Jump to content

NYT Pisses on CFP: “The Best Teams That Money Could Buy”

Bama Llama

By Bama Llama
in Football

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Popular Post
troph

troph 24906

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted (edited)

Meh, home town paper of the historically largest payroll in Major League Baseball. NIL will need to be tamed no doubt, but at least buying players is now above board and legal. The bag game was insidious and I guarantee you Texas didn’t consider the SEC seriously until NIL for that reason. Basically NIL is a step in the right direction, even though it needs regulation.

Edited by troph
  • Hook 'Em 12
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
YChang

YChang 3462

Posted
Posted

Who cares though? Is it fair? Nope. But for the schools Texas competes with, this is the pragmatic new landscape. As a society should we care that our universities focus this much about sports... debatable/probably not, but it sure is fun though. 

  • Hook 'Em 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Popular Post
Dbeasy

Dbeasy 15092

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted

Anytime anyone ever complains about the NIL money in sports, it should be met with an immediate rebuttal that the money has always been there via cheating schools doing it under the table, and asking them why they prefer that a bunch of cheaters get rewarded for their actions while the rest of the rule abiding schools get screwed every year. 

  • Hook 'Em 19
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
YChang

YChang 3462

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

A thought : who’s going to be the first school to try to go all in with the saudis ?

ncaa championships across all sports 

Along that though exercise, what if an institution like Harvard decided they care about sports?

  • Like 2
  • Drool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Popular Post
pyrohornIII

pyrohornIII 4821

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted (edited)

I figure the article is paywalled?   If it is, this link should work:  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/31/us/college-athletes-nil-sugar-rose-bowl.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KE0.W0r9.CQFPBN-nZWd1&smid=url-share

But yeah, I read the article.  I'm not seeing where it denigrates any of the schools.  It pretty much just gives a report on how each school started with NIL and where they are now.  It's a lot better written than most of the clickbait "woe for our dying bowl system" articles.  The title is probably the most inflammatory thing about it.  But it's the truth.  

College sports are changing, and the change has been needed for a while now.  Seems more this article is a snapshot of where we are now than an opinion piece.  

Edited by pyrohornIII
  • Hook 'Em 9
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mikey4

Mikey4 2476

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

I thought the article was fair.  Maybe read it before you shit all over it and the Times.  

Well, I can't read it because some massive popup shits all over my screen when I click the link. Guess I'll get my news elsewhere.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SquishMitten

SquishMitten 10435

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, YChang said:

Along that though exercise, what if an institution like Harvard decided they care about sports?

What does this even mean? Are you implying that due to their wealthy alumni base, they’d immediately become a powerhouse? We have quite a wealthy alumni base as well, many of which already care a shit ton about sports, but most of them still don’t contribute. It’d take a generation or two for a school like Harvard to begin competing in this space like the schools that already have an active fan base.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Popular Post
Valmy77

Valmy77 13273

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted
35 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

I thought the article was fair.  Maybe read it before you shit all over it and the Times.  

No no. You read the headline, imagine what the article says, and then be outraged at journalists. You don't actually read words and stuff.

  • Hook 'Em 7
  • Haha 9
  • Fuck You 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
dcar00

dcar00 14365

Posted
Posted
50 minutes ago, YChang said:

Along that though exercise, what if an institution like Harvard decided they care about sports?

I'd love to see it.  would be high comedy.  they should join the ACC.

29 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

Aggie has Qatar. It’s not working. 

just like aggy to go straight to the JV team of Arab Oil money

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
thunderlounge

thunderlounge 7935

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Dbeasy said:

Anytime anyone ever complains about the NIL money in sports, it should be met with an immediate rebuttal that the money has always been there via cheating schools doing it under the table, and asking them why they prefer that a bunch of cheaters get rewarded for their actions while the rest of the rule abiding schools get screwed every year. 

 

Has there been any mention nationally of all the good that has also come from NIL? You know, the charitable aspects and such. Things that weren't happening when it was under the table.

 

 

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

A thought : who’s going to be the first school to try to go all in with the saudis ?

ncaa championships across all sports 

 

FSU? 🤷‍♂️

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JBJ

JBJ 3665

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, troph said:

#enshitification

I learned something new today:

"Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. I call this enshittification, and it is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a "two sided market", where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, hold each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them."

