Between BGF and Merrick's explanations and the NCAA's unclear "rules," greed, lax or selective enforcement, you can see where this is headed.
No one understands the rules, players can be bought out of high school and before they transfer.
At Miami football, a number of players can just go to the dealership and pick out luxury cars. At least openly
this time.
  Take a look at a Miami Herald article citing billionaire John Ruiz, the guy who paid the $800,000.
https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article260756357.html
  Agents are now swarming over these kids, some because they get a much better percentage than pro
salaries.
What could go wrong? 
  Especially for us.

Last edited by jf (5/01/2022 1:21 pm)

A couple of good podcasts discussing the NIL issue

CBS Eye on College Basketball:



ESPN Bald Men On Campus (feat Izzo and Leonard Hamilton): https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/bald-men-on-campus-8427/episodes/tom-izzo-and-leonard-hamilton-134579504

Last edited by GW0509 (5/02/2022 7:33 pm)

It sucks, I hate it. It's not amateur sports. This casino should -- and I believe will -- be shut down in a big hurry. 

GW73 wrote:

I also hate it. But coaches make millions. Because coaches and much of the media have made big time college athletics all about the coaches. Why shouldn't players make at least one million? So called college athletics is really professional. Let's be real. With all the money involved it's no surprise where we are now -- a total mess. The only thing close to college athletics is Division III.

Coaches hate it more than anyone. Between this and the portal, they have absolutely no roster control anymore. It's why we're seeing a lot of high profile resignations in the past few years, and I expect that trend to continue.
Fans are to blame, in my mind. If there wasn't such high spectator demand, we wouldn't have the multi billion dollar TV contracts that drive the NCAA's surplus. People look at that figure and say the players -- as producers -- should be paid. That they're free labor. From free tuition and meals to instruction and promotional considerations, nothing could be further from the truth. They get paid commensurate with the college environment. If players feel exploited by that, by all means, go pro and let us know how it goes. NIL should not be a conduit for free spending directly on players. It's outrageous.

While important, my biggest interest in bringing the discussion here is not necessarily the overarching issues of college athlete revenue generation and fair share, but where does GW fit in this new world.  It seems 90% of our threads are missing the elephant In the room in terms of who comes, who stays, and who goes.

LSF, with roughly 360 D1 MBB basketball teams, I’d say the P5 and Big East might be able to play in this space along with a few mid-majors, but well more than half will be bit players as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Plenty of collectives at these schools should be able to raise 25k/year minimum just for being on the roster.  Are we one of them?  I have a hard time seeing that.  I have guesses on how the total marketplace might shake out over the years—but only time will tell. 

What I do believe is that we have no chance to get a kid wavering between two schools being viewed as relatively equal opportunities, EXCEPT where the other school has a collective dangling a lot more money in front of them.

Last edited by Merrick (5/04/2022 3:01 pm)

Article about NIL collective forming at lower tier P6 like Rutgers, home to our friends Hobbs Pikiel and Thompson: https://theathletic.com/3294283/2022/05/05/rutgers-nil-money-college-collective/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983

Schools are pressuring the NCAA to try and retroactively go after the John Ruiz’s of the world
https://www.si.com/college/2022/05/06/nil-chaos-leaders-urging-ncaa-new-guidelines

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/05/09/ncaa-nil-boosters-collectives/

Heard a radio show that had a lawyer that now specializes in helping athletes with NIL deals (said he has over 200 clients).  The numbers were staggering.  He said the going rate for a NIL contract for a top QB or LB prospect is $1-$2 million per year which they are offered from multiple collectives to get to attend their respective school. The avg starter  on a top football team is in the $100,000 + range.  He said most schools in the P5 have huge cash reserves in their Collective.  It was football related but easy to see how it would translate to a 4-5 star basketball recruit.
The money is staggering

GW69 wrote:

I certainly don’t understand what this NIL stuff is all about—but it seems to me ,with my limited knowledge,
that unless we have alum with deep pockets willing to spend some cash,it’s time for GW to seriously think about moving to the Patriot league and tighten its academic standards.It would be nice to be in the top 40 
schools in US News.It should be meaningless-but it’s not.Right now we have “good” but not great academic 
reputation and lousy sports.Not very exciting.I’m falling asleep.l

No need to go to the Patriot League. What matters is how we stack up with our conference schools, not how we stack up against NC State and Oklahoma. Peer schools in the conference like Richmond, Davidson, and Loyola Chicago are able to compete nationally without huge NIL collectives because their alumni are so invested in the school’s success both academically and athletically. Without an adjustment in our culture it won’t matter what conference we are in.