As the NIL turns: "Show me the Money!" edition
So Miami (YTM) basketball player Isaiah Wong says he'll enter the portal if his NIL compensation isn't increased.
"Isaiah would like to stay at Miami," Papas (his NIL agent) said. "He had a great season leading his team to the Elite Eight. He has seen what incoming Miami Hurricane basketball players are getting in NIL and would like his NIL to reflect that he was a team leader of an Elite Eight team."
Let the blackmail begin!
April 28th, 2022 at 10:45 PM ^
😆 this free market of amateur teenage athletes and their behavior like NBA free agents is truly remarkable to watch.
I want this era to be known as the "Shit Show."
April 28th, 2022 at 10:46 PM ^
Blackmail?
April 28th, 2022 at 10:48 PM ^
Putin doesn’t truly understand free markets. He is always thinking in terms of power moves and underhanded manipulation.
April 28th, 2022 at 10:53 PM ^
You left out the best part! This quote from billionaire John Ruiz, who has 111 deals signed or pending with Hurricane athletes to promote his companies, LifeWallet and Cigarette Racing:
"Isaiah is under contract," Ruiz said in a text message to ESPN. "He has been treated by LifeWallet exceptionally well. If that is what he decides, I wish him well, however, I DO NOT renegotiate! I cannot disclose the amount, but what I can say is that he was treated very fairly."
I'm all for NIL and I think it's fascinating to see what happens. I'm a little shocked to see this sort of thing this soon. Do we know if Wong was represented by this same enterprising NIL agent when he signed the existing deal?
And no, this isn't blackmail. You might call it extortion, but I think one of the main points of NIL was that someone like Ruiz can't condition payment on Wong's place at Miami, so Wong might be doing Ruiz a favor by transferring and getting a new deal somewhere else.
April 29th, 2022 at 12:04 AM ^
And no, this isn't blackmail. You might call it extortion
It's not extortion either. If someone says if you don't do something then I'm going to do _____... is known as an ultimatum.
April 29th, 2022 at 12:30 AM ^
Sounds like negotiation in a very honest and public way.
"Ultimatum" is a polite, and fancy, way of saying 'extortion'...
I don't know, now I think I'mTheStig is right, "extortion" is probably too strong. It sounds like a demand/ultimatum to renegotiate the contract. I'm curious, if the booster says "no thanks" if the player has the option to terminate the contract or if he has to honor it (just at a different school).
I assume the contract doesn't specify school (because it can't, right?), so if he transfers and honors his NIL obligations, but the booster says "I'm not paying you at a different school", what happens?
April 29th, 2022 at 10:56 AM ^
I assume the contract doesn't specify school
I think this depends on state law.
Depending on locale, some student-athletes can engage in NIL deals themselves.
In others, NIL has to go through the school.
^ where also some schools take a cut and put the money into a pool to be shared with other student-athletes; e.g., in non-revenue sports that don't get money cannons shot at them.
April 28th, 2022 at 10:55 PM ^
Didn’t Miami just “sign” a kid to a big NIL deal, as well as twin female women bball players from Fresno? Figured they were strong with NIL.
April 28th, 2022 at 11:03 PM ^
Sounds like a kid with very high character.
April 29th, 2022 at 12:02 AM ^
Sounds like a smart kid to me.
April 29th, 2022 at 12:59 PM ^
Also sounds like a kid who didn't attend a school because he had any love for the school, but one who attended because he liked the offered paycheck.
So if he's drafted by the league, should he decline to play for the team because he doesn't love that team? I don't think so.
It's a different world now. College athletics is big business, time to change our thinking.
You've captured the essence: please feel free to change *your* thinking and I will tend to mine.
I root for the kids who love playing for my alma mater, Michigan (and Harbaugh). I want that kid to love Ann Arbor who then finds people who share his love for Michigan who, in turn, will help him not only defray his costs but also start a nest egg for his future.
I don't root for hired players. I don't root for players who start a conversation with a Michigan coach: "What am I bid".
Sorry ...
But is he Wong?
I'm out.
That's wacist.
April 28th, 2022 at 11:16 PM ^
This really isn't blackmail any more than you can telling your employer "pay me more or I'm leaving" is blackmail.
CBS paid nearly $11B dollars to the NCAA for 14 years of March Madness TV rights back in 2010; when they renegotiate those rates my guess is it'll be significantly higher. The average yearly salary for a P5 basketball coach is around $4M. The fact that athletes are saying "hey, pay me for the value I generate for this enterprise" really shouldn't be a surprise to people, nor does it showcase anything beyond the fact that the NCAA had a pretty nice racket going on there for decades by artificially depressing their value.
Also, Miami in particular seems like a real shitshow right now and has been for decades and while that isn't a huge surprise to me I wouldn't necessarily point at that insanity and clutch pearls. It's not like Miami has tried hard in the past to hide the fact a bunch of athletes are getting bags of cash dropped off to them.
