DB- The New Game Within the Game
For decades, the charm of college sports lived in something bigger than scoreboards. Rivalries lasted generations, athletes stayed loyal to their programs, and fans could watch players grow from freshmen to icons. The passion felt raw, emotional, and rooted in identity, not just business.
That changed on July 1, 2021, when the NCAA officially approved Name, Image, and Likeness rights (NIL), giving college athletes the legal right to make money from personal brand deals, sponsorships, endorsements, merch, social media content, public appearances, and more.
On paper, NIL was a victory and it truly was historic. Universities and media partners had been generating billions of dollars off college athletics, while athletes were forbidden from monetizing themselves in any way. According to the NCAA’s own financial disclosures, college sports is a business estimated at $18 billion annually from merchandising, ticket sales, broadcast rights, sponsorship deals, streaming packages, bowl games, and postseason events. Some college coaches even earn more than NFL coaches.
So allowing athletes to profit seemed overdue.But three years later, even people who supported NIL agree that the way it has unfolded has changed the soul of college sports, and not for the better. College athletics didn’t become professional.It became corporate, transactional, and competitive on bank account terms rather than ability or loyalty.
A Simple Idea Turned into a Recruiting Marketplace
Originally, NIL was supposed to be about personal branding. Athletes could collaborate with companies, local restaurants, clothing lines, protein shakes, athletic brands anything that involved promoting something for pay.
Think lifestyle influencers meet student athletes.
But almost immediately, a new type of organization began forming on college campuses: NIL collectives.
Collectives are groups of donors, sponsors, alumni, and boosters who pool money to financially compensate athletes at a specific school. On the outside, they look like marketing partnerships. In reality, they are recruitment wallets.
One former ACC soccer player told me:
“Everything shifted fast. Before NIL, conversations were about playing time, coaching, fit, or team chemistry. Now the first thing people bring up is the financial number before they even talk about schemes, development, or where they fit on the field.”
NIL wasn’t operating like branding.
It was operating like financial negotiations tied directly to enrollment decisions.
Instead of an athlete joining a school because of a coach, system, or opportunity to grow, many are joining the highest financial offer.
This is not personal brand monetization.
This is bidding.
NIL turned amateur recruiting into a marketplace the NCAA was never prepared to manage.
Money Isn’t Spread Fairly Not Even Close
Supporters of NIL often say “all athletes benefit.” Technically, yes athletes in any sport can pursue deals. But in reality, NIL money is concentrated around the biggest sports and brightest stars.
According to On3’s NIL Valuation Database, more than 50% of national NIL dollars go to fewer than 5% of athletes, primarily in Power Five football and men’s basketball.
For most athletes, including many who compete in Olympic sports, swimming, tennis, baseball, softball, field hockey, and volleyball, NIL either pays very little or nothing.
Some walk ons or non revenue sports athletes are getting small deals or product partnerships, which is exciting for them, but nothing close to the million dollar opportunities seen in college football.
So NIL didn’t just rewrite amateur athletics.
It rewrote who gets access to opportunity, visibility, and financial power.
The Transfer Portal Is Now Free Agency
Before NIL, transferring schools came with sacrifice:
Loss of eligibility
Restricted movement
Sitting out a year
Now, the transfer portal has become college sports free agency, where nearly every move is tied to NIL leverage.
Numbers say it all:
Over 3,000 college football players entered the transfer portal in 2023
That’s more than double from 2018
Some athletes have transferred two or three times during a four-year career
Some enter the portal before talking to their current coaches
A former college football player told me:
“You don’t just recruit new athletes anymore, you have to constantly recruit the ones already on your team so they don’t transfer. Keeping players has become harder than signing new ones.”
The portal has created a world where loyalty dies the moment someone offers more money.
Imagine trying to build a roster, a culture, and a legacy when every offseason becomes a revolving door.
Athletes aren’t transferring for playing time anymore.
They’re transferring for financial incentives, brand positioning, and collective negotiations.
If you watch enough college sports now, the most important number isn't jersey number.
