NIL Deals Could Effect How Often the Transfer Portal is Used in College Football
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College football players are nearly halfway toward the first game of the 2024 season, but while some athletes show off their prowess in their annual spring game, others have put their names in the transfer portal. This has been a common theme across the history of college football, but it’s happening now more than ever. Every college football athlete’s goal is to win a national championship, and they will work as hard as they can to get themselves in that position. Even if it results in switching through multiple universities in a college career.
According to an examination of the NCAA transfer portal data, the past three off-seasons have seen a steady increase in players committing to the transfer portal.
This gradual increase from 2021 is closely following the same path as another recent detail in college athletics. The introduction of name, image, and likeness. It became effective in the summer of 2021 when the NCAA allowed student-athletes to monetize money they gained from their NIL. This has been great news for college athletes, for most of them won’t be as lucky to make it far in the professional scene.
Details provided by On3 show what universities the top 100 NIL athletes come from. Despite Ohio State University having the most athletes with significant deals, the University of Colorado’s top players lead the pack with a combined value of over $7 million.
The question remains, is this mass amount of money good for college football? Some coaches have expressed their opinion that it has given players too much of an ego, and have forgotten the concept of being a student-athlete. If college football players are good enough to make it to the pro level, they will know as soon as they get their first scholarship from a Division I university. From that point on, it is up to the athlete on how they want to spend their career.
It is important for colleges to treat their athletes fairly and justly, and that is what the NCAA’s main goal was. Now they have allowed athletes to choose their destiny. Recently, the NCAA created a movement allowing immediate eligibility for transfer student-athletes in Division I. Once a student transfers to another university in the off-season, they will no longer have to wait a year to participate in the team. This creates a new openness in college athletics and resembles much of how the professional sports scene works, moving closer to a succinct organization that resembles the NFL.
While the NCAA rules still forbid universities from paying their athletes, the future of college football may transition from being a stepping stone into the pros, to a gateway to finish their athletic career in college.