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NIL Athletes vs. Student Athletes - which would you rather watch? Thought experiment
Posted on 1/14/26 at 11:46 am
Posted on 1/14/26 at 11:46 am
Lots of threads flying around about the current state of intercollegiate sports, mainly around football. Kids getting paid 7 digit NIL salaries, transfer portal numbers such that seemingly every single kid is a free agent every single year. Mostly centered around football, but even non-revenue sports are heavily impacted. For those of you who do not know, Oklahoma State used their NIL resources to essentially buy athletes to win the men's race at the national cross country meet. It's the world we live in now, but mercenaries seem counter to the traditional spirit of intercollegiate athletics.
I used to enjoy watching the athletes develop year to year, but that's now a distant memory. Now takes me through most of October to learn names and match them up to jersey numbers.
John Calipari made some excellent points recently. Kids are not being well-served by bouncing from school to school 2, 3, 4, or more times in their careers. Also, while they're well and (much more than fairly) compensated, very few have the skills to manage what really should be life-changing money. Within 5 years after college, they'll be just as broke and will have urinated away the opportunity to get a FREE education and thus be able to get a good job. I'm becoming uncomfortable being part of that machine.
Understanding that the following is in no way realistic, will never happen, and is a thought experiment only, but if it did...
- To keep it simple, this applies only to football and to the FBS only.
- All schools have an NIL team (The Varsity), where the kids are paid, bounce around through the transfer portal as they do now. In short, current state.
- All of these schools also have a true student-athlete team (The JVs). All JV athletes receive a scholarship only (assume that that can be monitored and enforced). Old transfer rules apply (sit for a year), but they don't transfer a lot anyway since they're primarily there for the education.
- Varsity teams play only other Varsity teams, and JV teams play only other JV teams. Varsity plays Saturday and JV plays Friday night, or maybe JV plays away when Varsity is home and vice versa. Level of play is obviously lower for JV squads, but it's a relatively level playing since all of the better athletes at all schools are playing Varsity.
Feel free to comment, but I'm more interested in which you'd rather watch. Upvote for JV. Downvote for Varsity.
I used to enjoy watching the athletes develop year to year, but that's now a distant memory. Now takes me through most of October to learn names and match them up to jersey numbers.
John Calipari made some excellent points recently. Kids are not being well-served by bouncing from school to school 2, 3, 4, or more times in their careers. Also, while they're well and (much more than fairly) compensated, very few have the skills to manage what really should be life-changing money. Within 5 years after college, they'll be just as broke and will have urinated away the opportunity to get a FREE education and thus be able to get a good job. I'm becoming uncomfortable being part of that machine.
Understanding that the following is in no way realistic, will never happen, and is a thought experiment only, but if it did...
- To keep it simple, this applies only to football and to the FBS only.
- All schools have an NIL team (The Varsity), where the kids are paid, bounce around through the transfer portal as they do now. In short, current state.
- All of these schools also have a true student-athlete team (The JVs). All JV athletes receive a scholarship only (assume that that can be monitored and enforced). Old transfer rules apply (sit for a year), but they don't transfer a lot anyway since they're primarily there for the education.
- Varsity teams play only other Varsity teams, and JV teams play only other JV teams. Varsity plays Saturday and JV plays Friday night, or maybe JV plays away when Varsity is home and vice versa. Level of play is obviously lower for JV squads, but it's a relatively level playing since all of the better athletes at all schools are playing Varsity.
Feel free to comment, but I'm more interested in which you'd rather watch. Upvote for JV. Downvote for Varsity.
16
Posted on 1/14/26 at 11:51 am to Broadside Bob
I had rather go and watch the jv team.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 11:52 am to Broadside Bob
I want the old days back. This is unsustainable
Posted on 1/14/26 at 11:55 am to Wildcat23
I'd rather go watch my 5 year old kids soccer game.
If college football was getting to be so much of a burden on the student that they feel like they needed to be paid, then the correction should have been settings rules to lesson that burden and getting them back to being students first.
