushes the group-of-five schools but clearly no one cares about them anyway. Just adding teams to add teams doesn’t really matter. Case in point…Michigan has played Purdue just three times in the last decade in football. That’s the same number of times they’ve played Florida. Who’s in their conference and who isn’t?
I think the purpose is more about “voting bloc” than scheduling. I hope (perhaps wishful thinking) that the B1G-Pac-12-ACC voting bloc will continue to prioritize things like school mattering vs. the SEC becoming a glorified semi-pro league (which, just to say it explicitly, I think a lot of people conflate with NIL, but they are separate issues).
Oh, I think this is all a mess but I’d rather have Michigan be towards the top of the trash heap than buried.
However, to answer one of your questions, the BIG AC PAC (or whatever we’re calling it) gets split into East and West and the championship game is the Rose Bowl.
I think tossing teams out of the conference is a non starter. SEC is bringing their trash (Vandy, Miss schools, etc) along for the ride. I’m guessing it’d be nigh impossible to kick anyone to the curb as much as I’d love to kick Rutgers out.
I am curious about that. I imagine there are some contracts and relationships that are preventing it for now…but you have to assume that the SEC is considering all options, right? Why would they want to keep the dead weight around? If they can break up the B12, why can’t they reshape the SEC? I think it is just a matter of time until they figure out the way to pull it off.
Now, if we’re talking fantasy, let’s go all in. Why not go EPL style relegation? Expand the B10 to 20 teams with a collection of the old Big 12, some MAC, maybe others, etc. The top 10 are in the premium tier and play a small number of games against the lower division and all of the teams in the upper division. After the year they send down the bottom couple of teams. You can still make the tournament from the lower division, but you’re treated like a mid-major conference so the bar is much higher.
