Interesting article interviewing fb recruits on nil deals and inducements
interesting article talking nil deals w football recruits.
the deals seem to have 1-2 years guaranteed w a lot of incentives built in. In addition many don’t require the player to do anything in exchange outside of playing football well.
one recruit who very well may be a Michigan player indicated the school doesn’t help at all w nil opportunities.
offers ranged from 30-40k up to 1 million per year with most in the 180-450k range per year.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:35 PM ^
Spendin cheese
February 6th, 2024 at 2:49 PM ^
What is Big Pimpin'...?
February 6th, 2024 at 3:01 PM ^
Correct!
February 6th, 2024 at 2:40 PM ^
Cowherd mentioned Dan Raiola supposedly getting $4 million to go to Nebraska. That is just absurd if true.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:43 PM ^
Just wait.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:44 PM ^
I’m surprised raiola would agree to that. That doesn’t sound transformational…
February 6th, 2024 at 2:50 PM ^
That would have transformed my college lifestyle
February 6th, 2024 at 4:40 PM ^
I might not still be alive.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:53 PM ^
He needs to go there and earn nothing and be happy for the privilige of playing for Nebraska. /s
February 6th, 2024 at 3:02 PM ^
A Tennessee podcast on YouTube mentioned Nico Iamaleava was getting $8 Million over three years. I googled to confirm, and there are many similar reports. Crazy.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:22 PM ^
That's a smart move/investment for Nebraska in an age where they'll need high level QB play to potentially get a shot at the playoffs.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:36 PM ^
Likely true with the expanded Big Ten, but IMO they still need a great defense and solid 4-star talent in skill positions to get close to a shot. I'd bet there's not nearly enough left in the bank to support other payments if 4mil is the real number.
February 6th, 2024 at 4:13 PM ^
That's a risk. They need to do what O$U is doing, and bring in multiple QBs: HS and portal.
Dan could be great but he could also just be ok.
February 6th, 2024 at 5:34 PM ^
Or it's a wasted move if the rest of the team doesn't have enough talent to get to the playoffs.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:45 PM ^
Inducements. What a nasty little word to describe paying market value for full grown adults putting their bodies on the line. The nose in the air crowd can piss off with these subtle words they use to separate themselves from such trash.
Michigan is going to spend a couple decades in the wilderness if this old guard mentality isnt rectified. Starting at the top.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:51 PM ^
Agreed. My solution is very simple. If Michigan is too good for this, then why have the Big House? Why pay Harbaugh $12MM? Why even pay Moore $5MM? Why be part of the Big Ten or NCAA? Why have the TV deals? Just build crappy high school stadiums and make them club sports and play other schools that are no more than a short bus ride away. No more lowered admission standards for athletes (yes, those exist at Michigan), and no more special academic support, team chefs, and all the other jazz.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:53 PM ^
Whatever they may be paid is the market. We can choose to go other routes with better value plays but the money set in front of them is the market. For now.
Now when we grow a pair and start rewarding players for their NIL through tv revenue sharing we wont need to worry about it anymore. If you play at Michigan and finish the season your % of tv NIL will be XXX and you can expect that at the end of every season. Come for their NIL money NCAA I dare you!
February 6th, 2024 at 5:30 PM ^
Michigan very well might become Stanford if they’re not careful.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:53 PM ^
I generally agree with what you said, except the term market value. Given that the money paid has nothing to do with the actual business and this still seems to be a bit hush hush. Is this really a market? Maybe it is, but without a tie to revenue at all, it seems like something very different, and different in a way that seems to favor the athlete for once. Or at least some of the athletes.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:06 PM ^
The market is very much learning on the fly. We've heard credible reports of stupid amounts of money thrown at players who never did much of anything (looking at you TAMU and that guy who paid for Quinn Ewers' NIL rights at OSU). We all know about a team with a "bad" NIL reputation that just won a national championship. Markets need information to work, and right now we're lacking that.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:57 PM ^
I mean, it's that or shattering the ever weakening illusion that college football is not already a (completely unregulated) business. I'm not sure it has anything to do with being elitist.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:09 PM ^
CFB is a business, should not qualify in any way for nonprofit or tax exempt benefits, and this money/wages should be paid directly by the ADs/schools that benefit from the players and get rid of "inducement" NILs (just let players also profit from their legitimate work and image - all of which should be taxable income). Eliminate this charade. The reason you get terms like "inducements" is because the people paying the money are not the company/school "employing" them.
