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Dealing with Change

SchwartzUndGold

Team MVP
Nov 20, 2019
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Today I had a number of college football related stories in my news feeds I follow. I've picked out three that stood out and reflect the changing nature of college football. Florida cut three scholarship players and added two portal players. A wide receiver from Ohio State indicated that some OSU players are getting 6 figure NIL deals. Last, the U of So California has a QB recruit likely to get one million dollars in NIL money. I'm sure there are more stories that I did not see.

Is it realistic for a majority of the teams in the Big Ten to compete in this environment? Could you deal with Iowa dropping out of this level of competition? Do you feel that questioning the wisdom of trying to compete at this new level is avoidable?

Looking out five years I think the answers will become clear.
 
Well...big money has the propensity to corrupt. I'm all in favor of players being compensated, but right now, it appears to be the wild west in regard to any oversight into what teams are doing. It's not like Alabama hasn't been paying players for years through shady boosters, etc. It's well known as several players admitted they were paid when they played there. It's been common knowledge in the SEC that this goes on...and has for years...and it's not like the B10 hasn't seen it.

It's sad if this pushes CFB to form another division or something between the CFB playoff level (schools with big money NIL programs) and then a middle tier school...but it's hard to think that it won't impact competitiveness. That being said...Alabama, Georgia have been littered with 4 and 5 star players already for years...and so have other schools. If anything, these big money programs are naive if they are thinking this isn't going to create problems for them. This kind of money in the hands of 18 year olds is going to cause unintended consequences (jealousy, entitlement, greed, crime, etc, etc, etc).

The question becomes...does Iowa ever keep an instate kid that is a 5*. I have to think that there is a solution that helps meet the kid and his family with some kind of boosted payout for NIL or something. We will see. I think the Proctor recruitment is a canary in a coal mine for what the future may look like. I'm hopeful he stays at home and shows there is an avenue for teams like Iowa.
 
Eventually it becomes an arms race. 2022 #1 QB get $1M, 2023 #1 wants $1.1M, and so on and so on. Once a standard is set and made public, you can guarantee each recruit/family are going to want more than the last contract. Is there a point of diminishing returns? When does it become toxic? Will a cap correct some of it?

if this ends up creating a new division, why watch college ball anymore? Just go straight to NFL, play is better and time commitment is less.
 
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Perhaps a stupid question, is this NIL money taxable? I thought I saw something about some former tOSU athletes creating a “non-profit” for which to funnel funds through. If not, how many of these kids are prepared to pay taxes on all the money/vehicles/gifts/etc without the advice of an agent?
 
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Perhaps a stupid question, is this NIL money taxable? I thought I saw something about some former tOSU athletes creating a “non-profit” for which to funnel funds through. If not, how many of these kids are prepared to pay taxes on all the money/vehicles/gifts/etc without the advice of an agent?
Compensation from NILs is taxable, regardless of whether the NIL is set up as a non-profit. The advantage of structuring NIL collectives as a non-profit is that "donations" to the collective would be tax-deductible. It's entirely possible that a lot of these NIL collectives have their "non-profit" status challenged, in which case boosters would have to restate their returns if they claimed tax-deductible charitable donations.
 
Eventually it becomes an arms race. 2022 #1 QB get $1M, 2023 #1 wants $1.1M, and so on and so on. Once a standard is set and made public, you can guarantee each recruit/family are going to want more than the last contract. Is there a point of diminishing returns? When does it become toxic? Will a cap correct some of it?

if this ends up creating a new division, why watch college ball anymore? Just go straight to NFL, play is better and time commitment is less.
I personally think that the NIL money is better spent on the transfer portal/stealing other teams players. Why pay an unproven HS kid when you can get a immediate impact player that you know is good? After all, when you develop that HS 5-star ( or any star) you have to pay him what another school will pay him to leave anyway.
 
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at the end of the day, if this phenomenon starts to really affect cfb detrimentally we could just carve out a separate league for the semi-pro teams. there will not be more than 10-15 such teams. My bet however would be on the remaining traditional cfb teams. I suspect people will divide clean between traditional cfb and nfl while nobody will give a shit about the semi-pros.

that said, i think in 3-5 years the effect of money on buying players will likely even out and not make as big a ripple as we worry about.
 
Today I had a number of college football related stories in my news feeds I follow. I've picked out three that stood out and reflect the changing nature of college football. Florida cut three scholarship players and added two portal players. A wide receiver from Ohio State indicated that some OSU players are getting 6 figure NIL deals. Last, the U of So California has a QB recruit likely to get one million dollars in NIL money. I'm sure there are more stories that I did not see.

Is it realistic for a majority of the teams in the Big Ten to compete in this environment? Could you deal with Iowa dropping out of this level of competition? Do you feel that questioning the wisdom of trying to compete at this new level is avoidable?

Looking out five years I think the answers will become clear.

Honestly, the most disturbing of those stories is a school cutting scholarship players.

I'm not sure how much this will impact the parity (or lack thereof) in college football. There're only a handful of teams that have a realistic shot at a title now and there are a bunch of teams who really have little shot at even a conference title. This may change who is who (based on willingness to shell out the dough), the overall landscape may remain the same. It's possible the gap widens and the level of parity drops even further. If that happens, a new semi-pro league seems like the only way to keep people interested.

