MI one step closer to being the leader and best in college-athlete NIL rights

Submitted by UAUM on January 24th, 2020 at 1:03 PM

Yesterday, the Michigan House Oversight Committee heard testimony on HB 5217 and 5218 - which grant college-athletes the right to benefit from their name, image, and likeness without loosing eligibility - sponsored by Representatives Brandt Iden and Joe Tate.

Here's a link to the video of that testimony

Both bills passed and are now headed to the House Ways and Means Committee.

samsoccer7

January 24th, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^

I agree eligibility should be a little looser.  I think transferring and being able to play right away is the way it's going to go.  However that can become fraught with people working behind the scenes to essentially recruit guys from other schools.  The one year off was basically a way to prevent some of that.  Anyway, glad to see Michigan at the forefront.

ScooterTooter

January 24th, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^

Still think the best way to go about transfers would be the ability to transfer without sitting out a year  after your third season or if the head coach leaves/is fired prior to that you may transfer without sitting out a year. 

If you transfer prior to your third season, current rules apply. 

 

Maize N' Ute

January 24th, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^

5* players will still need to be developed throughout their time at Michigan.  On top of that, you need a coach(es) who want to utilize their talents and exploit mismatches.

Michigan does neither of that.

So great, Michigan pays players to be underutilized.  What's the difference between what we have right now?

MGoStrength

January 24th, 2020 at 7:29 PM ^

Just off the top of my head Dax Hill, Zach Charbonnet, Jabrill Peppers, Chris Hinton, DPJ, & Rashan Gary are all guys that either contributed early and/or developed.  Just because DPJ & Gary didn't live up to their recruiting profiles doesn't mean the coaches suck.

Brian Griese

January 24th, 2020 at 1:54 PM ^

That’s great and all, but I disagree with Brian and the rest of the people that feel NIL rights will somehow help propel Michigan towards being an ‘elite’ football program. 

Njia

January 24th, 2020 at 3:10 PM ^

While I don't think any of us want to create a new intercollegiate athletic Wild West, the corruption associated with bagmen is: 1) pervasive; 2) an approach that will *never* be permitted by the University of Michigan (and rightly so); and 3) in desperate need of an alternative.

It's the creation and promotion of an alternative where I believe U-M can play a huge role, and undermine unscrupulous institutions (hi, Columbus!). What if, for instance, each NCAA member institution simply offered each scholarship athlete some combination of scholarship and living expenses, AND additional compensation reflective of the revenue they help to generate for the institution? Yes, for some 4/5-star athletes, that could amount to several hundred thousand dollars per year, per athlete.

It would completely upend the entire notion of "amateur athletics," but let's not kid ourselves. The best athletes are already getting paid under the table in wads of cash; smaller, less financially-viable programs probably aren't going to slide any further from relevancy than they already are; and it would put those institutions who actually care about following some set of rules back on something like a level playing field.

Alternatively, just abandon the NCAA altogether. It's not like they serve a useful purpose anymore if they're being willfully blind to rampant cheating by the member institutions. 

Njia

January 24th, 2020 at 7:25 PM ^

Raising tuition for non-athletes? Maybe and maybe not. If an Athletic Dept is financially independent from the academic side of the institution, as it is with Michigan, there should be a minimal impact, if any. 
Right now, the money being given to recruits is completely under the table. Unless Michigan decides it wants to play that game, the only alternative is to create a system that works to the strengths and available resources of schools like ours. There are very few SEC schools, for example, that can go toe-to-toe with Michigan when it comes to the ability to marshal financial resources.

It’s also not a benefit that every athlete will get, even in the same sport, because the amount would also be based on 1) results on the field, and 2) how in-demand they are as recruits. Does anyone seriously believe that a 3-star nobody in the SEC is getting the same six-figure handshake (and other bagmen-provided benefits) as a 5-star does?

Njia

January 24th, 2020 at 10:20 PM ^

I'm sympathetic. But I'm also a realist. Football and basketball have always been the revenue sports. While scholarships should still be offered in other sports in as great a number as we do now, athletes who excel at the former are being offered suitcases of cash, cars, no-show jobs, no-show class schedules, etc., in order to play for championships. The only rule now seems to be that programs that cheat, win; and the NCAA is apparently unwilling to sacrifice the dollars in order to enforce the rules if your school can bring eyeballs to television screens.

MGoStrength

January 24th, 2020 at 7:19 PM ^

I think the NCAA changes this rule nationally for the start of the 2020 season, but anything that forces their hand is a good thing.

AndArst

March 7th, 2020 at 8:10 PM ^

When I was a college student and decided to focus more on sports, life became a nightmare because it was really hard to pay enough attention to sports and to academic tasks at first. I couldn't imagine my life without uk essays at the time.