Right now part of the problem is that the NCAA (and others) have said that schools cannot directly pay the players. Why not?
February 6th, 2024 at 3:24 PM ^
“ full grown adults”, thank you, so tired of seeing the called “kids”. if you can go to war and die for your country, and can vote and fuck up your country, you’re an adult
February 6th, 2024 at 3:35 PM ^
Well, in fairness, many of them are 17 when making these decions in high school.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:32 PM ^
All true and good points. Which is why they should simply make it aok to pay these people salaries. UM would then be able to pay them at market rates, and all this backdoor NIL shit would stop being a focal point.
February 6th, 2024 at 4:38 PM ^
Any attempt to regulate the market - ANY - will be violated, as it has been since the 1890s!
If all the schools agreed on a certain portion of tv revenues to distribute to their players in accordance with agreements each school makes with their own players, fsu (as an example) would say "why do we only get to pay our players the same as Wake Forest? Our players are actually driving the revenue bus, Wake's are just passengers!"
Osu could say the same about Northwestern, Tennessee about Vandy - and they'd be right!
So just as it's always been, some boosters would find a way to get the real stars, the ones that create wins & ratings, something extra. And then a little bit for their crucial support players (even the best QB can't throw it to himself, or block for himself!)
So while it would be the right thing to do, to share some of these $Billions with the people we actually watch & root for - it won't solve the problem that has always existed 🤷♂️
February 6th, 2024 at 3:44 PM ^
I think there’s use for a term the differences what are signing bonuses and what NIL was “supposed” to be, that is, endorsement deals, autograph/gear sales etc
February 6th, 2024 at 5:03 PM ^
The whole NIL thing came about because Bannon from UCLA sued the NCAA because they licensed his image to a video game company. It’s his image, he should benefit from it. But that was too complicated for the NCAA and the video game companies to figure out, so they replaced the Bannon’s of the world with generic images of players.
NIL, done properly, would be regulated by Congress (sorry, that’s true,) since it involves interstate trade. Michigan plays AT Indiana, etc. The players would get a share of the video game revenue as bargained by their union. All players in the game get an equal share. Revenues from jersey sales, commercial endorsements and autographs that are tied to individual players would go to the individual players.
There would still be a black market, but for the players that wanted to stay on the right side of the law, there would be a legal path to compensation.
Schools declaring athletes as employees and paying them accordingly may be the right thing to do, but that is not NIL.
February 6th, 2024 at 4:41 PM ^
Fucking cheeseburgers.
February 6th, 2024 at 5:41 PM ^
Inducements. What a nasty little word to describe paying market value for full grown adults putting their bodies on the line.
“Market value” doesn’t work in sports because then the Cowboys would win the Super Bowl every year. That’s why there are salary caps and roster limitations.
The problem is that in college they have decided to pretend pay to play doesn’t exist so it works as a weird black market.
February 6th, 2024 at 6:01 PM ^
Most professional leagues are monopolies or quasi-monopolies that get anti-trust exemptions because people like sports. Apply that to college football. Instead of recruiting players, we would draft them. Instead of freedom to transfer, their rights would be held for 3-4 years. They would get paid, but it would be a rookie salary scale with caps, etc. That’s not a free market either.
I don’t think the NFL model applied to college football is the way to go, but at least there’s a structure people can understand.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:38 PM ^
That sounds like Michigan.
February 6th, 2024 at 4:59 PM ^
Yup. He's not talking about Michigan it's someone operating just like Michigan. (And I don't think anyone else is.)
February 6th, 2024 at 5:10 PM ^
Schools do not hand out NIL dollars. I believe there is an NCAA rule prohibiting that. And there are different state laws in different places.