It’s NIL valuation.
Coaches Aren’t Coaching They’re Negotiating
There was a time when college coaches spent the majority of their careers developing athletes, studying film, building systems, recruiting rare talent, and cultivating a team identity.
Now, the workload has shifted dramatically.
One SEC offensive coordinator explained:
“I used to spend 80% of my time developing players and 20% recruiting. Now I spend almost all my time on retention, NIL expectations, booster relationships, and negotiating before I even work on playbooks.”
Coaches now have to:
Re recruit returning players
Monitor booster expectations
Evaluate NIL collectives
Manage locker room resentment
Communicate minimum expectations with financial context
Coaching used to be about leadership, culture, and strategy.
Now it competes with:
brand management, booster politics, financial reassurance, and internal contract expectations.
Many coaches are emotionally exhausted far more than before NIL existed.
Boosters Have More Power Than Coaches
The NCAA thought it could approve NIL and keep booster influence in check.
That idea evaporated almost instantly.
Today, NIL collectives give boosters and wealthy donors enormous leverage:
They choose which athletes get paid
They influence who commits
They encourage transfers
They can threaten to withdraw funding if coaches don’t showcase their “investment”
One coach told me anonymously:
“I benched a freshman because he wasn’t ready. Within days, a booster texted asking why his NIL kid wasn’t getting minutes. Imagine telling a financial investor that their player development is slower than expected.”
Coaches used to answer to athletic directors.
Now they answer to wallets.
Boosters essentially function like unregulated sports agents, except they don’t always understand development, team dynamics, or timing.
That is dangerous ground.
The Market Is Rigged Wealthy Schools Dominate
Talent used to be distributed by:
Coach ability
Player relationships
On field fit
Player development
Academic alignment
Now, talent distribution is financial gravity.
Schools with massive collectives have unfair advantages:
University of Texas
Texas A&M
Alabama
USC'
Georgia
Miami
Ohio State
Some of these collectives have donation pools exceeding $10–20 million, which, in college terms, make them shockingly competitive compared to smaller programs.
Mid major schools and smaller D1 athletic departments cannot match collective funding from powerhouse alumni networks.
Talent follows money.
Parity collapses.
Cinderella stories disappear.
College sports lose their magic.
The playing field isn’t competitive anymore, it's financial.
Locker Rooms Don’t Feel Like Teams They Feel Like Payrolls
NIL created strange emotional dynamics inside locker rooms:
Quarterbacks earning $2–3 million in endorsements
Receivers earning $400k–$700k
Tight ends or linemen getting small deals or nothing
Walk ons struggling to pay for meals or rent
A Power Five trainer told me:
“When one athlete drives a luxury SUV, and another is Venmoing teammates for gas money to get to practice, it changes the emotional landscape instantly.”
College teams used to share everything:
Meals
Struggles
Late night film sessions
Transportation
Small dorm rooms
Sweat, stamina, survival
Now, locker rooms have hierarchy, wealth differences, business obligations, and brand priorities.
That’s not necessarily wrong but it fundamentally changes the emotional gravity of a college team.
Jealousy happens quietly.
Resentment builds easily.
Unity gets complicated.
A senior defensive back explained:
“I don’t think every player needs to get the same money. But I wish coaches prepared us for how it affects relationships.”
College sports used to be hunger driven.
Now they’re economically stratified, even inside a single roster.
NIL Also Became a Second Job
People assume NIL is easy money, like athletes suddenly posting a brand photo once a month and collecting checks.
In reality, NIL deals often come with:
Contract obligations
Reporting requirements
Deliverable deadlines
Photo shoots
Social media content
Legal paperwork
Tax filings
Meeting schedules
Time audits
College athletes don’t have agents in many cases. They don’t have legal advisors. They don’t have accountants.
One former Big 12 runner told me:
“I loved getting paid but I didn’t realize how much time it would take. Practices, travel, academics, study hall, tutoring… then brand contracts on top. It felt like a job I wasn’t trained for.”
