NCAA is dying but the Pac-12 goes down first
NIL
When the NCAA lost its Name, Image, and Likeness battle in the Supreme Court, it completely unrivaled the fabric of major college athletics. Most every sports fan will agree that if a school can make money off a student-athlete, the players should be able to make money off their name.
What seemed like a noble idea at first has turned into a cesspool. Consortiums of boosters pool their money and basically buy players for their respective schools. Already at a financial disadvantage, NIL puts Pac-12 schools at a recruiting disadvantage as well.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama; College Station, Texas, and Ann Arbor, Michigan aren’t major metropolises. But there is enough money around the Bama, A&M, and Michigan programs to entice prospects with NIL money.
There isn’t the same support system in Pullman, Washington, and Corvallis, Oregon. Whether the boosters in Northern California can or even want to compete with the Ohio State’s of the country is debatable. But the fact is more high school prospects from within the Pac-12 footprint are leaving for other conferences and schools because they have more opportunities to cash in.
Top football coaches like Nick Saban (Alabama) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson) have publicly come out and said the NIL system is broken. And they are benefitting more than most. When conference commissioners like Greg Sankey (SEC) and George Kliavkoff (Pac-12) unite to lobby congress for regulation, it signals that the Grim Reaper has his scythe at the ready to cut down the NCAA.
“I’m not against NIL at all. I’m against anything that devalues education.”
– @ClemsonFB Head Coach Dabo Swinney gives his thoughts on NIL in College Athletics
Full Ep: https://t.co/TUjj0r1s2C pic.twitter.com/OlFRSYN5hh
— The Players Club Podcast (@playersclub_pod) January 28, 2022