Texas A&M players make $10,000 each for interviews with fan site in NIL deal
Texas A&M football players Isaiah Spiller and Demani Richardson are set to earn $10,000 each for exclusive interviews posted to Aggies-centric website TexAgs.com. The deal for the interviews, which are sponsored by GreenPrint Real Estate Group, has been reached under the new name, image and likeness rules for college sports.
Not surprising, Fisher is a Saban disciple. All the Saban disciples (that are HCs) are the biggest payers of players. Saban, Smart, Fisher, Pruitt, etc. This is one of the reasons I've always believed Bama is the biggest $EC cheater. Saban had top recruiting classes at both LSU & Bama before ever winning anything at either stop. Smart did the same at UGA. Fisher also did this at FSU and TAMU, but to a lesser degree. Saban is the best at not only cheating, but at not getting caught. He's a master organizer.
There's no high road here, man. It's all fair game.
Couldn't agree more. I'm hoping beyond hope that NIL offers some kind of paradigm shift that tilts the recruiting field back to even, let alone in favor of Michigan.
With our world class B-school and deep pocketed alumni network, you would think NIL would give us a huge upper hand. At the end of the day, 5-star guys believe they're three years away from an NFL contract and 4-star guys believe they can get there with the right coaching. Unless NIL somehow improves coaching ability, the elite schools will still have the upper hand.
How about we just dissolve college football and roll it into the NFL? Pay them whatever, they don't have to pretend to take classes, etc. Then schools can invest in students who need financial assistance and students with high academic achievement.
That's where we're headed anyway, through the erosion of the amateur definition and cheating.
through the erosion of the amateur definition
Does amateur status actually factor in to anyone being a college sports fan? If so, why?
I will admit that I am rapidly drifting away from college football. I only watch a few games over the last two years. I have many reasons, but at the end of the day, what it has morphed into appears nothing like the sport from the 90s that I followed religiously.
I'll preface this by saying I am pro-athletes in the "pay-for-play" and NIL debate. But yes. Amateur status is a factor for me, and I think others too.
There is something about students representing their school in athletics that appeals to me. I'm not watching college football or basketball because I want to watch the best football or basketball players. If that were the case, I'd watch the NFL or the NBA. It doesn't bother me much when Michigan loses to a school like Alabama (in football) or Kentucky (in basketball). Those teams are comprised primarily of student-athletes who are in school almost exclusively because it is a required stepping stone to become a professional athlete. It doesn't feel much different than losing an exhibition to a CFL team or a G League team.
I am speaking for myself here, but when you start to decouple the "student" from the "athlete," I start losing interest.
My preference would be to deregulate compensation matters in major college sports almost entirely and build up the infrastructure for club sports. That way everybody is satisfied. The best athletes get compensated for their talent and hard work and they don't have to put up with the pretense of typical general education classes that they don't care about or, for that matter, really need. Instead, build a core education program for entertainers. Personal finance courses, branding and marketing, basic legal issues related to the right of publicity and other intellectual property, stuff that star athletes actually need to know about. On the other side, you still have an "amateur" league, comprised of your engineering and pre-med students who happen to also be interested and fairly good at sports.
I would love to see football and basketball draft similarly to hockey/baseball. Allow NFL teams to draft as early as HS Juniors, own that kids rights for 5 years (driving 3 years in college), and in doing so, the NFL team would 'pay' the scholarship value plus a stipend. Universities could then utilize that scholarship money toward other athletes or other NIL opportunities for other athletes.
Not happening. Michigan is and always will be a proud education first based institution, and rightfully so. The University of Michigan as a whole is world class.
For the NIL to tilt recruiting in our favor we will have to be overly willing to outbid all the current powerhouse teams that are already on another level than us. All of the SEC, osu, Clemson, Bama, USC, Florida, Florida state, Texas, Texas A&M, etc... All of these schools will find ways to put more money in their students pockets than we will.
It tilts recruiting to whichever schools are willing to do 'whatever it takes' to get recruits there. We all know which schools these are. Spoiler alert, recruiting is already tilting in these same schools direction. NIL will crush academic focused and thin wallet small schools in recruiting and the transfer portal.
If you are a 17 year old kid what will stop you from going to the highest bidder? Do you honestly believe Michigan will ever be the highest bidder? We recruit with world class education, facilities, history, and name recognition.
Yeah. NIL just brings stuff that's been going on forever into the open. People have said "Cheating will still go on because NIL doesn't apply to everything" but that's missing the point - as long as there are avenues to legally pay players, there is no incentive to "cheat" anymore. Schools will just use those avenues.
There's no high road here, man. It's all fair game.
You appear to be under the assumption that me not being surprised that Saban disciples doing this is bad. I do not think that. I think it was bad pre-NIL and I cited examples of why I think they cheated in the past. I think that the same folks that pushed the envelope pre-NIL will do so post-NIL and therefore it doesn't surprise me. But, I have no problem with it whatsoever now and hope UM follows suit.
