College sports are not like an open job market. These players get a free education, free room and board, and their commitment is 4 years max. The emphasis should be the education - which at most schools is at least 100k over 4 years. But now, NIL has stripped bare the pretense that these players are students. This isn't some trainee leaving for another menial job. This is free agency without any contractual obligation from the player to stay at any one institution for more than a year.
Can you imagine what pro football would be like if Buffalo agreed to pay Josh Allen 60 million a year for 5 years but he has the option to break the contract whenever he wants? Neither can I. But this is what "college sports" is right now.
It's time to move on.
You’re describing what college sports used to be. That version is gone.
This isn’t 1998 where athletes just took whatever deal schools offered and hoped it worked out. Schools have been operating like professional organizations for years. TV deals, sponsorships, conference realignment, coaching salaries in the millions. The only people who weren’t allowed to participate in that system were the players.
Now they can. And suddenly that’s the problem?
The “free education” argument sounds nice, but please be so for real in the last... 15 years. At a lot of these programs, the athlete is the product. They’re generating massive revenue and visibility. Acting like tuition alone balances that equation is outdated thinking.
Also, the Josh Allen comparison is bad, and it feels like we're just throwing names out there. He’s an NFL employee with a collectively bargained contract, protections, and guaranteed money. College athletes have none of that. You can’t compare a fully structured pro league to what college sports have historically been.
And let’s be honest… if Josh Allen had today’s transfer portal and NIL setup when he was at the University of Wyoming, there’s no chance he’s staying put if bigger programs come calling with more exposure and real money. He already had to fight to get noticed there. The modern system would’ve given him options, and he probably uses them like anyone else would.
People also only seem to care about “loyalty” when it benefits them. Nobody complains when a transfer into their program makes them better. Funny how that works.