April 28th, 2022 at 11:39 PM ^
Nothing you are saying is wrong. But is does get a bit harder to maintain the fiction of student athlete
April 28th, 2022 at 11:59 PM ^
Was it a fiction that was worth maintaining? After all, it was a fiction anyway. Now, at least, it’s a free market system. Will it change the landscape entirely? Absolutely, but the sport will survive, things will evolve into a new normal, and fans will adapt. Embrace the ride.
The sport will "survive", yes, into a mutated form. Know however that some watchers may not "embrace the ride" in its mutated form --- and tune out.
Time will tell.
April 29th, 2022 at 10:04 AM ^
Yeah, I read The Big Scrum about how Teddy Roosevelt had to "save" football because it was needlessly violent and mostly featured dock workers smashing into each other while masquerading as college students, and there was pearl clutching back then as well. I also read Meat Market about college football at Ole Miss under Ed Orgeron and it sounded probably sleazier than anything we're seeing now because of the exploitation of athletes but the schools. So yeah, I don't see why people are freaking out that the sport is evolving into a more transparent model in terms of labor participation.
April 29th, 2022 at 10:14 AM ^
Some people really don't want to know how the sausage gets made. I can understand the desire to think "my" coaching staff is a paragon of virtue, because if I'm investing much of my time rooting for manipulative thugs, then what does that make me?
April 29th, 2022 at 12:18 AM ^
It was not fiction once upon a time, but it has been a joke for some time. NIL and unrestricted transfers are the death knell.
All of these changes are ultimately in the best interest of the kids and that's what really matters, but I do take issue with people refusing to acknowledge how these changes fundamentally change the backbone of American collegiate sports, which were internationally unique.
When wasn’t it fiction? I’ve read a few books over the years that dispelled that notion for me, dating back to at least Yost’s era, and for Yost himself. I had an older relative who was offered a car to play at Indiana back in the 50s. Every decade has had its pay-for-play scandals. This has always been a thing.
April 29th, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
Sure, but they are still students (at least as much as they have been for decades) and athletes, only now they also get compensated for their work. When I was in college I was a student but also got a side job making money, and that didn't diminish my other efforts. Again, these student-athletes were a key part of a multi-billion dollar industry but because some old men in suits sold us fans a fiction that they were just "kids playing a game" we ignored the fact those same old men were getting paid $9M+ dollars a year to yell at them.
I expect we'll see a rising trend of young athletes aggressively pursuing deals to maximize their income. I'm sure it's jarring for some used to watching athletes quietly working the plantation, but once the big money rolled in, the more unfair it seems to not pay them for their contribution.
They're entitled to fair market value, just as the schools are, and I expect them to make bigger deals with agents jumping in to get them a slice of the pie.
April 28th, 2022 at 11:41 PM ^
Why does Miami seem like a shit show?! I think the opposite, actually. Cristobal, the hometown hero and possibly best recruiter in the sport, is at the helm, and Miami AD finally decided they want to start trying to be winners again. Add in money and many people with it that could bring players to the program. Hurricane season is a year or 2 away in football and Larenega maybe revitalized the bball program this past season.
You missed the point... The 'shit show' comment is about the very obvious pay-for-play NIL situation Hurricane sports are abetting. More than any other school (so far) Miami is flaunting that 'rule' ('suggestion' may be a better word) directly in the NCAA's face.
And no, the NCAA will not do a single thing about it.
Because of how publicly all this is playing out. On the football field I think Miami will be...better under Cristobal though I do think they have a ceiling that is lower than they were during their peak because a lot of the things they got away with during the 90s and early 00s is done by everyone now, and so what's left is a small-ish school in a not-great part of Miami with largely disinterested fans. They're in a talent-rich area so they'll always be good but I'd be surprised if they became elite. And Cristobal seems like a B+/A- coach and not necessarily the type of guy who'll be more than the kids he recruits; Oregon always seemed streaky to me when I saw them and so when things were doing well (e.g. against OSU) they looked like world beaters and when it wasn't (e.g. their 2 games against Utah this year) they looked lost.
As for basketball, they're coming off a good run this season but also missed the tourney the previous 3 years (and they were sub-.500 during 2020 so it was unlikely they'd have made it that year had the tourney been held) and hadn't gotten out of the first round for 5 years. They may be on the rise again or they just had a good collection of players and some luck and will revert to being okay again. But if there's this much public complaining about NIL money right now my guess is they could take a step back this season.
April 28th, 2022 at 11:19 PM ^
Wow. Wonder if they regret making the other deal so public.. it is an interesting side effect that players who are returning to a team can start to feel under-appreciated vs. transfers for whom there is a bidding war.
April 28th, 2022 at 11:41 PM ^
Awesome, good for him, get that bag. Fans been talking a lot of shit for decades about the name on the front being what matters, about to find out if its actually players or the school that make the sport interesting and drive the value (hint, its the players and they are finally going to get paid for it)
April 28th, 2022 at 11:43 PM ^
Agreed. I mean, it's a bit of both in reality, but yes, many folks wanted to pretend the players and skilled athletes filling those jerseys out hardly exist(ed). They did and do and are the ones that draw the fans to see them don those jerseys.
