By Ken Lass
They are the three most hated letters in the alphabet for the college football fan. N-I-L.
The dreaded acronym that stands for Name, Image and Likeness. It is the umbrella term for the new rules that govern college athletics, which in the great South, generally means football. It allows players to be paid by the schools, and also allows them to accept money for the marketing of their individual popularity.
Right behind NIL in degree of fan angst is The Portal. That mysterious channel that gives athletes the freedom to leave one school and switch to another pretty much any time they want to. It is, to those of us who buy the seats and the shakers and the caps and the sweaters and the polo shirts and the coffee mugs, the end of any semblance of player loyalty to the school. It has transformed the college football player into an indifferent, unempathetic, mercenary who could care less about competing for pride and tradition and glory. Just pay me, baby. Or I will take my six foot four, 250 pound frame, and my 4.2 second speed in the 40, to the next school with a bigger budget.
Highly recruited quarterbacks now make between two and six million dollars. Most starters will reel in a six figure paycheck. Heck, you have to cough up several thousand bucks just to get a star prospect to VISIT your campus.
And The Portal? It’s a bit mind boggling. According to transferport.com, Auburn lost 37 players to the portal this past offseason, then brought 39 players in to join new head coach Alex Golesh. Tiger fans couldn’t be blamed if they find themselves muttering “Who are these guys?” The traffic in Alabama’s portal tunnel wasn’t quite as busy, but the Tide still lost 23 players, and brought in 17.
For the long time fan, it’s all been too much. I can’t tell you how many folks have said to me “NIL and The Portal have ruined college football. It’s just not the same anymore. It’s all about the money. It’s going to cause the decline and eventually the end of this beloved institution of southern culture as we know it.”
Well, part of that is true. College football will never be the same. And it truly is all about the money for the players. Just as it would be for any of us if presented with the same opportunities. But the decline and ruination of the game? That would only happen if fans stop buying tickets and stop watching games on TV. Here are some interesting facts:
College football’s top tier, in other words, the 20 or 30 schools that actually have a realistic chance of competing for championships, is on pace to draw more than 39 million fans into their stadiums this season. That would be an all time record. At the University of Alabama there is a long waiting list to purchase season tickets. In fact, according to rolltide.com, you have to pay $25 per year just to remain on the waiting list. And the list is not ranked according to chronology. It is ranked by “priority points”. Translation: How much money have you donated to the school in the past? At auburntigers.com, fans of the Orange and Blue are instructed to put down an unspecified deposit to join a priority waiting list for tickets. The story is similar at all of the football blue blood colleges nationwide. Bottom line, the demand for tickets to college football games has never been greater.
How about TV ratings? Nielsen figures show college football viewership actually went up last season by four percent. Eleven games drew more than ten million viewers. The annual Michigan-Ohio State rivalry game attracted more than 18 million viewers. Those figures put college football among the most watched programs in all of television. The early returns for this season are setting an even stronger pace, with the Texas-Ohio State game attracting more than 14 million sets of eyeballs, an impressive total for a game that early in the fall.
You get the idea. It would seem that, no matter how disillusioned and disgusted fans are with college football’s new order, it has not affected their passion and support of their teams. It confirms what I have long felt through my 43 year career as a television news and sports anchor. Fans cheer for uniforms, helmets, mascots and marching bands. They have a burning desire to see their teams win, and ultimately, they don’t really care how it happens. They just want to eat the hot dog. They don’t care how the sausage is made.
Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. This is still, at its core, entertainment. A respite from the stresses of the every day routine. In fact, the response to the current brand of college football has been so positive, schools seem poised to offer more of it, in the form of an expanded national championship bracket. Originally consisting of four teams, the system expanded to twelve, and momentum appears to be building to double that to 24.
Rather than bring the elite programs crashing down, NIL and The Portal have enabled more to join the party. Traditional non-football habitats such as Indiana and Vanderbilt have suddenly become forces to be reckoned with in the upper echelon of the sport. More contenders, more fans, more tickets sold, higher TV ratings. It’s all good.
Yes, you may find it distasteful that your school’s players are only wearing your colors because they are getting paid to do it. But when last year’s bumbling quarterback is replaced by that blue chip transfer from Notre Dame, you’ll feel better about it.
