The Impact of NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Rules
The scenery of college football and collegiate athletics, in general, is about to change. Athletes can benefit monetarily from their name, image, and likeness, leading to massive imbalance.
The disparity will be relevant both when it comes to the university that recruits associates with and the position they choose to play. It is no secret that to sponsors or media it matters what position you play, quarterbacks will be at an advantage and the bigger brand schools will automatically have the lead on the recruiting cycle.
The worry comes in when you break down certain conferences and you can see that a specific school could own the conference similar to how a monopoly operates in the economy. For example, let’s look at the Ohio State Buckeyes and dive deep into the grip they have held over the Big 10 for the past several years.
Some statistics prove the Buckeye’s dominance in the conference. For example, Ohio State has won five out of 10 Big Ten championships since 2011. They have had 73 NFL draft picks in the last 10 drafts. Furthermore, eight out of the last 10 Big Ten quarterbacks of the year have been Buckeyes.
Now, all those stats are interesting, but you might be wondering just why do these stats matter?
When a program shows a level foundation and conducts sustainability like the Buckeyes have over the past 10 years it leads to an elite level of recruiting. The Buckeyes have had over 30 five-star recruits since 2012. A big part of the battle in the landscape of college football is recruiting and when you are dominating the recruiting field it is hard to have other teams compete.
Now comes the new rules that were recently passed regarding name, image, and likeness which enables athletes to profit. I believe this will enable a hierarchy in the Big Ten and conferences in general where the best recruiting team will succeed as they can offer the best ways for athletes to make money.
You are already seeing it occur as it has happened with Alabama’s quarterback Bryce Young who is yet to even start a football game. Young has made close to $1 million and people are starting to take notice of just the economic benefits that these athletes can make. The big brand school will be the ones that help the kids which will funnel into an even bigger lopsided recruiting cycle.
Nick Saban said, “Everything that we've done in college athletics in the past has always been equal," he said, per Alex Scarborough of ESPN. "Everybody's had an equal scholarship, equal opportunity. Now that's probably not going to be the case. Some positions, some players will have more opportunities than others.”
Saban is correct in his analysis but what he fails to point out is that the schools are going to become overpowered as the big branded schools such as Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State will dominate over smaller schools.
The popularity factor that could occur is something to worry about and it will be interesting how the landscape of college football changes.
Writer
-By: Justin Howard