April 29th, 2022 at 12:12 AM ^
Hahaha. Wild Wild West is for sure here
This is replacing the wild west. It's like marijuana going from illegal to legal. The same amount of money was probably being spent before and after -- now it's just mostly out in the open (and there are probably plenty of illegal transactions also happening in both basketball "deals" and marijuana deals despite the availability of a legal avenue).
This stuff is why the BS notion of NIL being removed from the schools themselves is ridiculous.
Kids can now be paid so pay them. Fine, hide it behind an "autograph signing" or "appearance". Whatever makes you feel better but pay them. Those not doing what A&M and others are doing are suckers and actually open themselves to more of this type of thing. Not locking a kid down with time and numbers leaves YOU open to this so just don't do it. Treat it as much like a contract as you can.
He is under contract. He wants to negotiate his contract or be released from it (or continue to honor it from a different school, which should be fine under NIL rules but is NOT what the Miami booster wants).
What I find confusing is that the booster is fully willing to admit that the NIL is tied to the school.
He saw a transfer come in and get $800k and a car to be lured to Miami. I'm guessing he was getting less than that. And really, I like the move. Sounds like Miami's "partners" may have gotten greedy and went the extra mile to bring in a transfer and took for granted the guys they already had. Now this dude can be the prize for some other school's NIL recruitment conglomerate, or the Miami people can pony up like they did for the incoming transfer. Sounds like the power is in the hands of the player for once -- as opposed to the school, the NCAA, the conference, the tv deal, etc etc etc
Man coaching in this environment has to be insane...you recruit guys, put together a roster and then Mr. Lifewallet swoops in and it all changes overnight.
It probably is considerably more difficult to coach now, but I blame the lack of attention - or even acknowledgement, in many cases - by the NCAA and its member institutions to NIL and the failure to devise an organized, reasonably equitable (which would only be a relative term here, of course) way to manage the process, instead opting for a "Whatever" approach. As a result, we have what we always said we wanted - players seeing that they are a brand unto themselves and that this is worth something to the school and others. We are also seeing that those supposedly in charge of various portions of the process largely have no fucking clue how exactly to handle that at the present.
Maybe, but if you believe the SEC model, this isn't all that different. The key is to put the roster together before the NIL deals and then have a booster who doesn't lowball the kids to put up the money.
I have a hard time believing this kind of thing never happened before - more like having agents involved is just going to make it public when it happens.
I said it forever but this kind of thing was inevitable and the NCAA was so dumb not to ever get ahead of things and try to come up with a good system. Instead they pretty much literally said do whatever you want. I can't believe Mark Emmert got 3 million a year to just jerk off in his office.
April 29th, 2022 at 10:40 AM ^
i can completely believe he did.
man, i hate this shit.
Honest question, no snark intended: why?
NIL in general, but this story especially, impacts me exactly zero. The reasons kids choose schools has always been a mystery to some extent, and money has always been a part of it. It seems like people just don't want to hear about it in the news because it ruins the idea that all athletes at your school of choice are there because of an undying love and loyalty.
it's a fair question, and i don't take it as snark.
you touch on some part of it. i graduated (twice) from u of m; one of the reasons i love michigan sports is the connection i can draw, however tenuous and / or imaginary, between the young men and women wearing the uniform and my own experiences in ann arbor. they’re walking the same sidewalks, sitting in the same lecture halls, all that crap. being a fan of michigan is different than being a fan of the lions in that michigan football started out as an outgrowth of the university experience, not as something separate from it. that matters to me, for better or worse; that connection between the concept of a “university” and the sports teams is, to me personally, all there is.
i know i sound like an old-fart pollyanna here - i should note this is NOT an argument against paying the athletes. the athletes are literally the only reason this ridiculous enterprise exists, for better or worse, and i honestly think they deserve every penny they get. but when NIL and player pay crosses over full-fledged, pro sports-style free agency - naked, unabashed school hopping in a way that seems disconnected from the basic function of a university? something at the very core of college sports is lost.
none of which makes me less of a fan, of course. i’m not one of those “NIL will make me stop watching” people. i’ll still be there, still go to mgoblog multiple times a day, still wear my gear. i just wish i could be a michigan fan without ever thinking about the endorsements and contract negotiations of our own and rival players.
April 29th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
It would be nice if there was a way to just tune out all the NIL stuff, that's for sure. The fact that it's new + the fact that people love to snoop on others' financial activities probably means we'll be hearing about it until the end of time. If anyone finds an unsubscribe button for all of it I'd pay good money for it!
April 29th, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
As you admit, this is largely an imaginary connection. The student part has been secondary to the sports part for major college basketball and football players for decades. Many barely spend any time at all actually interacting with other students. They spend the vast majority of their time in athlete only facilities. They take certain classes with tutor assistance to maintain eligibility because the NCAA says they have to. The only real connection to average students is that they live in the same geographic area. This is no different than living in the same city as your favorite professional sports team and seeing players at a restaurant/store/club/walking the dog.
I agree that many share this fallacy of a real connection to the college part of college athletics and NIL/transfers are pulling back the veil in a way that will ultimately be detrimental to the sport. I just can't see how that is reason enough to deny athletes some portion of the spoils being generated.