Title IX and NIL
You might remember a few weeks ago I wrote a post about how the Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) rules by the NCAA combined with the transfer portal have been wrecking havoc in the world of college sports. In case you need a refresher:
NIL basically means that pre-professional athletes like college/university players can now get paid to play by different schools. Obviously, schools in the power conferences have a lot more revenue at their disposal due to gate earnings and agreements they have with sports channels like the Big Ten Network and the SEC Network etc.
Combined with the transfer portal, we have seen a growing number of students basically chasing the money to get the best deal possible whether they believe in the program or the coach or not. This has left countless coaches holding the bag with players they committed vast amounts of time and resources in to recruiting and growing.
For example, imagine you are a coach and you have player that you know would fit great in your team. You spend two to three years recruiting them, then two to three years building your offense/defense around them only to have them leave in their fourth year because another college offered them more money.
Sure, this happens all the time in the professional world of both sports and business, but what happened to kids just being kids and playing the game because they love it.
Now, a new twist has been potentially added to the mix. Title IX is a federal regulation that requires among other things that women's sports and men's sports be treated equally. For example, if you build enhancements to a boy's baseball field, you also need to add those same enhancements to the girls softball field. Don't ask me how I know that...
As part of his outgoing measures, Biden put some things in place to address Title IX and sports. I wouldn't be shocked to find out they were quickly overturned, but it raises some good questions.
We all know that football and men's basketball are the big draws when it comes to college sports. As such, you probably won't be surprised to find that 80% to 85% of the revenue from those sources I listed above would likely go towards players in those two specific sports across most universities in the country.
The guidance created by the department of education was pretty explicit in stating that those dollars needed to be distributed equally between both men's women's sports. Can you imagine that? Both sports being treated equally? Crazy right?
To be fair, I can see both sides of the argument. As I said, football and basketball bring in the majority of the revenue, so why should that be shared? On the other hand, I think we can also agree that fairness isn't something we want to scorn or scoff at.
As I said, much of this is likely a moot point now with the new administration. I don't see it having much of a backbone, especially if the department of education gets shuttered all together. Can you imagine though being a university football coach and think you are getting x amount of dollars to put towards recruiting, only to find out it got cut by 50%? Better yet, can you imagine being a softball coach learning your budget just increased by 10x?
What do you think? Are you a fan of NIL and the transfer portal? How do you feel about this Title IX guidance?
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