Foundations NIL Donations by the Public?

[Billy D Williams]

As the landscape for NIL and Foundations continue to shift, the next shift seems to be asking/allowing public donations to increase the Pot per say. Allowing public donations will increase available funds exponentially. This will not go unnoticed by recruits and their handlers and they will demand even more lucrative deals. It will also mean Foundations will be bidding/offering recruits deals rivalling low end NFL deals. IMO opinion the only way to make a more level playing field is to implement a Foundation Salary Cap. The main weakness in my proposal is the fact that any Booster or Business entity can step around the Foundation [cap] and offer any kids a deal in addition to what the Foundation has signed to. The NFL recognized this same problem years ago and implemented the Cap. The difference is NFL outside endorsements are not an inducement working in tandem to secure a player services. You can bet these Foundations will recruiting people of means in addition to accepting public donations. Really interested in hearing your takes where things headed and any recommendations on some controls.

 

[DamnLiesAndStatistics]

As the landscape for NIL and Foundations continue to shift, the next shift seems to be asking/allowing public donations to increase the Pot per say. Allowing public donations will increase available funds exponentially. This will not go unnoticed by recruits and their handlers and they will demand even more lucrative deals. It will also mean Foundations will be bidding/offering recruits deals rivalling low end NFL deals. IMO opinion the only way to make a more level playing field is to implement a Foundation Salary Cap. The main weakness in my proposal is the fact that any Booster or Business entity can step around the Foundation [cap] and offer any kids a deal in addition to what the Foundation has signed to. The NFL recognized this same problem years ago and implemented the Cap. The difference is NFL outside endorsements are not an inducement working in tandem to secure a player services. You can bet these Foundations will recruiting people of means in addition to accepting public donations. Really interested in hearing your takes where things headed and any recommendations on some controls.

Run for NCAA president, they have an opening

 

[Bender]

There wont be a Salary Cap. There wont be control. As soon as the NCAA will try to step in to control this, they will get overruled (again).

Its a free market bonanza, so you either take the ride or get kicked off.

 

[Shogungts]

IMO opinion the only way to make a more level playing field is to implement a Foundation Salary Cap.

The reason the NFL and other sports are able to have salary cap is that they have a collective bargaining agreement with the players. If they did not have this it would be collusion.

The NFL players have realized that it is in their collective best interested to have a cap so that a handful of teams do not buy championships every year which would in turn cause overall revenue to fall as fans who do not root for those teams become less interested. Those negotiations are incredibly challenging with ~30 teams; trying doing that with ~130 schools (of much different financial and priority backgrounds) and college kids that are only there for short periods of time (and also have vastly different financial and priorities) will be **** near impossible.

 

[Go Canes!!]

This all needs a complete overhaul.

 

[Shogungts]

This all needs a complete overhaul.

Agreed - but as it stands right now, outside of Congress passing laws (seems very unlikely), no one has a solution that is legal/feasible.

 

[JHallCanes]

There wont be a Salary Cap. There wont be control. As soon as the NCAA will try to step in to control this, they will get overruled (again).

Its a free market bonanza, so you either take the ride or get kicked off.

This is important

Whether it’s “right” “wrong” “good” “bad” etc doesn’t matter

It’s what’s happening and either you fight against it, or you roll with it and embrace it for the time being

It’s nice to be on the side of embracing the inevitable for a change

 

[AtlAtty]

As the landscape for NIL and Foundations continue to shift, the next shift seems to be asking/allowing public donations to increase the Pot per say. Allowing public donations will increase available funds exponentially. This will not go unnoticed by recruits and their handlers and they will demand even more lucrative deals. It will also mean Foundations will be bidding/offering recruits deals rivalling low end NFL deals. IMO opinion the only way to make a more level playing field is to implement a Foundation Salary Cap. The main weakness in my proposal is the fact that any Booster or Business entity can step around the Foundation [cap] and offer any kids a deal in addition to what the Foundation has signed to. The NFL recognized this same problem years ago and implemented the Cap. The difference is NFL outside endorsements are not an inducement working in tandem to secure a player services. You can bet these Foundations will recruiting people of means in addition to accepting public donations. Really interested in hearing your takes where things headed and any recommendations on some controls.

The problem with a Cap, though I like the idea, is that NIL is a Supreme Court decision which says that any person can profit off their name, image and likeness. This means that any attempt to limit how much a person can profit or earn off their NIl will immediately end up in court and the federal courts are required to follow the lead of the Supreme Court.

The only potential way around this would be thru collective bargaining. For example, if there was a union of college athletes and they collectively bargained with the universities/NCAA and agreed to a Cap in return for some other compensations like extended health insurance. But the problem with this is that since the universities/NCAA are not paying the athletes, the schools still can't limit how much an athlete can make outside of the Cap as you noted with the NFL. And if these outside opportunites drive an athlete to a specific school, which they inevitably would, then the Cap is undermined to the point of being useless.

Athletics are in a real conundrum. The universities/NCAA fought so hard to prevent athletes from making even $1 and now they have absolutely no control over the situation and no realistic way to even slow this down short of self-imposed controls. Which would either create a competitive disadvantage for the school that is limiting its own athletes NIL opportunities, or end up in court and the athlete will almost assuredly win.

Even a legal limitation of NIl by Congress will be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional. I honestly don't know what the answer is other than hoping the free market eventually sorts itself out. Though humans have a way of doing enough stupid things like paying a high school QB $8 million that even the free market needs a helping hand. We need you Adam Smith.

 

[miamicanephins]

I dont see public donations being that big of a deal. 64% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and with inflation heating up that percentage will only increase. The number of wealthy people willing to donate to this "cause" just isn't there.

How many of you out there with some cash are lining up to donate?

