NIL, or Name Image and Likeness, is the newest obstacle facing teams in college football. The policy allows athletes to profit off of their names by signing autographs, selling merchandise, endorsing products, and other ways. While I agree that these opportunities should be open for players, I do personally feel there need to be a few more restrictions placed on the policy. Otherwise, it’s a slippery slope that could change the landscape of college football forever. It may already have. And in a league that is already top-heavy and hard to break into the elite fraternity of national title contenders, well money shouldn’t be the hindrance. NFL teams have salary caps, which will most likely need to be instituted at the collegiate level as well. But it’s the world we live in, and schools are adapting. And one North Carolina university has stepped up in a big way. The NIL Collective representing NC State University, announced yesterday all football players will be eligible tobe paid $25,000 next year from the fund.
The Program
We are excited to announce that we have joined the @PoweredByBPS family of collectives. This partnership will allow us to continue providing first-class service to fans & alumni while supporting student-athletes w/ new opportunities to build their brands & engage w/ the community pic.twitter.com/JE6WYbhe9y
— Pack Of Wolves NIL Collective (@packofwolvesnil) November 28, 2022
The only caveat is that players will have to do community service each month. This seems to be a very fair trade-off. Players of course will have the opportunity to earn well above that mark. This can be done with endorsements, merch sales, and participating in other events. Several local charities have already signed on to participate in the program. These include Gigi’s Playhouse of Raleigh, N.C., the Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake County, Dress for Success Triangle N.C., The Harrelson Center of Wilmington, N.C., SAFEchild, and the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina.
The program is called “Leading The Pack” and will help ensure NC State remains competitive in the NIL era. Do you think college athletes such as those at NC State football players should be paid to play the game? As someone who spent some time as a college athlete, though not on scholarship, it is a ton of work and commitment. When it’s something you love you very well would do it anyway. But if you have the choice to go somewhere where you can earn money or somewhere you can’t? Well for most 18-22 year olds that’s a no-brainer.
Like it or not this is the face of college athletics these days. I do expect in the coming years some of the programs will be reeled in. While deals are most often kept on the down low, top recruits such as Arch Manning are being coerced into signing with programs with the promise of making millions of dollars. For schools with huge alumni bases, willing to invests in the program, it gives a huge advantage. But that doesn’t always translate. Look at Texas A&M, a preseason top-10 team. They spent some of the most money in the country through NIL for this season. And the team didn’t even manage to get six wins and become bowl eligible.
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