If college football was getting to be so much of a burden on the student that they feel like they needed to be paid, then the correction should have been settings rules to lesson that burden and getting them back to being students first.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 12:00 pm to tigerfoot
Yep. What I loved about college football was watching a kid from a small town in my state develop and become a great football player on the same team
May never see that again
May never see that again
Posted on 1/14/26 at 12:07 pm to Broadside Bob
As a former college athlete, i hope ed o'bannon and grant house end up in a head-on collision with one another.
I'd argue non revenue sports are easier targets to stack super teams. Since most non revenue sports are Olympic sports, $37.5k for an Olympic gold is mildly laughable in time spent vs pay... but this shite is running an entire different direction. In okie state's case, literally. I think it's ultimately gonna get a lot of programs shutdown due to financial burden, and i hate that for the kids who were the traditional student athletes.
quote:
but even non-revenue sports are heavily impacted. For those of you who do not know, Oklahoma State used their NIL resources to essentially buy athletes to win the men's race at the national cross country meet.
I'd argue non revenue sports are easier targets to stack super teams. Since most non revenue sports are Olympic sports, $37.5k for an Olympic gold is mildly laughable in time spent vs pay... but this shite is running an entire different direction. In okie state's case, literally. I think it's ultimately gonna get a lot of programs shutdown due to financial burden, and i hate that for the kids who were the traditional student athletes.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 12:25 pm to Broadside Bob
Naturally I think most people long for the old ways. Kids played for the Name on the front not the name on the back. Sadly I think those days are gone.
I was really rooting for Clemson to keep it as close to the old ways, but they failed.Dabo just does not know they failed, yet.
There is a since of excitement every year about college football. This next year will not be any different. But in general I miss the old ways. I would much rather see the local kids playing for the local college that they dreamed about playing for their entire life. It just seemed to mean more.
The one thing that I think is truly funny is the amount of fans that claim to be done with it. They will be back. they will be following, talking trash, and following every pod cast.
I think two things can be true, we miss the good old days, but excited about the future.
I was really rooting for Clemson to keep it as close to the old ways, but they failed.Dabo just does not know they failed, yet.
There is a since of excitement every year about college football. This next year will not be any different. But in general I miss the old ways. I would much rather see the local kids playing for the local college that they dreamed about playing for their entire life. It just seemed to mean more.
The one thing that I think is truly funny is the amount of fans that claim to be done with it. They will be back. they will be following, talking trash, and following every pod cast.
I think two things can be true, we miss the good old days, but excited about the future.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 2:33 pm to Broadside Bob
Nobody gives a shite about watching the football athletes, unless they have have an identity with a hometown school, college or city. Otherwise there would be a football minor league. And people would pay to watch athletes play football. But there is no demand for it. The NFL billionaires owner clubs, are very aware of that fact, They are perfectly happy to let the NCAA pay the development costs of players while they reap the benefits. So to answer your question, no one would pay to just watch unaffiliated players. The NCAA still holds a tremendous amount of power over the NIL bullshite. The NCAA can’t stop the payments, but they absolutely have the power to set the conditions for transfers.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 2:43 pm to SulphursFinest
Honestly, football rosters at the college level should go down and get closer to the NFL style of roster
Cap the roster at like 50 or 60 and let teams have some sort of practice squad for developmental purposes and where you could replace injured players as warranted
the real NIL money belongs to the proven starters and set it up to where high school recruits should have to come in and earn their NIL
I also think NIL commitments should be more than a year to keep players from transferring every single year and maybe have a one time transfer only unless the head coach leaves for whatever reason
Cap the roster at like 50 or 60 and let teams have some sort of practice squad for developmental purposes and where you could replace injured players as warranted
the real NIL money belongs to the proven starters and set it up to where high school recruits should have to come in and earn their NIL
I also think NIL commitments should be more than a year to keep players from transferring every single year and maybe have a one time transfer only unless the head coach leaves for whatever reason
Posted on 1/14/26 at 2:45 pm to Broadside Bob
student athletes. I support the school not players.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 3:09 pm to lionscoach
quote:
The one thing that I think is truly funny is the amount of fans that claim to be done with it.
