Not really a fan of semi-pro college football myself. I think the NFL should have
a minor league system like the NHL and MLB do. A lot of these players don’t belong in college anyway.
Of course, there were always bagmen and, before NIL, the top recruits got paid to one degree or another by boosters. At least now it is mostly above board.
I’ve often said I feel sorry for college football coaches having to put up with teenage prima donnas. NIL has made that a thousand times worse.
I am not a big fan of the insanity of NIL and the Pandora’s Box it has opened.
But you know what? Fuck Nick Saban and the horse he rode in on.
That fucker has been reaping the benefit of people behind the scenes… the boosters etc. to lure the best players to LSU and Alabama. When he had to coach in the NFL and he didn’t have that cushion, he fell flat on his ass. Good ol’ “St.” Nick is just pissed he has to share the wealth some. So he can go fuck himself.
The serfs have rebelled and the barons are besides themselves. Like ticks,commentators, sideline-reporters,writers etc all became bloated attaching themselves to the game. Position coaches now make seven figures a year. Gaming companies make bank (eg. EA Sports).
Palatial dressing rooms, dining halls you name it at the schools. But the guys who make it all possible are disposable. Of the course the old line of …“we’re trying to make them men” is always dragged out and dusted off .
Ask any prof. about most of these guys being able to take on a meaningful academic course-load and still take in all the football practices and they’ll probably chuckle and walk away shaking their heads.
It’s a joke and a sham and we all know it. It’s Las Vegas on grass/astro-turf.