And one final point. A lot of the biggest names in college sports (at the school level) have fans REGARDLESS of the team on the field. It’s not about the players on the roster. It’s the tradition, the alumni etc. Texas hasn’t been good in a long time and is by far the most revenue generating football program. It’s not about how good the team on the field is, it’s about the fans and the school. When I go watch a game, I’m watching my TEAM, not any one player that will be gone in, at most, 4 years. That player turnover alone should make it clear it’s the team that generates most of that wealth, not the players on it.
To me, the above is one of two key points that are all that really matter. The two points are:
1.
What is the mission here? - Ultimately, universities and, tangentially, the alums of those universities need to decide what the mission of college sports is. In a more purist point of view, it's an opportunity to provide an avenue for students to capitalize on a talent they've worked hard for to supplement their college education and, in the competition for that talent, universities are willing to give them free tuition (similar to what we see for academic scholarships). Obviously, that's a purist standpoint, and things have evolved beyond that. With the amount of money now flowing through the system, that purist, non-capitalistic model morphs into something decidedly more capitalistic and, i would argue, severely detaches itself from its more purist mission. In my opinion, the way the P5 DIA model has been structured, it's specifically designed to keep money within DIA so the few in the DIA stand to benefit the most. Yes, money is allocated to other sports, but, ultimately, the DIA is keeping all that money in house and deciding how to spread it out. It's a natural and difficult conflict - you have a for-profit structure operating within an officially non-profit mission. As some have mentioned earlier in this thread, it's actually not that different than certain government structures, and the inequities and conflicts it typically creates are inevitable. NIL is an attempt to address this, but, in my opinion, is also without a doubt putting a stamp on "we are officially moving away from our original mission and becoming more capitalistic with our structure." Surprise surprise, NIL allows DIA's to do this without actually touching their own revenue/expense models. What a coincidence!
2.
Who brings the value? - This brings me to my second point - now that we're decidedly moving towards a more capitalistic structure, then the question of who benefits and how much they benefit becomes very capitalistic as well. In that case, who benefits is almost entirely about who brings the value, and, more specifically, monetary value. If we took our entire basketball program and called them the Champaign Kingfishers and removed all association with the University, would you still watch them? I know I probably wouldn't. The value lies with the link to the university - the university is the one that brings the value to the end customer. Yes, the university must compete with other schools for the coaches/players, and, thus, there's value assigned there, but the top of the food chain will always be the school - and, thus, should capture the majority of the value. Does that mean the players are being exploited and not capturing the value they deserve? maybe. but if they don't feel like they're being valued at college, then don't go there. Go to another avenue that better reflects your value. As long as the universities and professional leagues (NFL, NBA etc) aren't actively colluding to artificially enhance the NCAA's value (which I would actually they do in some cases - one and done being one of them, but that's gone now. football should go the same way), then it's a free market - treat it as such. We're officially capitalistic now, aren't we?
Bottom line of my long rant - college sports has been inevitably moving more towards a capitalistic model, and NIL is a big jump further in that direction and further detaches from its mission. At that point, why even bother to pretend? Go for a free agent market for football/basketball. Get them contracts. Let the sports that don't pay for themselves fall by the wayside, and pay the university a royalty fee for being able to use their name. And if a basketball/football player feels like he/she isn't being valued, tell them to go somewhere where they are.