We know that college football is a young man’s game, but it’s still hard to fathom that the NIL landscape is what ultimately led Nick Saban to retire. Yes, he was definitely 70 years old, but his youth and ability to adapt are what made him a coaching legend. His dynastic race Alabama from 2007 to 2023 was a legend. However, it wasn’t coaching attrition that ended it…
During his opening remarks at the NIL Roundtable on Capitol Hill, Saban expressed what he likes and dislikes when it comes to name, image and likeness. Oh, he focused on player empowerment in the latter part of his career. He has very little problem with guys being paid fairly for their NIL, based on brand and on-field performance. It must be earned and not given to any player…
Where he continued to object was on the notion of a “pay-to-play model,” an incentive, if you will. NIL was combined with the transfer portal and, to some extent, high school recruiting, to create a free market enterprise in which a player goes to the highest bidder. It’s like Scott Boras representing 18 year olds who have never left home before. You can understand Saban’s frustration.
Although Saban’s comments on the matter always made sense, those of his wife Terry were a little off-putting.
In his opening remarks at the NIL roundtable on Capitol Hill, Nick Saban said he thought NIL was a “great concept” but that the problem was building engagement in creating a “pay-for-play model.”
–Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) March 12, 2024
Clearly, changes need to be made to college sports to give this thing some guardrails, but when?
Nick Saban shares biggest problem with NIL and the college football landscape
As the old saying goes, the road to hell was paved with good intentions. Should players be paid? Absolutely, especially since their commitments to team sports make it extremely difficult to hold a job during the academic year. Many of these student-athletes come from nothing, so any little bit of extra money helps. However, if you pay players for NIL, expect corners to be cut with incentives.
There absolutely must be regulation on NIL, and in particular on the transfer portal. Even having only two transfer windows per year is still far too much to handle, even for some of the best college head coaches. This is why those who love recruiting and those who emphasize creating some sort of front office operating behind the scenes will bypass programs that don’t appreciate that.
What’s probably needed is for there to be a players’ union and for major college football to completely separate itself from the NCAA. The FBS already runs its own bowl system and playoff tournament. If players are considered workers, let’s draw up a collective agreement and go from there. If college football consists of the minor leagues of NFLso let’s put a system in place to best reflect that.
While Saban’s views on NIL are justified, they are a bit of idealism in a changing world.
