Did anyone really believe, in the playoff era where college football is a billion-dollar industry and coaches are paid in the tens of millions, that unpaid athletes was tenable long term? The writing was on the wall since the BCS era; NIL might have come on slowly but it was coming on, and about as subtly as a steam-roller.
To the Captain Renaults who are shocked, shocked, that schools are buying players, what did you suppose this was going to look like? Did you think high-level athletes, with the potential to earn life-changing money, weren't going to want some high-dollar consideration for their talents?
TL;DR the outrage over NIL just strikes me as silly. Anyone who didn't see this coming was actively trying not to look.
Enjoy the ride! We'll get our NIL act together and it's going to be cool seeing Vols doing commercials.
Or, if you want, don't enjoy the ride and be miserable, but IMO your hand-wringing is about ten years too late. If you thought you could have a playoff, multi-million dollar coaches, national media coverage of every game, and still have elite players who can't buy a plane ticket home, your head was buried deep in the sand.
To the Captain Renaults who are shocked, shocked, that schools are buying players, what did you suppose this was going to look like? Did you think high-level athletes, with the potential to earn life-changing money, weren't going to want some high-dollar consideration for their talents?
TL;DR the outrage over NIL just strikes me as silly. Anyone who didn't see this coming was actively trying not to look.
Enjoy the ride! We'll get our NIL act together and it's going to be cool seeing Vols doing commercials.
Or, if you want, don't enjoy the ride and be miserable, but IMO your hand-wringing is about ten years too late. If you thought you could have a playoff, multi-million dollar coaches, national media coverage of every game, and still have elite players who can't buy a plane ticket home, your head was buried deep in the sand.