 

[Shogungts]

I dont see public donations being that big of a deal. 64% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and with inflation heating up that percentage will only increase. The number of wealthy people willing to donate to this "cause" just isn't there.

How many of you out there with some cash are lining up to donate?

Maybe not the masses, but it doesnt take the masses to donate... it only takes a relatively small portion of wealthy people to do that (as we are seeing with Miami, Texas A&M, Oregon, Tenn, etc). I am happy that we happened to luck into a very wealthy and eager booster at the same time that NIL has come about so that we are not left in the dust, but if it continues as is, it is likely to leave the majority of the schools much further behind than they already are (there may be some that do the opposite) and hurt the sport overall.

I am not arguing against players being paid as I think they have every right to earn what people are willing to paid, but I have said it before and will say it again... Admitting that players should be entitled to getting paid what people are willing to pay and saying that this will likely end up hurting college football overall are not mutually exclusive.

 

[swampcougar1]

Maybe not the masses, but it doesnt take the masses to donate... it only takes a relatively small portion of wealthy people to do that (as we are seeing with Miami, Texas A&M, Oregon, Tenn, etc). I am happy that we happened to luck into a very wealthy and eager booster at the same time that NIL has come about so that we are not left in the dust, but if it continues as is, it is likely to leave the majority of the schools much further behind than they already are (there may be some that do the opposite) and hurt the sport overall.

I am not arguing against players being paid as I think they have every right to, I have said it before and will say it again... Admitting that players should be entitled to getting paid what people are willing to pay and saying that this will likely end up hurting college football overall are not mutually exclusive.

I give it maybe a decade before about 25 to 30 schools with the financial backing will be in their own world and this will ultimately hurt college sports as a whole . Without the tv contracts the wealthy will have a lot of schools will end up dropping multiple sports simply because they can not support them.

 

[NC_Canes_11]

It was obvious from the very beginning that this was gonna be the case. There were no rules in place bc the NCAA tried to prevent it from happening. They saw it is a zero sum game. They never once thought that it would pass. If those clowns actually cared about legitimacy and fairness, they would’ve been prepared for when it was legalized. Since they weren’t, once it passed, all h*ll just broke loose. Not to mention when they let the states make their own rules, it was never gonna end up being an even playing field.

As it pertains to the specific question, IMO until the NCAA is disbanded nothing will change. Cats out of the bag. There’s no going back now. It’s up to these rich donors to figure out what they wanna pay.

 

[Shogungts]

I give it maybe a decade before about 25 to 30 schools with the financial backing will be in their own world and this will ultimately hurt college sports as a whole . Without the tv contracts the wealthy will have a lot of schools will end up dropping multiple sports simply because they can not support them.

That's basically what Jack Swarbrick says in this interview. I know... two hated source, but what he is saying makes sense:

"Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told Sports Illustrated that he believes the breakup of college sports at the NCAA Division I level is “inevitable,” and puts a potential target date on that seismic change as the mid-2030s."

Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick says total Division I realignment is ‘inevitable’ - Sports Illustrated

Wholesale change is unavoidable in college athletics. The Fighting Irish athletic director thinks a total realignment of Division I is coming with it.

www.si.com

 

[Shogungts]

If those clowns actually cared about legitimacy and fairness, they would’ve been prepared for when it was legalized. Since they weren’t, once it passed, all h*ll just broke loose.

Even if they truly believed that the old system was legitimate and fair, they should have been prepared if the courts disagreed. I don't think they should have fought it like they did, but it was idiotic not to have a backup plan that they were working on while fighting it.

 

[NC_Canes_11]

Even if they truly believed that the old system was legitimate and fair, they should have been prepared if the courts disagreed. I don't think they should have fought it like they did, but it was idiotic not to have a backup plan that they were working on while fighting it.

Yep they treated it like it was life or death for them. Not a single alternative was thought of. And they got death.

 

[oso4lyf]

The players are now the captains of the ship.

 

[Meast21]

I dont think NCAA can directly manage NIL, they will get owned in the courts. The smart move would be to INDIRECTLY manage and limit its impacts -EX. mandating any transfer has to sit 1 year and/or if you transfer twice you lose a year of eligibility (on paper nothing to do with NIL...however prevents every player from jumping in the portal for a payday)

Now to be clear, i hate those ideas for other reasons but its one "clever" way the NCAA could manage some of this from being a complete s***show and I'm sure someone can come up with other smarter "indirect" ways to manage

 

[Shogungts]

I dont think NCAA can directly manage NIL, they will get owned in the courts. The smart move would be to INDIRECTLY manage and limit its impacts -EX. mandating any transfer has to sit 1 year and/or if you transfer twice you lose a year of eligibility (on paper nothing to do with NIL...however prevents every player from jumping in the portal for a payday)

Now to be clear, i hate those ideas for other reasons but its one "clever" way the NCAA could manage some of this from being a complete s***show and I'm sure someone can come up with other smarter "indirect" ways to manage

Part of the reason they moved to allowing transfers was b/c any other student or coach can do it, so while I agree it would help insulate some of this, I don't think that genie is going back in the bottle.

 

[CreativeCane]

The market will eventually set itself. It always does. Right now it's all brand new and a lot of people are trying to make a splash. Eventually the numbers will get too ridiculous. The market is figuring itself out right now.

But yes, it will also lead to the big NIL schools splitting off into a new division. This way inevitable even before NIL, in my opinion.

 

[Cajuncane]

I think you will see additions like seat licensing and the such added to season tickets and that money will be added to the till…imagine a school like Michigan or OSU or any school that has 100,000+ every week adding a couple grand to their season tickets to guarantee where you sit.The money it would add would be astronomical.Seat Licensing is already done at many schools but I’ll bet the schools that are already doing it will redirect that money to a fund to help pay players…