I don't think of this as pushing the envelope. This is what the NIL legislation was intended to do. I never understood why a lot of posters here thought NIL only applied to video games and whatnot. If you can sign a contract for the right to use your likeness in one medium, you certainly can in another.
Not sure what you’re getting at here? This isn’t against the rules, so what’s with the rant on Saban and his coaching tree cheating?
I don’t want to speak for him, but I read the comment as basically saying, if they’re willing to give $10k for a couple interviews, you better believe they were funneling money under the table before. But that’s in the past now. It’s better to focus on what we do moving forward.
Not sure what you’re getting at here? This isn’t against the rules, so what’s with the rant on Saban and his coaching tree cheating?
I think I clearly articulated what I meant. It doesn't surprise me based on their past. I never said it's bad in the current rules. I'm not sure why you (and some others) seem to think that I have a problem with it now. I did have a problem with it then. Now, it's fair game.
Need to update your hot takes, buddy
Need to update your hot takes, buddy
Think you need to re-read what I posted. I have no problem with it and never said I did pal.
The winners will keep winning. Those that "cheated" best already have the payment networks, sponsors (bagmen) and culture set up.
The fantasy that the "UM money cannons" will make us competitive with the likes of Bama and OSU is delusional. We have players that have been getting paid under the table for years as well, we just haven't gone full on $EC / shameless about it. A choice that has left us as a middling program.
With NIL we can now maybe get to where elite programs have been "bagging" for the past 20 years, and they ($EC/OSU) can now take it up a notch to full on professional payment status. We will remain a decade behind the elite programs as always.
But we "do things the right way" [ignore Dr. Anderson/Bo scandal and focus on player payments], and "play by the rules" and {insert Michigan Man narrative here} and keep arguing about just needing a better coach - without acknowledging the systemic differences in how programs are run.
Good for them. If people want to read it and TexAgs wants to pay it--take that money.
Gig 'Em!
If someone is willing to pay them that kind of money then go for it.
I have to imagine that this will continue to further widen the divide between the haves and have nots in college football. You think a kid playing football at Indiana, Vanderbilt, Colorado or Kansas State will ever get this kind of deal or potential exposure? I doubt it. In fact, I wonder if you’ll be seeing more examples going forward of kids ditching going to one of the schools above with a more sure path to the field in favor of taking a chance or even walking on to get this kind of option at a Georgia, Texas A&M, OSU, etc.
It will also put the final nail in the coffin of the obvious fiction that big-time college athletics—especially basketball and football—has any real connection with education.
To the athletic departments and coaches, it's been all about the money for years, but the players felt obligated to mouth the platitudes about "education is very important to me and my family which is why I'm committing to (insert name of college)." Now that the money spigot is being turned on for the players, the real motivations for committing to a particular school will no longer be hidden—collegiate athletics in the major sports, particularly basketball and football, are nothing more than minor leagues for the pros.
Its been a charade for a long time...
No where else in the world is there a model of multibillion dollar/euro/pound/yen/etc. sports programs built into an 'academic' structure. And its for good reason, they are not compatible.
Big time College Football and Basketball are so close to their professional counterparts in every way except compensation for the athletes.
Which is why athletic departments should lose their tax-exempt charitable organization status and finally be taxed as businesses, which is what they are.
The same holds true for the athletes. They should be taxed on the scholarships as a form of compensation in addition to their NIL income.
Also, they should no longer be given any breaks in the admissions process insofar as many are not applying primarily as students. To be completely fair, I don’t think that they should even be required to be enrolled.
Let’s just call “college football” what it is and be done with the pretense. It’s professional minor league football. Plain and simple, there is nothing “college” about it for many players including the sham honors and awards (e.g. Big Ten recognition, varsity letters) that should rightly be reserved for student-athletes that are strictly amateurs. And yes, that also includes athletes in Olympic sports that intend on capitalizing on potential international exposure to pursue their sports as professions.
It may sound harsh, but it is honest and fair. The NCAA, the athletic departments, and the athletes can’t win every which way. No one else does either. Any other way is a double-standard.
You can't tax scholarships unless you are planning on changing the rule for athletes and non-athletes alike, but NIL income is absolutely taxable just like any other income.
Fair enough.
Churches first
Not sure why JS is getting negged for this comment. I don't agree with everything in it, but I think that the points he makes about big time college sports being businesses that should be taxed as such is pretty reasonable.
A good chunk of the scholarships athletes receive are already taxable. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc421.
I fail to see what this has to do with education one way or the other. Athletes have been getting compensated in one form or another for years. This just makes it legal to do so instead of having to give them McDonald’s bags of cash.
Actually, with all schools free to “play the game,” money might end up being a wash wherever you go.
Would it not be acceptable NIL conduct for a recruit to solicit from various fan bases a "go fund me"
type of bidding situation where various fans/boosters would agree to contribute to have a player attend? Schools with wealthier fan bases who support athletic programs are doing the same thing now in the sense that the schools can hire the best coaches and have the best facilities. The scenario I noted simply extends opportunities to players.
