I don’t want to get banned and I don’t even gamble but I thought about this all year when everyone was complaining about our opponents shooting threes at the end of games. Makes me wonder at least….
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Govoner Vaugn Fan
- New Orleans
Yeah, in the old days (couple years ago) if a player suddenly has a new car and a full wallet, there would probably be some questions about it. Today, a player getting 200K already, wouldn't draw any attention if an extra 100K showed up in his bank account.
we already know, mean message board posters
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Does anyone even check or audit how much they are actually paid? Than again, does anyone even care at this point?
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
I'm sure the IRS cares and wants every penny they can get
That would be more entertaining than the canned puff pieces.
Mayer should hook up with a ghost writer and pen a tell all book. He could call it "A Season on the Drink." Or stink.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Ha, true. I’m not as certain about the NCAA…..
Don McLean would write “The Day The NIL Made Basketball Die.”
You sound like my grandpa who was dead set that free agency would kill baseball.
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
It's happening?
Perhaps you should listen to your grandpa.
???GallopingGhost
- Denver, CO
I think ultimately NIL will cycle down to where only the very best most popular players —where it economically benefits a business to pay them for advertisements —-will get paid.
All these other average guys or even above average guys in the portal aren’t going to get paid anything extra. Basically, I think last year is the last and only year a Matthew Mayer/Pete Nance level player gets paid what they did. I just don’t see enough boosters willing to bankroll average players that aren’t going to ultimately put their teams over the top. Superstars will still get paid for their NIL. The average guy, nope. There just isn’t the return for a business to do that. Even a guy like Oscar Tshiebwe who supposedly got 2 million to play at Kentucky? What booster is ever gonna do that again? To get to the 2nd rd? You think Tshiebwe sold anything he endorsed? Not exactly a household name.
NIL will end up like pro tennis. The absolute best, or most attractive/popular (if they are girls) will get big endorsement dollars. But if you are a regular player, there’s not gonna be a demand for your NIL.
I think what you’re underestimating is how boosters care just as much - if not more - about access to the program as opposed to just winning. Sure, they’d love to help field a national champion, but for the most part, they do it for the ego boost that comes from buying their way into the inner circle. They will keep tossing money as long as they get that high, regardless of the record.
I think you are correct about this.
Pre-Pizza Hut days
Govoner Vaugn Fan
- New Orleans
It kinda did for me. I grew up in the '50s in Central Il and every kid had favorite team, mostly Cardinals or Cubs. A few White Sox fans and sprinkling of Reds and Yankee fans. But every kid was an avid fan of some team. I listened to Cardinals baseball day games on the radio in high school... through a single earpiece plugged into a radio hidden in a holloed out book. Early on Stan Musial was the man, then later it became Bob Gibson, Bill White and Ken Boyer, Ozzie, et al. Up until the 70's I followed the Cardinals because you knew the guys were going to be back every year. Then came free agency and rosters became more like a Chinese fire drill every year. I haven't listened to a Cardinal game in decades. Don't even bother to check the standings or their play-off odds.
I doubt kids in that little league age group have anywhere near the devotion to baseball that we had in the 50's.
But I still had Illini Basketball. I loved getting the scoop on new recruits every year and speculating how those freshmen were gonna develop over the next few years. Sure, college only allows four years (sometimes 5) of eligibility but there was consistency.
I don't think wholesale annual roster turnover will dampen my devotion, but most of my youth I expected to be an avid Cardinal fan for life.
Govoner Vaugn Fan
- New Orleans
I think you are right. The boosters who drop big money into NIL are same type who can spend 50K a year on a golf club membership, or donate a wing for a new building. It isn't a business/financial decision. It's doing what many avid fans would do if they had nearly unlimited resources.
Does it ever get to a point where Players are paid NIL by companies/places where they are asked to sign multi-year contracts which locks them into staying at one place?
I look at the Skyy situation and can't imagine the his NIL folks were happy....
I look at the Skyy situation and can't imagine the his NIL folks were happy....
My guess as to what is going to happen is that this is going to turn into contractual multi-year deals with a guaranteed portion and a portion that will only become fully vested if they remain at the school for the entirety of the contract. I'd also guess these contracts will have additional perks whether it be short/long-term disability insurance, investment opportunities, bonuses, or escalators for hitting benchmarks that will be a net positive for everyone involved as it will be significantly less risky for athletes to take a guaranteed multi-year deal than risk going for year to year NIL highest bidder contracts and it will also give teams better security of their biggest talent.
In fact, if the B10 and SEC teams were to start going this route now, they could probably clean up most of the major talent. Imagine for example announcements of $4-8 million max. dollar deals which will seem exorbitant compared to the largest NIL numbers now, but say only $500K-2M of that is guaranteed where the rest is vested and escalators over a multi-year period. It will sound way more lucrative than it is for the athlete than a single year contract worth that same $500K-2M amount and if they don't like their situation at the school they can leave but they also leave the non-vested portion behind.
You get all the schools in a given major conference doing that and you should have a significant recruiting and talent advantage that will not only be self-sustaining but profitable if these School NIL Contractual companies get long-term contracts in place with large corporation advertisers.
Darn... Just beat me to it... Yeah, I think that's exactly the direction this is going. Will give both the players and the schools more security. The funny thing about the "wild west" is that it's only wild to the small folk and the ma and pa shops. But when the large oil, steel, and railroad conglomerates come to town, they'll own everything. First conferences who give the *nudge-nudge* *wink-wink* to their schools to do so will have a major major advantage over everyone else. And so long as you don't price-fix, you're probably not going to get busted for being a cartel.
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