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Popular Post
bolverk

bolverk 29717

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted

The article begins with a story about how Texas was able to rebuild its offensive line, largely through the innovative efforts of Horns with Heart and the Texas One Fund. It mentions that many other NIL funds have now modeled their efforts on what the Texas collectives came up with. There's a couple of quotes from players about how it's really helped them out. It also explains what NIL is and how it's changing college football, mentioning that the IRS is looking into how the nonprofit model of NIL collectives is in question. The VP of Texas One Fund, likely a Surlster, is quoted as saying that they'll modify as needed to be clean.

Then, the article goes on to show how NIL has been used by the other three playoff teams. When discussing Alabama's NIL, they state that Saban was initially opposed to it, but now they're active. It also makes their efforts seem kind of shady (because, of course, SEC) with conflicting accounts given by sources.

In explaining how NIL Washington uses theirs, they state it's been effective in retaining players by getting them heavily involved in building their brands through promoting nonprofits around Seattle that will help them in their NFL careers. One player is quoted as saying it's really cool to get involved with charities and such.

The discussion of Michigan's program seems to highlight that they have one fund that is nonprofit and another that is for-profit, but there's nothing especially remarkable about it other than it could be a model for how NILs might operate in the future. There's also mention that they're raising money by getting fans to pay for experiences involving the team.

I don't get the sense that the article is "pissing on CFP" in any way whatsoever -- other than the clickbait headline. It's a fairly innocuous piece overall and is likely a good introduction to NILs for folks who don't follow college football closely.

 

For those not inclined to give clicks to the NYTimes for whatever reason or have trouble with pop-ups, here's the full article in in the spoiler:

Spoiler

The Best Teams That Money Could Buy
The four teams in the College Football Playoff used cash payments from fan “collectives” in unique ways to build their rosters, showing how much an influx of money has changed college sports.

In late 2021, the once-mighty Texas Longhorns had just finished a 5-7 football season, losing six straight games for the first time since 1956. “We need bigger humans,” said Steve Sarkisian, the team’s coach.

That off-season, Texas found a new — or at least, newly legal — way to recruit them: cash.

A new tax-exempt charity called Horns With Heart, set up by Texas football fans, startled the sports world by promising to pay every Longhorn offensive lineman a salary of $50,000 per year.

It worked.

“Me growing up, I really didn’t have money. So the $50,000, it was just amazing,” said Cameron Williams, a 6-foot-5, 369-pound lineman — the kind of behemoth that even other linemen call “huge.” He had already committed to play for Oregon that year, but switched to Texas a week after the charity made its offer. The money was one of the reasons, he said: “I was just thinking about me helping out my family.”

Texas had hoped for five offensive linemen. They got seven — kick-starting a rebuilding process that has now brought them, two years later, to the four-team College Football Playoff. The Longhorns play Washington on Monday night in the Sugar Bowl.

In those same two years, the tactic that helped Texas — using cash from fan “collectives” to woo and keep players — has gone from an anomaly to a necessity in big-time college sports.

These “name, image and likeness” payments through collectives — permissible under N.C.A.A. rules since July 2021 — along with the loosening of transfer restrictions, have shifted how powerhouse teams are built.

But they have also prompted red flags from the Internal Revenue Service, threatened to create a sense of imbalance within teams, and fostered a culture of secrecy and an uncomfortable push-pull between collectives and schools. They have also undermined the push for gender equity by immensely favoring male athletes.

One way to measure the change is to look at the collectives behind the four football playoff schools: Michigan, Texas, Washington and Alabama. All have reached this point by adapting to — and exploiting — this flood of cash from fans to players.

“Every team in college football has a different approach to N.I.L.,” said Trevor Keegan, an offensive lineman at Michigan, which plays Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Monday.

The collectives at the four semifinalists are among more than than 140 nationwide, competing with each other in a shadowy free-agent market for college talent.

Players say the groups’ payments have been a welcome, and long overdue, addition to their scholarships. “It’s the least they could do, is pay us a little bit for the hours we put in,” said Alabama wide receiver Isaiah Bond. “We’re walking around some days like we’re 85 — and we’re 19, 20 years old,” he said, describing the physical toll games can take on players.

Mr. Bond said that he had not realized how much money college football generates for the school: at last count, $131 million annually. “What they’re contributing back, it’s nothing compared to what they’re making,” he said. “But it helps.”