In Michigan's case, the athletic department is a separate entity from the University itself although academics does play a significant role as to whether a recruit is eligible to matriculate at Michigan. Why not give complete autonomy to the AD to make academic determinations and buy "classroom" time as needed without University review and just end the charade?
Recruits are not collegiate athletes yet…so yes they would be ineligible to solicit money from various fan groups.
collegiate athletics in the major sports, particularly basketball and football, are nothing more than minor leagues for the pros.
More than 98% of college athletes will need that education/degree as they won't be going pro in any sport.
I know, I know, old fuddy-duddy here. But still true, so the idea that sports can put you through a University is very much alive and is taken seriously by most college athletes.
NCAA Mens Basketball to NBA: 1.2%
NCAA Football to NFL: 1.6%
Teams are going to need full time transfer portal managers, both to keep track of players and facilitate potential financial deals.
I'm just waiting for the first team to sponsor their own portal, replete with signing bonuses.
Ehh- I have to disagree here- in fact, I take the complete opposite stance on this.
The gap between the haves and the have nots is already massive- we know that there are a few elite programs and a ton of wanna-bes.
The nice thing about wealth is that it is everywhere- there are rich people EVERYWHERE. Now, the rich people in those slightly less exposed areas (Indiana, Kansas, etc) can match or beat offers for players in other areas. For example, lets say a kid from the midwest wanted to stay home, but had an offer for 100,000 from Miami- now, the big players in the midwest can match or beat that to encourage him, rather than just accepting he'll go for warmer weather or a bigger conference.
Money drives us all, for the most part. Now, the smaller teams that may have some big boosters that support them have a chance.
This is just the beginning and it will end up being a bidding war, especially for the 4* & 5* athletes. The upgrading of the facilities and was one war being fought to woo the big-time athletes but now the $$ is the ultimate war and chess game to be played.
Like many said, it's the wild, wild west.
Agreed- and in my eyes, that's a very good thing.
Let me give a super simple example.
For example, let us pretend there is a good 4 star in the state of Michigan, and he wants to stay local. He has offers from Michigan, MSU, CMU, WMU, Toledo, Indiana, and Illinois. Under the previous system, CMU, WMU, Toledo, and (likely) Indiana and Illinois would be long shots- he'd probably be picking either Michigan or MSU.
CMU reaches out hypothetically to the casino and says, "We have a chance to have a new face to our program," and Soaring Eagle says "Here ya go- he has to come do appearances once a week but here's a check for 500k."
That's why the smaller fish have a chance now.
Now, the rich people in those slightly less exposed areas (Indiana, Kansas, etc)
Is the Koch family now going to fund NIL payments for athletes at KU and KSU?
Wichita State basketball - they are big donors
I hope so!!!!!!!
If a kid isn’t good enough to earn a scholarship at OSU then he isn’t likely to earn money NIL wise unless he is somehow willing to risk having to pay for his college and earn one of 85 on a team that processes 4-stars when he could go to, say, Indiana or a MAC school for free on a scholarship and have a higher chance to become a star (Pinnix in 2020).
There are plenty of stars at smaller school that will likely earn more money starring at a small school. The next Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Khalil Mack.
Now, getting one’s stars at smaller schools poached in the portal due to ability to get more $$$—more likely. These are their lives, though, and they can go where they want and then likely make it harder on themselves to actually play the game.
Maryland and Rutgers have enough resources and good markets to sell kids on, so that may also help. I can see more kids staying in state and allowing for more parity if the universities market their capabilities right with both players and public.
As for Indiana, if this NIL had existed last year, I am guessing Pinnix could have cashed in on his instant fame. Players, coaches, and especially fans, need to see the marketing potential that comes with a player’s actual performance.
Some guys will take deals to stay at Bama and wait their possible turn. Saban will still process some of them who will never make it. Or he won t be able to shed them if people pay them. So many ifs.
Maybe guys will be less likely to go or stay at Bama because they aren’t getting enough?
There are so many factors in the equation, now, that the simplest way to see the NIL is that it is most likely an evening out for all players to profit off their own performance, not their team record/prestige. Thus, guys are going to look for places to play and make a name.
They ain't going to play school.
Every time I see this now all I think is just that OSU is/was ahead of their time on this. Can't beat em join em.
I agree, but the cynic in me says UofM will not adapt while programs like MSU take full advantage. I hope I’m wrong.
Michigan is already getting on board.
I don’t think you need to worry about that. We’re already selling our players’ jerseys (with their names) at the M-Den.
Anyone who has a problem with this is just petty.
I don't really have a problem with players getting paid for certain things, but these types of large payments do open up possible issues.
I mean, could a school tell a recruit that they'll workout a deal which will pay him or her huge payments for something if the recruit commits to their university?
I know some people feel the players should have opportunities to be rightfully paid. Though does this allow basically open bidding for players to come to certain universities?