cu8493 wrote:I have no problem allowing athletes to make money off NIL, but I think it is naive to think NIL and open transfer will be good for schools like CU in the long run. A place like Texas can offer potentially hundreds of thousands of fan followers on social media to top athletes in addition to endorsement money in a state with tens of millions of people vs. maybe 10 to 20 thousand followers of CU and a metro area under a million. And what if we get a kid here who blows up on the national stage? You can bet someone from the big schools is going to be in the ear of his “handlers” letting him know what he could be making if he transfers to their school. Same for our top volleyball and women’s basketball players. We need to enjoy these next few years, because the landscape is about to change big time, IMO. I truly hope I am wrong.
I don't know about that. Yes, Texas is a bigger place. But they have multiple division 1 teams, many pro teams and there's not some team that everyone in the state roots for (if you think everyone is a Longhorn, the Aggies and Red Raiders would like a word with you). Not to mention college football. So much more competition for sponsorship dollars. A Texas Longhorn basketball player may end up being big news in Austin, but the people in the rest of the state won't care that much. A company in Dallas or Houston is going to find a pro player to rep their brand, not a college kid. And if they did want a college player, it would likely be the star QB more so than a basketball player. (Obvious caveat that big, national names, like Doug McDermott in his final season, are an exception. But when was the last time Texas had a player of that level - Durant?)
Call me naive, but I actually think Creighton has a chance to capitalize on NIL (and, as much as it pains me to say, I think the same applies to Nebraska - especially their football and volleyball players). It's much better to be a medium-sized fish in a small or medium pond than a small fish in a big pond.
Obviously the programs with big backers (like Phil Knight) have a huge step up now. And the teams with big national recognition do as well. But after the top 15 or 20 teams, I don't see there being a tremendous difference among the power conferences. In fact, I would think it will hurt programs in bigger cities more (are Northwestern and DePaul players really going to get tons of NIL money when competing with Bulls, Bears and Blackhawks?) And I am not sure how big of a difference the NIL money will be for recruits outside the top 25 or 50. I mean is a four star kid that rides the pine at Kentucky going to make more than a starter at CU? Seems unlikely.