College Football Week Zero Thread: Give Ireland Back to the Irish

I was talking to one of our local high school coaches today and the conversation turned toward NIL. He had a player sign with a middle of the pack SEC school after being courted by a couple of other brand name P5 programs. The player would have trended toward the fourth-stringer level right now. IIRC he was All-State in high school but still considered a bit of a project at the college level. He redshirted as a freshman and has since transferred to a G5 school.
I asked the coach how much NIL money the player was offered, thinking it would be maybe $50,000.
Not even close.
Coach said one school offered $400K. Another offered much more. He couldn't remember what the school he ended up signing with offered, but figured it was pretty close to that. If the collectives are that deep into this thing, it's no wonder they're going broke.

 

Damn. If everyone is getting $400,000, the payroll for a roster of 85 scholarship players is $34,000,000 per year. I know the TV cash is huge and the players have been exploited for decades. But that’s not sustainable. Because if some average guy is getting $400,000, the players who matter are making considerably more.

 

The schools aren't paying it -- boosters are. And that's why people think NIL is going to bust in a year or two. At some point those guys paying out of pocket aren't going to see the results and stop paying.

 

Hurricanes upping their game with Pitbull stealing the spotlight across town.

 

“Mr. Miami Meat Master is what I call fat Dan LeBatard and his fat daddy.”

 

And at that point, the colleges will have to step in and make the players actual employees. Probably try to collectively bargain a salary cap as well, after the players' union is formed.

 

One day someone will write volumes of books on how the college football powerbroker fucked this up so royally.

 

Oh, it's all his. It was Monday and a Week Zero schedule, wasn't sure if he was entertaining Week Zero schedules.

 

Oh, and that $400K? That was per year. For a good high school player who hadn't proven anything at the next level yet.
He said it was structured like an incentive-laden pro deal, where you get X amount for doing this and X amount for doing that, but the benchmarks were all easily achievable. Basically the same as any other scholarship, like maintaining a certain GPA. I think I learned more about NIL deals in that five-minute, off the cuff conversation than I've seen from any reporting on the subject. For as much money as is flowing into these things, and as much as it's changed the landscape of college sports, it's sort of remarkable how murky the whole thing is. I'm not sure I've ever seen more than speculation on actual dollar amounts and how the deals are structured. It seems like there's still a hush-hush, under the table mindset about it.

 

Curious of the position because it seems like quarterbacks, offensive tackles and defensive linemen are the ones really raking in the NIL money fresh out of high school.

 

It’s still Week 1 to me, dammit.

 

I am so happy to be retired because I don't have to deal with figuring out all this NIL stuff. And I thought that covering recruiting was a nightmare.