Transfer portal - is it really ultimately good for (most) players?

[laxwyo]

I am fine with NIL, but not fine with the not having-to-sit-out-a-year transfer rule. There has to be some concession to little schools, or, like has been stated above, there will be no parity and the whole enterprise will suffer and crumble.

It is a legal minefield for sure. The having to sit out a year would definitely benefit programs that are not associated with deep pocketed NIL collectives .... still don't think it helps with keeping the top guys since the amount you can get from the NIL stuff is worth multiple years sitting out at the lower levels.

My :twocents: , let guys play....these people are in the prime of their athletic lives. I hate the idea of keeping them off the field or court. Make them NCAA employees....not university employees...flatten the compensation....provide compensation incentive to stay at the program that recruited you.....does that solve anything? I'm sure lot's of holes. thoughts?

It's a huge shit sandwich everyone is eating and very complicated which means the NCAA or Congress are incapable of fixing. I also don't think there's a lot of appetite from the big schools to do anything other than Nick Saban mentioning how its bad for the sport.

 

[laxwyo]

There is not a single sports league in the world that allows free movement of athletes unless they're on a 1 year contract.

The only way to save college sports is to lock athletes into 4 yr contracts. If the big boys like your guy you developed and found in some tiny town and it's the players school of choice, they should offer compensation of some type. Preferably cash. This is a pro league now. It's time to start acting like it. NFL players don't get a ton of say in where they play for when they're drafted and many of them can be traded to whomever without player consent. Players would still get Nil money. At least the schools spending lots of resources on someone get compensated a little. I know theres probably a poop ton of wholes in something like this. Hell, maybe it's easier to set the prices. If Player X transfer to SEC school, Player X's first school gets $20k from the SEC school. No payment if player transfers to "G5" league. This way, they're free to choose schools but school is still compensated some and the SEC school would think a little before signing Player X. None of this will ever happen because the big boys have the best of all worlds right now. Free Agency every year and no salary cap.

Another difference is that pro athletes have contracts with the team that pays them. NIL money is not thru schools, it is from boosters/NIL collectives. So you couldn't have a contract with the school since the school isn't paying them (outside the scholarship they receive).

Most NILs are signing contracts with the athletes. But, just like a professional contract, you can break your contract if you really want. You just won't get paid.

Contracts don't have to exchange money. It could say something like, "I am contractually obligated to play 4 years with X school and if I break the contract and play for another collegiate team within 4 years, I will owe 10% of any Nil money I earn during that time". Kind of like a buyout that coaches have. I'm sure lawyers would find a loophole but at least we're thinking about it. It sounded like Oredigger knows some stuff so not being employees probably limits what can be done. Someone out there with some pull and a big brain needs to save college sports. Football is too expensive to go around scouting kids, getting them to college only to have them bounce after a year. Schools have a lot invested in football