For 19 year olds juggling classes, games, studying, recovery, and travel, NIL can add an entirely separate workload.
Some athletes love it.
Some athletes resent it.
Some athletes struggle to keep up.
Financial empowerment is great but structure, education, and advice are missing.
High School Recruiting Is a Bidding War Now, Too
NIL has leaked into high school sports faster than anyone expected.
Top high school athletes are now:
Entering college already represented by agencies
Posting public NIL valuations (via On3 NIL rankings)
Entering negotiations before signing
Expecting guaranteed compensation
Using social platforms to showcase marketability
Multiple college coaches admit:
“We evaluate star players for skill and for brand value. The more social presence, the more NIL leverage.”
Is that amateur athletics?
Or is it corporate talent scouting?
Either way: College sports are no longer development pathways; they are brand ecosystems.
College Used to Make Legends Now Legends Don’t Stay Long Enough
Think of the iconic athletes that shaped college sports culture:
Tim Tebow
Reggie Bush
Vince Young
JJ Redick
Zion Williamson
Johnny Manziel
Trevor Lawrence
Fans watched them:
Commit
Develop
Build chemistry
Stay multiple seasons
Create rivalries
Lead dynasties
It felt like watching an origin story.
Now, many great athletes transfer one or two times and leave without ever establishing emotional footprint or school identity.
You might love a breakout sophomore, only to watch him sign with another school the moment NIL numbers go up.
College sports used to produce legends.
NIL era recruiting produces short term partnerships.
Fans don’t get attached the same way.
College sports become entertainment, not community.
What NIL Fixed Is Real What NIL Broke Is Also Real
Here’s the honest part:
NIL was necessary and overdue.
College athletes deserved financial freedom.
Nobody should earn billions from unpaid labor.
Athletes now:
Pay rent more comfortably
Support families
Reduce stress about basic needs
Stay financially stable during busy seasons
Access mentors and brand reps
Build platforms before turning pro
Those are real benefits.
What’s broken isn’t the concept of NIL.
What’s broken is the complete lack of structure, regulation, compliance, and boundaries.
NIL could thrive if the NCAA:
Capped collective size per school
Prevented collectives from recruiting before enrollment
Required financial literacy courses
Protected athletes from exploitative contracts
Enforced fairness rules
Limited booster interference
Developed transparent negotiation guidelines
Protected athletic departments from donor pressure
Right now, NIL is operating like Wall Street without the SEC.
The NCAA approved NIL and then left the room.
And everything exploded.
College Sports Isn’t Ruined, It’s Just Not College Sports Anymore
Stadiums are still packed. Rivalries are still heated. College football is still electric, emotional, cinematic, and culturally unmatched.
But something fundamental has changed:
Loyalty is negotiable
Culture is portable
Roster identity is temporary
Coaching relationships are transactional
Rivalries can’t develop organically
Collectives influence outcomes
College sports are no longer built around development, mentorship, education, and belonging.
They are built around:
competitive resource allocation disguised as amateur athletics.
That doesn’t mean it’s bad entertainment.
It just isn’t the college experience fans remember.
The Price of Unregulated Empowerment
NIL didn’t destroy college sports.
It rewired them.
Athletes finally get paid and they deserve that. But the unintended side effect is that college athletics now operates as a free market where the highest bidder wins, boosters control talent pipelines, and roster loyalty depends on financial gravity rather than emotional identity.
College sports moved from:
Storytelling to branding
Long term development to instant ROI
Team culture to individual leverage
Emotional loyalty to financial negotiation
Coaching leadership to donor oversight
The soul of college sports used to be built on the idea that young athletes committed to something bigger than themselves.
Now the system encourages everyone, athletes, coaches, donors, recruiters to think in short term increments and financial terms.
It is exciting.
It is historic.
It is financially liberating for some.
But amateur athletics?
Not anymore.
College sports today is a business wearing school colors, and until someone regulates NIL in a meaningful way, that business model will keep getting louder than the traditions that once made college athletics feel different from everything else in sports.