Some have argued that letting college players benefit financially from marketing their name, image and likeness (NIL) would only make the rich teams, richer. Others say they already get the best players, so it shouldn't have much effect. I agree with the latter for the most part with new recruits, but I am concerned about an impact I haven't heard discussed.
We are in the era of open transfer rules, when players can freely move to another school. What concerns me about allowing players to benefit from their NIL is what could happen with star players. Let's take Luka Garza as an example (because it hurts to much to use an ISU example). An all-American player like Luka may have decided to transfer to a bigger name or bigger market school so he could maximize his value. Transferring to schools like Michigan, Texas, North Carolina or Duke may give him more national marketability and thus more big bucks, than he could earn doing local car ads for a Cedar Rapids car dealer.
Name an Iowa State player that came in under the radar and became a star. I'd hate to see guys like that transfer to another school to cash a bigger check. Unless Iowa State can create a big enough market for these guys, you can't blame them for leaving for bigger markets. Heck, they may lock in these agreements with a market at a new school before they even announce a transfer. The result is that ISU gets the same high school recruits they always did. But those that develop into all-conference and all-Americans may never spend a career at ISU. And that bothers me.
If the NCAA allows players to sell their NIL, then I think the transfer rules need rolled back. To allow both of those things, they could make it nearly impossible for small market teams to ever have much success. It would be devastating for ISU, unless I underestimate the size of our market.
We are in the era of open transfer rules, when players can freely move to another school. What concerns me about allowing players to benefit from their NIL is what could happen with star players. Let's take Luka Garza as an example (because it hurts to much to use an ISU example). An all-American player like Luka may have decided to transfer to a bigger name or bigger market school so he could maximize his value. Transferring to schools like Michigan, Texas, North Carolina or Duke may give him more national marketability and thus more big bucks, than he could earn doing local car ads for a Cedar Rapids car dealer.
Name an Iowa State player that came in under the radar and became a star. I'd hate to see guys like that transfer to another school to cash a bigger check. Unless Iowa State can create a big enough market for these guys, you can't blame them for leaving for bigger markets. Heck, they may lock in these agreements with a market at a new school before they even announce a transfer. The result is that ISU gets the same high school recruits they always did. But those that develop into all-conference and all-Americans may never spend a career at ISU. And that bothers me.
If the NCAA allows players to sell their NIL, then I think the transfer rules need rolled back. To allow both of those things, they could make it nearly impossible for small market teams to ever have much success. It would be devastating for ISU, unless I underestimate the size of our market.
