Stone

I am not defending NIL. I am saying that if we are going to have NIL (which we do) and there is no real structure, complaining about tampering is whiney. NIL is officially sponsorship money. Sponsors are not subject to rules about talking to people. If Ken Garff Auto Mall wants to talk to a player at another school and offer him sponsor money if…[Read more]

I find the “tampering” cries to be whiney sore loser cries. Now that the NIL floodgates are open, it seems hyper-technical and silly to create some arbitrary boundary as to when an individual is allowed to talk to another individual. I question whether such a rule is even enforceable.

NIL is a free for all at this point. If a player gets offered…[Read more]

Completely agree. Everyone is doing this – including Utah. The cries about tampering seem whiney to me. Sign players to NIL deals or don’t. Whining about whether there was tampering is asinine.

I keep hearing references to “tampering” – what even does that mean? And who really cares? It seems so trivial to concern oneself with such an arbitrary rule (to the extent there even is one). Is the NCAA actually enforcing some rules about tampering? Does the NCAA even really exist as an entity anymore in the NIL college football landscape? This…[Read more]

There was another thread last week about what NIL (name, image, likeness) is supposed to be and what it has become. But worth revisiting how bizarre the NIL world has become. Almost none of the players receiving NIL money have any actual NIL market value, if there was a real NIL market. That is, there are practically zero players that provide a…[Read more]

I am dense, so please explain this. Wouldn’t there still be roughly the same number of players seeking roughly the same number of opportunities? I can understand that some lower level schools are getting people dropping down from higher level schools, and there are of course players at lower level schools getting spots at higher level schools.…[Read more]

“legally off limits” – there is no such thing anymore (if there ever really was). Every team that wants a recruit continues to recruit him on a mission. Hell, teams recruit players that are actively playing for another team. It doesn’t matter. It is pointless to complain about such stuff – if a player wants to go somewhere else, they will go…[Read more]

It is not just a old white religious guy thing. There are credible arguments to restrict it that have nothing to do with one’s skin pigmentation, age, or religion.

Anecdotally, I have seen it mess up multiple people. But I have seen it do nothing negative to others. My point is there are definitely potential negative consequences to it. And not…[Read more]

Tampering? I am sorry, but the semblance of any structure or rules to transfers and NIL is nearly nonexistent. It is naive to think there is any real boundary at this point. The NCAA has no control over it. Players and teams can talk to whomever they want whenever they want.

If a kid goes to another school, it is going to happen. Who cares when…[Read more]

There is no going back. Frankly, the idea of investors purchasing teams is probably the best path forward, if it leads to a super-conference that is NFL-lite.

Same here (regarding MLB)! I used to scour over the box scores in the newspaper, knew stats of many players, watched the standings and games religiously. Then free agency happened. Then the strike happened. Then my interest died, almost completely. Maybe it was for the best, as I devoted way too much time to it.

The same has happened to me with…[Read more]

I think the only hope is for a super-conference to form that becomes a de facto professional league. It would then have some rules about contracts, salaries, etc. The current model is wholly unsustainable. NIL is the death of college football as we knew it…hopefully, it is not the death of college football altogether.

Yes, I fear your feelings are shared by many (including me). If things are not reigned-in in a balanced way, I think a lot of fans are going to turn the whole thing off.

Agreed. NIL is the wild west. There are no real rules. It is a mess, and it is going to kill the sport. The beauty of college football (in my opinion) has been getting to know the players, see them develop, and cheer for the alma mater. I liked that the players were trying to play their way to the next level and a paycheck.

I LOVED Utah…[Read more]

I am a Utah fan. Have been my whole life–including many rough decades. Also, I am not a fan of NIL. I am not a defender of the system. Just a defender of fairness within the system (despite its flaws).

My gripe is people calling out another school for doing the very thing our school is doing (and, frankly, wish we could do better).

Yes, BYU…[Read more]

Totally agree that NIL is a joke. I am no defender of the system. It is laughable that it is under the auspices of name, image, likeness–none of the money being paid is actually tied to that. Like you said, we are not seeing ads with these players. It is straight up bribes. I think it has made a mess of things. I would rather see players become…[Read more]

The principle of whether an institution sticks to its mission is the same, no matter the mission. You are picking and choosing which missions need to be adhered to and which do not.

But, regardless, I am not of the opinion that allowing a booster to make a private contract with a student at the school is contrary to ANY school’s mission.…[Read more]

I will add that it is possible for ANY university, public or private to benefit from NIL. All it takes is a booster that has plenty of money and is willing to put it toward the school’s athletic success. That is the crazy thing about NIL. A billionaire, such as Phil Knight or Ryan Smith, can offer huge sums to recruits and completely transform and…[Read more]

Is it your position that all Utah boosters should donate to more worthy causes than Utah athletics? The University of Utah’s mission is to educate, not pay people to bounce and throw a ball through a hoop. So is the University of Utah hypocritical to allow boosters to sponsor recruits?

Who decides what is a “worthy cause”? Is every non-essential…[Read more]

I would support this approach. Make it minor league NFL.

Then let college sports be students that play sports. Instead of athletes that got to class (sometimes).