I don't have access, please do copy/paste here.
OP: "NIL is influencer-culture garbage; wish we could just do open bags of cash"
NFTs, crappy-graphic hoodies for third-stringers, hunting trips organized on GeoCities websites, JoJo Domann hosting already-obsolete podcast formats. Really? Even more traditional stuff like car dealership endorsements so football players can drive around in ludicrous trucks feels stupider now that it's not illicit. This ain't Rhett Bomar's corruption anymore, and I hate it.
Just pay the players salaries, for God's sake. Big ones. If they still want to pollute social media with the other shit, at least there's a good chance that it really is making them money instead of just being some perverse marketing LARP.
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Explanation of my MAFness to another poster:
Yes, I'm MAF about the whole thing. The two main things I like about college football are the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the amateurism-mixed-with-shady-cheating. The former has been declining for a generation; the latter has cratered in but a mere few years. This whole NIL culture, especially combined with the way the transfer portal has operated, makes CFB much less entertaining to me as a fan. You don't have to feel the same way, but I suspect there are many like me.
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Another snippet on same topic:
1) Nebraska needs to be good at NIL in order to be competitive in current CFB. It appeared like they weren't necessarily doing a great job. Maybe that was wrong; maybe they've gotten better. We'll see. In any event, every fan of Nebraska should want them to do great here. I'm not different.
2) NIL is a phenomenon that is affecting not just Nebraska but all of CFB. In conjunction with other recent structural changes like conference realignment's reemergence and the transfer portal, the game is radically different from even five years ago. It's not implausible that this could turn off certain long-time fans. I'm one of them.