I find this pretty amusing too, especially the guy who posted on this board earlier today that he hadn't watched college sports since 2019 because of the way things were headed... and yet here he is posting on a college sports message board in 2026.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 3:13 pm to Broadside Bob
I watched mediocre WB play at least 40 out of 50 years. Then the portal opened and I saw two QB’s win the Heisman in a five year window. Now if your school lost those QB’s it sucks. But it’s been good for us!
Posted on 1/14/26 at 3:34 pm to Lsuray70443
Might want to rethink that statement fella. Given the 29 losses (5.8 loss average per year) LSU has through the first half of the decade. The evidence is LSU has suffered pretty badly as the NIL thing exploded.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 3:56 pm to Broadside Bob
Watching other teams: I'd likely watch varsity, as it would feature the more skilled/athletic players
Watching my team: I'd likely watch and actually start going to the games again in support of JV - those are the kids that actually take pride in and represent my school
Watching my team: I'd likely watch and actually start going to the games again in support of JV - those are the kids that actually take pride in and represent my school
Posted on 1/14/26 at 4:10 pm to Broadside Bob
The original argument for NIL was to help student athletes while in school,
the players name was being used and the school was making money. But all it has become is a big $$$ recruiting tool.
Players are now taking money and then bow out of bowl games that make the schools money, such greed and selfishness.
What was missed completely is, the player became famous because of the school, not the other way around. The alumni are following the school and the sport because they love the school and the sport. They are showing up no matter of the QB or RB name.
If you are an LSU fan, you will support anyone on the field. Once that person leaves and heads to Alabama or Ole Miss, no LSU fan is still buying their Alabama or Ole Miss jersey. If i recall no one stopped going to LSU games because Leonard Fournette or Joe Burrow got drafted.
Would Fournette still be an LSU fan favorite if he would have chosen Tulane? How many Burrow jerseys would have been purchased in Louisiana if he had stayed at The Ohio St?
Players getting a free education, housing, food and free publicity with small compensation should be enough.
The teams play will suffer because continuity. There is little school pride.
When was the last time you heard a "student athlete' say, "I'm going to (blank) because I want to major in (blank)".
It's the school that makes the players famous, not the other way around!
It's getting hard to watch.
the players name was being used and the school was making money. But all it has become is a big $$$ recruiting tool.
Players are now taking money and then bow out of bowl games that make the schools money, such greed and selfishness.
What was missed completely is, the player became famous because of the school, not the other way around. The alumni are following the school and the sport because they love the school and the sport. They are showing up no matter of the QB or RB name.
If you are an LSU fan, you will support anyone on the field. Once that person leaves and heads to Alabama or Ole Miss, no LSU fan is still buying their Alabama or Ole Miss jersey. If i recall no one stopped going to LSU games because Leonard Fournette or Joe Burrow got drafted.
Would Fournette still be an LSU fan favorite if he would have chosen Tulane? How many Burrow jerseys would have been purchased in Louisiana if he had stayed at The Ohio St?
Players getting a free education, housing, food and free publicity with small compensation should be enough.
The teams play will suffer because continuity. There is little school pride.
When was the last time you heard a "student athlete' say, "I'm going to (blank) because I want to major in (blank)".
It's the school that makes the players famous, not the other way around!
It's getting hard to watch.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 4:12 pm to Broadside Bob
Student athletes. We already have a pro football league.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 4:23 pm to Broadside Bob
At what point do the SEC and Big 10 just go head to head with the NFL? Nothing about this is about school anymore. It is just pro ball.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 4:28 pm to MoarKilometers
quote:I didn't realizxe being an inbred moron qualified as athlerics?
As a former college athlete
Posted on 1/14/26 at 5:22 pm to Broadside Bob
If I wanted to watch Pros, then I would watch the NFL.
Posted on 1/14/26 at 6:08 pm to Broadside Bob
I’d watch the MFL if I wanted to see professionals play. This is just semipro level ball.
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