Texas Longhorns
Texas’ plan to pay linemen — called “The Pancake Factory” because linemen knock defenders flat, like pancakes — helped set precedents that dozens of collectives would follow.

The first was how they justified the payments. After all, the N.C.A.A. still prohibits fans from paying players to play.

The collective, called Texas One Fund, did it by exploiting the new system, which allowed endorsement-seeking companies to pay players for the rights to their name, image and likeness. Collectives flipped that. They bought the rights, so they could buy the player — ensuring they remained happy and playing for their school.

Britt Peterson, a vice president of the Texas collective, says he asks donors, “How much more fun is this than what it used to be?” He encourages them to feel personally responsible for this team’s success. “This is your team.”

Soon, collectives gobbled up the name, image and likeness system.

At Texas, the collective has paid $14 million to Longhorn athletes since 2021, according to statistics kept by the school. That’s 64 percent of the total payments to Texas college athletes from any source, and more than all the money from the shoe companies, sports drinks and other brands the system was built to serve.

The result: an influx of money to players, even those too obscure to have much value as endorsers. Mr. Williams, the offensive lineman, bought his mother her first cellphone. Adonai Mitchell, a wide receiver who caught touchdown passes in the last two championship games at Georgia, bought his 2-year-old daughter what she wanted for Christmas.

“I got her a kitchen. That’s her favorite thing,” he said. “I’ll call her and she’s like, ‘I’m making carrots!’”

Texas’ collective set another pattern that more than 70 other collectives followed: It organized itself as a tax-exempt charity, meaning its donors get a tax deduction. The groups have justified their charitable status by paying athletes to visit sports camps and hospitals, or to post about nonprofits on social media.

But now, these charitable collectives have a problem: the I.R.S.

After initially approving dozens of collectives for tax-exempt status, the I.R.S. seemed to reverse itself in May. It issued a memo saying that collectives might not qualify as tax-exempt after all because their real purpose was to pay players — not to serve the public good.

“You can’t just take a collective or a booster club, turn it into 501(c)(3) and then just pay everybody just whatever the heck you want to pay them,” said Andrew D. Morton, a nonprofit-law attorney at the firm Handler Thayer, citing the tax code section that describes tax-exempt charities.

Mr. Morton said the I.R.S. could shut the collectives down or impose penalty taxes if they do not change course.

Texas’ collective says it is considering changes that would overhaul its spending and give a larger portion of its money directly to other charities.

For now, Mr. Peterson said the group is looking for charity work valuable enough to justify what it pays football players. But the collective paid football players $1.8 million this fall alone. What kind of part-time charity work would justify that?

“If you carve football out of this, all of this probably works,” Mr. Peterson said. But he said the collective cannot carve out football: It accounts for 81 percent of all the money it spends.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama, one of college football’s most successful teams, initially resisted this change. Coach Nick Saban even blasted rival Texas A&M for using collectives to recruit players. “A&M bought every player on their team,” he said in May 2022. “We didn’t buy one player.”

Then Alabama played Texas A&M that year, and almost lost for the second consecutive year. The next season, Alabama had two new collectives, which illustrate another key facet of this emerging industry: its secrecy.

Many collectives say next to nothing about themselves, guarding a competitive advantage by preventing rivals — and athletes — from figuring out what players are actually paid.

One for-profit company called Yea Alabama releases few details about what it raises or spends. The company even declines to describe itself as a collective, calling itself merely an “entity.”

Alabama’s other collective is a tax-exempt charity called Walk of Champions. One of its board members, Elliot Maisel, told The Times earlier this month that the university had told his collective how much to pay each team. Mr. Maisel estimated that the amount for the football team worked out to $2,500 per month, per player.

“The coach and the athletic department determine all that. We don’t have that discretion. We don’t want it,” Mr. Maisel said.

N.C.A.A. rules bar university staff from “securing or negotiating deals” on behalf of student athletes. The organization, however, has shown little appetite for a crackdown on collectives that are too close to their schools. In fact, its most recent proposal would allow schools to take over the collectives’ work and begin paying athletes directly.

On Saturday, the president of Mr. Maisel’s collective, a former Alabama quarterback named John Parker Wilson, disputed Mr. Maisel’s account, saying that the collective was not “controlled, directed or managed” by the university. He said the group had only ever paid two athletes.

