Over the last decade, there has been a colossal shift in the college sports spectrum: NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals and the abused use of the transfer portal. While these changes were implemented to empower athletes, the unforeseen consequences are deteriorating college sports at an alarming rate.
NIL Deals: Empowering The Athletes
While college is meant to be a building ground for athletes in the hopes of joining a professional league, the players simply see college sports as a stepping stone to an even bigger payday rather than a place to improve and compete. College sports means representing your school and developing skills every single day in the hopes of competing for a national championship, but not anymore. Players are more focused on securing a paycheck than actually competing.
This is especially common in college basketball where players are signing million dollar deals as a freshman in college! Players like Cooper Flagg, who is recognized as one of the best college basketball players in the nation currently, signed an almost $5 million deal with Duke before his freshman year!
At this point, it is more beneficial for an athlete to sign an NIL deal, stay in college for 3-4 years while living off that money and retire early, than to actually go pro and possibly make less! It is ridiculous the amount of money schools are willing to spend to get an edge on the competition and it needs to stop.
Transfer Portal: An Almost “Magic Fix”
Moving over to the transfer portal, it is arguably worse for the game than NIL deals. In 2018, the transfer portal was introduced to college sports. It was advertised as a way of giving athletes more freedom/ control over their collegiate careers. It sounds very straightforward, but it quickly turned into an easy way out if you are unhappy, a move that disregards all commitment you previously had as an athlete.
For example, The Indiana University men’s basketball team had almost 15 players at the beginning of the season, after their season came to an end, they had lost every single player on their team besides an incoming freshman to NIL deals and the transfer portal. Just last season, Indiana was competing for the March Madness Tournament, now they don’t even have a starting five!
The transfer portal, just like NIL deals, completely takes away from the game of basketball. It doesn’t just empower athletes, it literally gives ALL of the power to the athletes. If a player is not satisfied with the college they are currently playing at, they can resign the commitment to their school and ship off to another university at any point (besides mid-season)!
Prima Donna Culture
The transfer portal and NIL deals were meant as a step forward for empowering college athletes, but it turned out to be a complete tumble backward as instead of empowering athletes, it turned players into entitled prima donnas. Players are now primarily focused on securing a paycheck rather than developing their skills and improving their discipline, and this needs to stop. Instead of building a connection to their school, they use college as an opportunity to make a quick buck with loyalty coming last.
Conclusion
College athletes need to realize there is more to college sports than money and fame, there is: building connections, showing loyalty to their school, and preparing for life beyond sports. If the players do not take these factors into consideration though, the athletes who took it for granted are in for a needed reality check.
2
0
Average Rating