How Billionaires Took Over College Football

[The Miami Ute]

In 2021, the college football world turned upside down. NIL became legal, and players could finally make money. But what the NIL system has become is unrecognizable: Rogue nonprofits and billionaires have taken over the sport.

This video investigates the current state of NIL, how collectives work, why the IRS is cracking down on them, and what the future of the sport holds.

[China Rider]

What aren’t billionaires buying? From my perch it looks like we are entering the era of the robber barons circa 1880’s.

[The Miami Ute]

Well, I guess what I would say is that once the IRS closes the loophole of having athletic donations count as tax write-offs, then the money will dry up. I for one am, well, I guess I shouldn’t really be shocked, that all of these collectives are, at the moment, considered to be 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations. It’s one thing to give money to athletes fully well knowing that you’ll get it back as a tax deduction, it’s quite another to give money to athletes without getting anything tangible in return. That’s truly a fool’s errand. Even the most ardent booster will think twice when he/she knows all they’re doing is p**sing money away on a sport.

[Central Coast Ute]

I still wouldn’t be surprised to see Texas donors continuing to pay. Those guys are crazy about UT football.

[22Ute22]

It doesn’t matter if they count as tax write offs, billionaires can easily spend 10 million a year on NIL and will die with billions. Stop trying to rationalize billionaires. Most of them are addicted to money and power. Billionaires are treating every facet of life as a sidequest, and we are like NPC’s to them. Phil Knight is a perfect example of this patheticness, and why I hope he never sees Oregon win a natty, whether in basketball or football, but especially football. This dude is a billionaire and is treating Oregon football as pet project because he desperately wants to see them win a natty. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love for Utah to win a natty, but to use billions of dollars over the years to try and accomplish that is crazy. It’s not like he’s ever played the damn sport or something. He has no business being this invested in it, as if his life is incomplete without it.

[Ute Dub]

I had no idea that was a thing. Why wouldn’t they contribute?

[RoboUte]

It’s quite the thing to witness, the buying power of a million American households concentrated into a single stream. At a whim one or two of these people can outdo the collective generosity of entire regions of a state. Even if someone else other than these folks were trying to buy out anything, no one would notice. The news is about $500 billion for AI, not the $10,000 it takes a normal person a year of scrounging to muster.

[SkinyUte]

Of course they have. They’re taking over everything else, why not college football?

[Author]

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