At the same time, Mr. Maisel changed his own account. He said that despite being a member of the collective’s board since its beginning in February, he did not know how its money was given out.

Washington Huskies

Collectives don’t just attract players: They help retain them, providing a counterweight to the pull of the N.F.L.

A year ago, Washington’s football fortunes had been resurrected with stunning speed. A new coach, Kalen DeBoer, and a new quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., who stepped into a program that had been a mess on and off the field, led the Huskies to their second-best record in 22 years.

But Mr. Penix and several core members of the revival seemed likely to pass up their remaining eligibility and enter the N.F.L. draft, meaning Washington’s giant leap forward might be followed by a step back.

Then another rally kicked into gear.

Washington’s collective, Montlake Futures, had struggled to find its footing in what amounted to a chaotic start-up industry. So a little more than a year ago, Andrew Minear, who had built a career as a nonprofit fund-raiser in Seattle — including nearly a decade raising millions in Washington’s development office — was brought in to lead the program.

Mr. Minear wanted to keep money from being the reason Mr. Penix and others would leave for the N.F.L., which offered a minimum salary of $750,000 this season. “It wasn’t a sticky note with a dollar amount,” he said. Nor was there an attempt to match their draft projection with a dollar value.

Instead, he said, the collective laid out a plan for the players to maximize their endorsement value by working with nonprofits, which would burnish their brands when they turn pro and their legacy in the community.

Mr. Minear said the collective’s revenues, which cover athletes for all sports, have improved to about four times its federal filings for 2022, which were $2.02 million. (Washington’s athletic department projected an $8 million deficit for the 2024 fiscal year, according to The Seattle Times.)

“If you stack us up with Oregon, Alabama, L.S.U. and other schools and what they do, we’re not at the top of the list,” Mr. Minear said. “But with what we do, we’re probably efficient.”

And if Montlake Futures’ cash reserves weren’t flush, Mr. Minear had something few college programs could sell — the opportunities that come with being anchored in a sports-thirsty, major league city like Seattle. Tuscaloosa it isn’t.

“How they did it and kind of having us work with not just random companies, but nonprofits, it was pretty cool,” said Troy Fautanu, the anchor of the offensive line, who added that money was a factor in his return, but “not everything.”

The plan has kept players at Washington. Mr. Penix announced his return last December and recently finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up. Ultimately, he was joined by the headlining receiver, Rome Odunze, and the game-changing pass rusher, Bralen Trice, who, along with Mr. Penix, are considered first-round draft picks.

“All those guys could have left last year,” said Dillon Johnson, the Huskies running back. “But they came back, you know, got some money and they helped their draft stock. So, I mean, in my opinion, I mean, it helped them.”

And everyone else on the unbeaten Huskies.

Michigan Wolverines

In this new era of college athletics, it can pay to have a presence. When Michigan safety Rod Moore told reporters after his game-clinching interception against Ohio State that he had “called game” with his catch, it was a matter of days before Mr. Moore and the school’s marketing arm had trademarked the phrase and began selling T-shirts stamped with the phrase.

Mr. Moore is a textbook example of how name, image and likeness rights were intended to work. But not every Wolverine gets a moment on center stage — or has the desire to take a star turn.

Mr. Keegan, the offensive lineman, is one of the team’s captains, but a brand ambassador he is not. “I’m not really a social media guy,” he said.

But he is still making out nicely, telling Sports Illustrated at the start of the season that he expected to bring in between $225,000 and $500,000 for his final college football season through Michigan’s collectives, Champions Circle and Hail Impact.

The setup at Michigan, which, like Washington, struggled to find its N.I.L. bearings, may signal what the rapidly evolving future of college football looks like if revenue sharing — something that Wolverines Coach Jim Harbaugh has publicly backed — becomes a reality. Money will likely be spread somewhat evenly around a locker room with star players earning more through separate endorsements.

Hail Impact was formed as a nonprofit, whose objective is to establish baseline payments to every Michigan football player.

Champions Circle is a for-profit operation, and last year created the One More Year Fund, which raised money to help convince players who might be on the fence about leaving for the N.F.L. to return. Whereas many collectives have leaned on donors for funding — a model that some view as unsustainable — Champions Circle has also sought to raise money by selling high-priced experiences to well-heeled Michigan fans.

