re: Saban in Congressional roundtable speaking about NIL today

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Those players were receiving practically no earnings

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There was no one better than Saban at getting players to the NFL, and it's one of the many reasons recruits wanted to play for him. His program was a pipeline to the league where these guys earned their real money, and he helped maximize their value. Those that had no shot of a professional career after college were encouraged to earn their degree, and Saban's teams consistently had one of the highest graduation rates in the conference. No need to pretend like these guys left UA with nothing to show for it.

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(please do not start with the free college education, not one person on this rant thinks a player is recruited to Alabama football in order to get a degree)

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Please post a link where ANYONE has stated that the reason any school recruits players is in order to get a degree?

You won’t be able to.

The purpose of a scholarship from the school’s perspective has always been to obtain their athletic (or academic or whatever) skills in return for an OPPORTUNITY to get a degree (among other benefits).

No school gives a damn if scholarship recipients actually get a degree as long as they can remain eligible. It’s been that way as long as I can remember.

If you think the current environment in college sports is sustainable, then you are delusional. NIL can be regulated to where it is truly used as intended (name, image, likeness of player with NO input from schools) rather than the current Wild West with unlimited transfers. I do not know exactly how, but it can be done. No professional league has unlimited free agency, why should college?

Again, I have no problem with a student athlete cashing on themselves (NIL), but not at the expense of eliminating ALL non-revenue sports (and subsequent opportunities) for millions of future student-athletes. That is where we are headed the way things are now.

Yes, there are constitutional laws in this country. There are also unique situations where groups have an antitrust exemption…such as MLB. College sports should get one also.

US college sports have no true parallel anywhere in the world. It is a totally unique animal and should be treated as such if people want to preserve it. If it is allowed to become a true professional league, then it’s uniqueness will be lost forever.