College Football: Getting Greedy on The Gridiron

College football has always been about money, but not like this. The frenzy of conference realignment, NIL, and money seemingly being tossed around is tarnishing the sport many grew up loving. Traditions have been destroyed, rivalries stripped away, and players have seemingly become richer than the talents in the NFL that they looked up to as children.

“We are witnessing the death of something that was once pure,” Mr. Lyle Hayden said.

(NIL)Name-Image-likeness an interesting anagram used for college athletes. I say interesting for good reason: It is creating new problems. 

 For starters, there are many good things that have come from the NIL. Athletes are able to earn a sum of money from small businesses all the way to big franchises. They do this by sponsorship contracts. On a small scale at a smaller school the deal may be beneficial to the athlete. In fact it has proven work incredibly well.

On the other hand, big names have been making a lot of noise with the NIL Football star of the University of Southern California, Caleb Williams one of the other highest paid NCAA athletes by NIL.With a big name like Caleb’s he is able to demand and determine his professional career. Unlike any other athlete before him.. Maybe this isn’t an earth-shattering change, but change is change. And this one comes with major pros and cons. Do the big picture problems outweigh the individual athletes' benefit? Questions like these are starting to be asked. Is the NIL a friend or a foe?

NIL has made the CFB landscape look more and more like the NFL. The use of NIL to get recruits and lure players from the transfer portal has made it hard for coaches to keep their star players, especially at lower level schools. the transfer portal has caused more difficulty with high-school recruiting. The point is that there are new problems arising in college football and we are yet to see a solution.