bladerunnr
Well-known member
Former Sheridan track star Addie Pendergast is about to make her collegiate debut for Stanford. She has her own NIL page with merchandise to benefit her. Crazy how far this has come.
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NIL taken to a new level
- Thread starter bladerunnr
- Start date
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
This is actually what NIL was intended for from my perspective. Actually using one’s name, image and likeness to sell products.
What NIL shouldn’t be is a facade for a wealthy donor to buy championships with zero relation to actual commercial benefit for the party supplying the ‘endorsement’ money.
What NIL shouldn’t be is a facade for a wealthy donor to buy championships with zero relation to actual commercial benefit for the party supplying the ‘endorsement’ money.
bladerunnr
Well-known member
I agree. And if Addie performs the way I think she will, she will make a lot of dough, and deservedly so. But this kind of marketing will be pretty difficult for football and basketball if the athlete turnover is nearly 100 percent every year.
I still say that there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what is being purchased when NIL money goes to athletes. There are a couple categories here. One is.....when NIL money changes hands, the "purchaser" has a desire to increase the chances of success for his or her program of choice. This category represents a lot of the collectives out there as well as wealthy individual donors perhaps. This money is probably more akin to compensation or something. It is ostensibly money for "name, image and likeness" but it doesn't really buy that. It would be more accurately described as a recruiting war chest.
The second category is for the super high level and high visibility athletes. This money is buying exposure...same as any endorsement deal. For example...Cooper Flagg has an endorsement deal with Gatorade. Gatorade is branding off of his visibility just like any celebrity endorsement. Arch Manning has a deal with Red Bull that is about the same.
The courts have ruled that the Cooper Flaggs and Arch Mannings of the past have been unjustly kept from the money they could have made. The result is that horse has left the proverbial barn. With athletes having no traditional contractual status with schools, it's the wild west out there. If any school or group of schools tries to limit transferring or rein this in...that group will see a talent exodus.
Aren't a lot of schools seeing all of their talent leave anyways?
The status quo is unsustainable for a rather large number of schools out there. That groups include UW. They really only have two choices:
1) Split off into their own league with similar schools and make their own rules.
2) Try to implement a more traditional contract based employment scenario into the current NIL/profit sharing system.
bladerunnr
Well-known member
For years, schools sold jerseys with player's names and the player never got a dime. Athletes were not allowed to endorse products or make money off their sport in any way. Olympic athletes are much less likely to leave because their money comes from direct contracts with shoe companies or merch. sales. They won't get a better deal because their individual effort determines their value.
The NIL that is destroying football and basketball has been going on for decades, just illegally. It reminds me of the basketball movie from the 70's, called "One on One". The big recruit is given a job turning on the fully automatic sprinkler system, and given tickets for big games to sell to the highest bidder. It's the unlimited transfers that are the real killer. That needs to be changed.
From where I stand....Players are moving every year. Just because you have players leaving does not necessarily mean your overall talent in the program goes down. If you are Penn State or Texas Football, your talent level is pretty much maxed out and whoever leaves is getting replaced by somebody roughly equal. For teams slightly lower but still seen as serious football schools, You stand a chance of keeping your best players (see Ashton Jeanty or Travis Hunter) but a lot of athletes will still walk out the door if they aren't happy for whatever reason and you'll be forced to backfill with players that may or may not be as good. These programs will see talent level fluctuate up and down. Then you get to the bottom of the barrel....like us...and the flow of talent is decidedly in the wrong direction.
My comment about a talent exodus is just a prediction that whatever conference or school sticks their head up and grows a backbone on this unrestricted free agency situation will see their talent evaporate.
Makes sense. I agree with a lot of what you are saying.
I would be very proud if UW was the one to take the initiative on pushing back against this unrestricted free agency model present in current college athletics. UW really doesn't have a lot to lose...we rarely get the good athletes to begin with, and when we do, they are gone the next year anyways.
But if I know UW, the chances of them standing up for themselves is nearly 0%. Wouldn't want to upset anyone in power...they might banish us to the "second tier" of college athletics. As if we aren't clearly there already.
LanderPoke
Well-known member
We already have something like this for UW athletes
bladerunnr
Well-known member
We do? please post a link because Ive never seen more than a t-shirt with an athlete's likeness. And that was years ago.
Wyomingisgreat1
Well-known member
Wyoming does this too:
LanderPoke
Well-known member
I booked Quinn weideman for an event once for like $100, and they also had autographs for sale
Bear Claw
Well-known member
Will somebody (who understands) educate me on how UW is supposed to pay $20.5M a year for the next 10 years to athletes that played at the university since 2016? And then, pay for athletes who are currently playing or will be playing at UW.
I cannot wrap my head around this. Does every former and current athlete get money? Wouldn’t increased roster sizes mean even more money will have to be spent? I don’t see how any smaller budget university (like UW) can do this. It seems like a death sentence for schools like Wyoming.
I cannot wrap my head around this. Does every former and current athlete get money? Wouldn’t increased roster sizes mean even more money will have to be spent? I don’t see how any smaller budget university (like UW) can do this. It seems like a death sentence for schools like Wyoming.
You're misunderstanding a bit (I think)...
Per the settlement
- $2.8 billion will be paid out over a 10-year period.
- Schools like UW would be responsible for a portion, and $20.5M is reportedly Wyoming’s estimated share over the 10-year term.
- That breaks down to ~$2M/year, not $20.5M/year.
Yes, every player from 2016 is eligible, but they'll need to complete the class action information... Per the national law review:
Approximately 75% is expected to go to football players
20% going to be men’s and women’s basketball players
5% for other athletes.
The expected average damages award for a Power Five football or men’s basketball player is approximately $135,000 in payments over 10 years
Bear Claw
Well-known member
You are correct. I misunderstood the numbers. I really appreciate the explanation and breakdown of the payments. Thank you!