For example, it advertised a package that included joining the Wolverines for their team dinner before the Ohio State game, and running with the players out of the stadium tunnel and leaping to touch the “Go Blue” banner, a Michigan football tradition since 1962. The price tag: $65,000.

“That’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for some of those guys,” said Junior Colson, a linebacker. “That’s something they love to do, something they cherish because they love being at Michigan. They love being part of the Michigan team. We love having them around.”

 

  • Hook 'Em 14
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Doc Daneeka

Doc Daneeka 6769

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, thunderlounge said:

Who has regulation over how much State Farm pays Andy and Patrick? Or how much Sunday Ticket pays Josh?

Nobody.

The only restrictions are the salary cap per team, which applies to all team members. Schools don’t have players on salary, yet.

 

And the salary cap is still different from, essentially, NIL for pro players. There are players, Gronkowski among them unless I’m wrong, who live on their advertising income and invest their paychecks. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bolverk

bolverk 29717

Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

Has there been any mention nationally of all the good that has also come from NIL? You know, the charitable aspects and such. Things that weren't happening when it was under the table.

Yeah, the article touches on that some with a quote or two from players, saying it's cool to be involved in charity stuff.

18 minutes ago, Newdoc said:

Any follower of CFB for the last 10-20 years knew this was coming after unregulated NIL was allowed to happen. It takes a paywall newspaper (website) to state the obvious?

I feel like this was an introductory overview for people who don't follow CFB too closely. See my previous post, where you can read the article in full.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted (edited)

IDGAF about any notion of purity or the sanctity of college football with regard to the P5 schools.

Players have been getting paid before NIL started.  They getting paid now.  I have zero issue at all with any of that.

I truly just want to watch the game, because if you're interested in accountability or some equal competition across schools, you're more willingly stupid than a 15 year old who still believes in Santa Claus.

Play the freaking games.  Enjoy.  Talk about em the next day.

Edited by slorch
Link to comment
Share on other sites
royiv

royiv 9355

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Yeah, the article touches on that some with a quote or two from players, saying it's cool to be involved in charity stuff.

I feel like this was an introductory overview for people who don't follow CFB too closely. See my previous post, where you can read the article in full.

This. I thought it was a good primer on NIL and highlighting how the 4 CFP teams are all taking slightly different approaches. It also does a pretty good job of describing some of the challenges of the new frontier. Like anything new, NIL is going to evolve and will likely look different in 5 years, 10 years, etc as schools think of new and innovative ways to compensate athletes. 

  • Hook 'Em 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
sushihorn

sushihorn 3233

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

A thought : who’s going to be the first school to try to go all in with the saudis ?

ncaa championships across all sports 

I wish this was a complete joke but FSU is already talking about private equity partnerships. Foreign sovereign wealth funds is a short step from there. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, royiv said:

This. I thought it was a good primer on NIL and highlighting how the 4 CFP teams are all taking slightly different approaches. It also does a pretty good job of describing some of the challenges of the new frontier. Like anything new, NIL is going to evolve and will likely look different in 5 years, 10 years, etc as schools think of new and innovative ways to compensate athletes. 

and those at the top seek ways to regulate and control it.  Hell, that's all Saban does is bad-talk NIL or talk around his opposition to it as if it is a landmine.  He's hardly alone in that camp.  Parity is about 698th on their list of goals.

Edited by slorch
Link to comment
Share on other sites
tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 77426

Posted
Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, sushihorn said:

I wish this was a complete joke but FSU is already talking about private equity partnerships. Foreign sovereign wealth funds is a short step from there. 


saudi money >>>>>>> every school in the ncaa 

the saudis would get a much better return on fsu than LIV 

Edited by tx 3 putt
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
royiv

royiv 9355

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, slorch said:

and those at the top seek ways to regulate and control it.  Hell, that's all Saban does is bad-talk NIL or talk around his opposition to it as if it is a landmine.  He's hardly alone in that camp.  Parity is about 698th on their list of goals.

Well, no shit. It's not like gamesmanship off the field hasn't been part of sports since forever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, royiv said:

Well, no shit. It's not like gamesmanship off the field hasn't been part of sports since forever.

The point was that some schools are actively trying to LIMIT the creativity in NIL that you mentioned.  You know, the part that was bolded in the quote.

Edited by slorch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...