The collectives hook up the NIL dollars. They are separate entities who develop NIL opportunities, sometimes for individuals ($500k deal with car dealership for QB) and sometimes group deals (all baseball players get Oakleys and $1000).
There are collectives that have the endorsement of the university (usually univs. license their marks to the collectives) and schools certainly refer athletes to the collectives to help them generate or find NIL opps. So, the relationship between the collective and the university is real but the collective is supposed to be like a talent agent.
But the universities are doing very little of that work themselves. It is more like "Come to University of XXX and we will connect you with our Bagman Collective to hook you up with cash from our no-work endorsement opportunities."
February 6th, 2024 at 2:50 PM ^
This makes Michigan's accomplishments even more impressive in this era. Michigan v. Everyone (and their financiers).
February 6th, 2024 at 2:56 PM ^
Not really, Michigan is still playing with players that came in before this exploded. Let’s talk in the next year or two and see if they can continue it in the completely NIL era.
February 6th, 2024 at 4:29 PM ^
Yes. When Grant, Graham, Edwards, Will Johnson and our starting safeties are gone next year then what?
We had nobody between JJ and Davis at QB what about these other positions?
February 6th, 2024 at 4:52 PM ^
Im just hoping the defense sticks around for -this- year.
February 6th, 2024 at 5:55 PM ^
We know NIL wasn't being spent on unproven recruits, but do we know that proven contributors are getting less than they would at other similar blue blood schools?
February 6th, 2024 at 2:51 PM ^
If the lowest paid starters in the NFL are getting $4M a year it makes sense that the best college QB (or potentially the best) would be getting $4M. A lot of the non-starters in the NFL get over a $1M a year.
I agree with the one recruit who says that money is ruining college football. The players like getting paid and the fans don't mind paying them, but it just isn't right. Players play for the paycheck rather than the team. I don't know how to fix it.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:56 PM ^
Some degree of contract is the only way out. If it's pure free agency all the time, it'll never be about anything more than the paycheck. If you can have the player sign a contract to obligate them to stay at a place for their whole 4 years (with limited escape clauses, like coaching changes and some other hardships), then you remove that somewhat. People should be able to seek greener pastures, but you also have to incentivize making the best of of a situation.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:57 PM ^
I'm sure you show up to your job for the love of it, right?
February 6th, 2024 at 2:59 PM ^
Wrong. The money in the NFL is much bigger and there are fewer teams with half the number of players. Plus, a lot of starters are still on rookie deals and making less than you think. The NFL is not a good comparison.
February 6th, 2024 at 5:41 PM ^
Rookie deals and the Brock Purdy example are good exceptions. There are 5-20 teams who are willing to go crazy with payroll. OSU is an obvious example. I'm talking out my behind, but Alabama, OSU, Miami and Clemson will get more bang for their buck buying dominant teams than whatever Arizona Cardinals, Carolina or the Commanders are paying. Think about how many people are wearing the jerseys of those schools despite having no affiliation with them. When is the last time you saw someone on the street wearing a Commanders jersey?
February 6th, 2024 at 3:13 PM ^
I think the logic is flawed because pro franchises actually get a return off the money they pay their players, since it's helping their business fill seats/sell apparel/etc. NIL deals are literally just being funded primarily from a few ultra-wealthy dudes trying to make their favorite team more enjoyable to watch. I don't actually think its going to be sustainable outside of the teams that are able to compete for a national championship every year.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:36 PM ^
The lowest paid starters are not getting $4 million a year. Purdy is no where near that number as a 7th round pick.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:44 PM ^
Insane to think that Brock Purdy will earn $870,000 for the 2023 season, including bonuses and compensation. What a bargain.
February 6th, 2024 at 4:00 PM ^
I believe I saw Brock Purdy makes less than $1mll/season, so certainly not all "the lowest paid starters in the NFL make $4mil".
But ya know what Broxk does have?
NIL opportunities!
He slid right into the Buster Posey ad spots in the Bay Area after Buster retired. They're like doppelgangers!