I’ve been on the “this changes everything” side of things about NIL’s impact. But I’m starting to wonder if I over reacted. Using basketball as an example and assuming that every school has a men’s and women’s team….there are close to 1100 schools in D 1,2,3. If the average team has 13 players on its roster, that’s 28,600 men and women playing college hoops.
Guesswork……..
For 28,000 of these student athletes nothing will change. The ones who are on scholarship get a free education, hopefully a degree and move on to whatever life has in store for them. Those with no scholarships, play for the love of the sport and move on as well. The NIL will have little or no impact on their lives. Maybe some make a few bucks but nothing life changing.
The remaining 600 players probably hold hopes a pro career. The majority of them will be disappointed. And, the majority of them will never sign NIL contracts that take them from college to an oceanfront villa in Turks and Caicos. They will move on just like the other 28,000 players.
So, this leaves us with the elite. How many….50? 100?…..that will earn the kind of money that changes lives. Whatever the number turns out to be, it’s a tiny fraction of the 28,600 playing college hoops. Some of those elite players will take their new-found wealth and decide to skip the pros for other interests.
Now, I don’t see a lot of changes. No separate leagues. No major rule change implemented by schools. There will be issues to address, motivation and jealously problems for a few coaches to deal with. We should remember that the UCONN Women’s program is an outlier. They may have multi players who could sign deals that guarantees a lifetime of financial security. They will be part of a fortunate (very) few.
.
Guesswork……..
For 28,000 of these student athletes nothing will change. The ones who are on scholarship get a free education, hopefully a degree and move on to whatever life has in store for them. Those with no scholarships, play for the love of the sport and move on as well. The NIL will have little or no impact on their lives. Maybe some make a few bucks but nothing life changing.
The remaining 600 players probably hold hopes a pro career. The majority of them will be disappointed. And, the majority of them will never sign NIL contracts that take them from college to an oceanfront villa in Turks and Caicos. They will move on just like the other 28,000 players.
So, this leaves us with the elite. How many….50? 100?…..that will earn the kind of money that changes lives. Whatever the number turns out to be, it’s a tiny fraction of the 28,600 playing college hoops. Some of those elite players will take their new-found wealth and decide to skip the pros for other interests.
Now, I don’t see a lot of changes. No separate leagues. No major rule change implemented by schools. There will be issues to address, motivation and jealously problems for a few coaches to deal with. We should remember that the UCONN Women’s program is an outlier. They may have multi players who could sign deals that guarantees a lifetime of financial security. They will be part of a fortunate (very) few.
.
