NEWSLETTER
Next week, a contingent of SEC coaches and administrators, including Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban, is headed to Washington, D.C. Saban and company will meet with lawmakers to make a case for federal regulation when it comes to name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation for college athletes.
Since the inception of NIL compensation, Saban has advocated for some sort of regulation. This seems to be his latest attempt. While NIL is certainly a good thing for college athletes, the NCAA doesn’t regulate how much players can receive and the extent of some benefits. So, recruiting has become a bit like the Wild West in the last few years.
College football has had problems with parity for the last decade or so. Saban thinks the lack of NIL regulation will only create a more significant gap between the top teams and the rest of the pack.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a level playing field because some people were showing a willingness to spend more than others,” Saban continued. “Whereas, if you want to bring the NFL into it, they have a salary cap. They have all the things that level the playing field. We can put guidelines on this stuff that would do the same thing.”
Going the full NFL model with a salary cap and a players union is unlikely to happen in the immediate future. I do think, however, it makes a lot of sense for the sport. Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter tried forming a college football players union in 2015. The attempt was ultimately shot down. The National Labor Relations Board ruled that college football players were students, not employees. With NIL in play now, the circumstances have changed a bit.Â
“I have no problem,” he said. “I mean, unionize it. Make it like the NFL. It’s going to be the same for everyone. I think that’s better than what we have now…Everything they do in the NFL is to create what? Parity,” Saban said. “If they can have everybody going into the 17th week of the season 8-8, that would be like a dream for the NFL. You think there is disparity right now in college football? There’s going to be more in the future.”
NIL hasn’t affected Alabama very much. They still recruit at the highest level and have no issue bringing in top classes. No players union or NIL regulation will change that, at least as long as Saban is there. Wanting some guidelines and rules to follow isn’t too much to ask. It would bring recruiting back to more than who can write the biggest check.
With NIL the way it is, the sport is at risk of becoming a league where only four or five teams can actually win a championship. An expanded playoff where Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State are essentially locked in to make it every season will only further that. I’m all for paying players; they 100% deserve that. But just like every other sport in the country in which players are paid, there needs to be some regulation to keep things out of hand.
Is it a players union? Is it a salary cap? I’m not really sure. However, the Wild West-type atmosphere that the NCAA recruiting landscape has turned into since 2021 likely does need to come back down to earth a bit.
