Jose Gonzalez-Campelo/The Cougar
On almost every broadcast, podcast, or sports-related medium, a player’s name, image and likeness are among the hottest topics alongside transfer portals. NIL and the transfer portal have transformed collegiate sports by giving athletes endless possibilities in their athletic experience and changing the landscape for college athletics.
What is NIL?
NIL is an acronym for name, image, and likeness, which is an easy way to summarize a very complex topic: how collegiate athletes can monetize themselves outside of school. Many sports fans are confused by this because collegiate athletes have never been able to be paid to play collegiate sports until July 1, 2021, when the NCAA met and agreed to change the rule so athletes could earn compensation for their efforts.
Athletes can sell themselves by signing autographs, selling their merchandise and signing NIL deals with companies, local businesses and even big corporations that often have athletes appear in advertisements. In addition, they post their brand on social media, and in return, the athlete will receive compensation.
Any NIL deal an athlete agrees to has to be approved by the university and reported to their compliance department, but universities do not have to report the deals in full to the NCAA. Instead, the university has to provide deidentified data over these deals to the NCAA twice a year.
A collective is an organization specifically designed to help these athletes through the NIL process. This group comprises university alumni and supporters who help raise money through donors and boosters. They then work with these athletes and assist them with signing NIL deals.
Almost every Power Four school has at least one collective, and many schools have multiple. Every SEC school now has multiple collectives for their athletes, and many other conferences are not far from joining them.
The NCAA’s goal for NIL was to give players a way to earn compensation for their achievements without universities directly paying them. The idea was to allow athletes’ performance and work ethic to dictate how much they would earn outside of sports.
Following the first few years of testing for this new NIL era, things went differently than intended. Since there is no cap or limit on how many NIL deals an athlete can sign or how much an athlete can make off these deals, the amount of money these young adults make is limitless. While the average athlete makes a reasonable amount off of NIL, the stars of the sport have entered a new level of pay for their efforts.
NIL has now blurred the lines between college and professional sports. Athletes might stay in college in college for extra years because they make more money in college than they would professionally.
Another major problem is that minimal loyalty remains in college sports. If athletes are unsatisfied with their NIL situation at their current school, they can almost instantly find another university to meet their financial requests through the transfer portal.
The NCAA’s challenge now is implementing an NIL system that does not interfere with the recruitment of athletes or alter the prevalence of transfers throughout the transfer window. A direct correlation exists between where most highly rated transfers choose to go and the amount of NIL a school can offer.
What is the transfer portal?
Before implementing the transfer portal, transferring schools was a long and tedious process. It would take weeks to even months to approve the paperwork to get accepted to transfer to another university for sports. This doesn’t account for the time it takes to reach out to new schools and their coaches. Overall, the previous system was a dreaded process for both parties, and officials needed to address several issues.
The league’s solution to this problem was the transfer portal. The NCAA established the transfer portal on Oct. 15, 2018, hugely impacting college sports. The NCAA designed the portal as a tool for athletes and universities to make the transfer process more transparent and efficient.
It takes the form of a database in which an athlete submits their name and when they intend to transfer. Coaches from every university can access the database, and communication between coaches and athletes can commence.
This new system saves time for athletes and coaches, but several other groups also benefit from this change.
“This is probably the best use of technology I have seen in a long while,” said Dede Allen, associate director for compliance and academics at Alaska Anchorage to the NCAA Champion Magazine. Coaches, athletes, and university groups involved in the transfer process all highly praise the new system’s efficiency.
The transfer portal has benefits to be excited about; however, there is still a lot of controversy regarding the portal. The main issues are decreased loyalty and school pride. Athletes are making an eye-popping amount in college sports causing transfers to emulate professional free agency.
UH NIL fundraisers
There have been several fundraisers set up all around the country for the sole purpose of raising NIL money for athletes.
The Cougars men’s basketball team will participate in one of these events called the Players Era Impact Tournament this November in Las Vegas, Nevada. Houston will face Alabama, Notre Dame and Rutgers.
There are up to one million dollars in NIL opportunities for the athletes. In return, the fans can enjoy tailgates and several outdoor activities outside the stadium and get autographs from their favorite players.
Another way NIL money is raised is through trading cards. A company named ONIT has been approved to sell trading cards for every FBS team of all sports. Every pack has 14 cards and has a chance of special inserted cards such as signed cards from the athletes. Sixty percent of the money raised from these trading cards goes directly to the athletes.
Coach’s Sampsons thoughts
Houstons men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson has been at the forefront of accepting and adapting to the world of NIL.
“This is not something that you can agree with or not agree with. It has nothing to do with it,” Sampson said. “That would be a very ignorant take on it. You better understand it. It’s here to stay.”
Now that players are receiving compensation for their athletic efforts, the same will be expected in the future.
“NIL has created a whole new level of crossing T’s and dotting I’s. We are all new to this. We are not 10-year vets in NIL,” Sampson said. “Every month information comes out, and we have to ask questions that ensure we are doing it the right way.”
Sampson clearly illustrates that everyone is getting used to these new developments, and it will take time and several adjustments to settle into the NIL and transfer portal era.
The emergence of the transfer portal and NIL has completely changed the landscape for the foreseeable future by giving athletes a way to sell themselves and opening up opportunities through the portal. While many athletes will benefit from the ability to monetize themselves, there are still many roadblocks to overcome in this new system.
sports@thedailycougar.com
—
“NIL, the transfer portal are changing college athletics” was originally posted on The Cougar