I know that lots of my posts lately have been sour, but frankly there hasn't been much good news to be excited about. That continues here.
This tweet and story by the OWH should terrify everyone interested in CFB.
This is what anyone following the evolution of NIL have been scared of from the start. We are handing football over to the rich. (even more than it was before) Little groups or "pods" of NIL donors are forming. The price tags for membership is in the thousands. This will not morph into something good for Husker athletics (or any place that this is happening) It will spiral out of control sooner rather than later.
You all know the entitlement you feel when you pay for something. When you buy something or pay for a service you expect some sort of result. You want your money's worth. A quality product, superior service, increased access....etc etc. Now the athletic department is selling access to literally dozens and dozens of groups willing to pay. Access to coaches and players, if the article is to be believed, at regular intervals. I know that this has already existed to some level in the past, but not in these numbers. And the planned events in this case will dwarf the number of events that were expected in the past. The article mentions that this access would be monthly to most groups. So now a sizable amount of time won't be spent game planning, recruiting or simply resting....our coaches are gonna be financially obligated to spend even more time glad handing NIL donors, answering inane questions and listening to various opinions from people who are far from experts. As I said this is something they already do to a lesser degree on occasion but there is a huge difference now. Now they aren't just meeting with fans but rather investors, and investors, people who have put in over $5.000, will bring their privilege along with them. The dynamic will have changed from Coach/Player with a curious fan like you had in the past to the new dynamic of CEO (coach) and investor. You all know rich dudes, now imagine that rich guy feels like his money wasn't well spent after watching us lose yet again to Illinois. You know how this access is gonna play out. You know what these "meetings" are going to turn into. You think Big Red Reaction post game shows or message board vitriol is bad? Wait until someone drops $10k on a RB who trips behind the line of scrimmage on a play that the coach lined him up in the shotgun on 1st&Goal from the one.
The quality of coach that is willing to play this NIL game will trend toward the ones that are comfortable chasing cash and the guys who coach because they love the game or are in it because they are actually good at coaching will decrease. What I mean is why take a job in which you are no longer able to do the part of the job you like because you need to attend another dinner hosted by country club Charlie who wants you to explain why you didn't give playing time to the WR he's paying for? In the past these donors at least were under the guise of making donations to the "school"...now literally you have financial backers of a true freshman RB that want an update on his status. How long until one of these dudes, who consider themselves elite businessmen, want to be a part of the recruiting visits? Be the pitch man? Be the talent evaluator? Have their money decide who gets an offer?
Basically this is just my long way of saying that rich, entitled dudes with ceaselessly expanding access to college football are going to ruin the sport because that is what rich entitled dudes do to everything.
www.si.com