Honestly, I pay zero attention to the NC race during the season or the playoff games. As an Iowa fan, it means virtually nothing to me since even getting to the playoff is highly unlikely. Winning the NC is not impossible, but it's so improbable it might as well be. At some point more and more of the fanbase may take the same path as me. That is what would drive a change to an additional level of CFB. If that were to happen, I'd prefer Iowa was not in the big money league. It may not be the pinnacle of CFB competition, but being in a "buy a team" semi-pro CFB league would almost certainly drive me away as a fan.
 
Honestly, the most disturbing of those stories is a school cutting scholarship players.

I'm not sure how much this will impact the parity (or lack thereof) in college football. There're only a handful of teams that have a realistic shot at a title now and there are a bunch of teams who really have little shot at even a conference title. This may change who is who (based on willingness to shell out the dough), the overall landscape may remain the same. It's possible the gap widens and the level of parity drops even further. If that happens, a new semi-pro league seems like the only way to keep people interested.

Honestly, I pay zero attention to the NC race during the season or the playoff games. As an Iowa fan, it means virtually nothing to me since even getting to the playoff is highly unlikely. Winning the NC is not impossible, but it's so improbable it might as well be. At some point more and more of the fanbase may take the same path as me. That is what would drive a change to an additional level of CFB. If that were to happen, I'd prefer Iowa was not in the big money league. It may not be the pinnacle of CFB competition, but being in a "buy a team" semi-pro CFB league would almost certainly drive me away as a fan.
i agree with your point (bolded) but that is precisely what i think will pretty much bring balance back quickly. sufficient number of good players will start to prefer reputable programs who aren't as beholden to external moneybags to somewhat dampen the effect of said moneybags. if it doesn't, of course, i'm perfectly fine with a separate semi-pro league formed out of the 10-15 semi-pro elites. imo that league will sink rather quickly.
 
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Perhaps a stupid question, is this NIL money taxable? I thought I saw something about some former tOSU athletes creating a “non-profit” for which to funnel funds through. If not, how many of these kids are prepared to pay taxes on all the money/vehicles/gifts/etc without the advice of an agent?
Not stupid at all, I gotta think it is…it looks like Turbo Tax will need to make a modification.😉
 
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One thing we can most likely agree on, KF will not participate in buying players. I’m not sure KF is even interested in getting players from the transfer portal.
 
One thing we can most likely agree on, KF will not participate in buying players. I’m not sure KF is even interested in getting players from the transfer portal.
I could understand with Proctor more than any other player though. Iowa kid, OL and they are taking enough heat about NIL that if we lost him due to NIL shit would hit the fan.
 
Perhaps a stupid question, is this NIL money taxable? I thought I saw something about some former tOSU athletes creating a “non-profit” for which to funnel funds through. If not, how many of these kids are prepared to pay taxes on all the money/vehicles/gifts/etc without the advice of an agent?
This is gonna bite some kids in the ass
 
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I can't imagine there's that many billionaires willing to drop 30 or 40 mill every year with little in return...

Public companies def can't or they'll get sued
 
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Perhaps a stupid question, is this NIL money taxable? I thought I saw something about some former tOSU athletes creating a “non-profit” for which to funnel funds through. If not, how many of these kids are prepared to pay taxes on all the money/vehicles/gifts/etc without the advice of an agent?
Hope they prepare them for prison life ;)
 
This is gonna bite some kids in the ass
No doubt that it will some. Just like any freelancer/contractor who gets paid a good sum of money for a good/service, you do have to pay taxes on it, it is income. Because some kids will end up in trouble with the IRS because they don't pay taxes correctly, is not a reason to artificially restrict their earnings. That was the crux of the Supreme Court's rejection of the NCAA's argument that players shouldn't be compensated.

No one is all that concerned that KF or Barta aren't paying taxes on the very large sums of money they earn in a year. It's part of being an adult/earning money, you have to manage your tax obligations.

I am not dismissing your point. Doubtless there will be players who end up in serious tax trouble because they didn't set aside $ from their NIL money to pay tax obligations. Hopefully schools are providing information/education about tax rules.
 
I can't imagine there's that many billionaires willing to drop 30 or 40 mill every year with little in return...

Public companies def can't or they'll get sued
Few individuals will be willing to give that much money every year. The whole point of the collectives is that they can collect donations from numerous donors, and provide a single point of funding for a school. A&M and others already have these things in place.
 
No doubt that it will some. Just like any freelancer/contractor who gets paid a good sum of money for a good/service, you do have to pay taxes on it, it is income. Because some kids will end up in trouble with the IRS because they don't pay taxes correctly, is not a reason to artificially restrict their earnings. That was the crux of the Supreme Court's rejection of the NCAA's argument that players shouldn't be compensated.

No one is all that concerned that KF or Barta aren't paying taxes on the very large sums of money they earn in a year. It's part of being an adult/earning money, you have to manage your tax obligations.

I am not dismissing your point. Doubtless there will be players who end up in serious tax trouble because they didn't set aside $ from their NIL money to pay tax obligations. Hopefully schools are providing information/education about tax rules.
Wow. You over read A LOT from my quote. There was no motivation behind it other than to say a few of these kids are going to have tax problems.
 
No doubt that it will some. Just like any freelancer/contractor who gets paid a good sum of money for a good/service, you do have to pay taxes on it, it is income. Because some kids will end up in trouble with the IRS because they don't pay taxes correctly, is not a reason to artificially restrict their earnings. That was the crux of the Supreme Court's rejection of the NCAA's argument that players shouldn't be compensated.

No one is all that concerned that KF or Barta aren't paying taxes on the very large sums of money they earn in a year. It's part of being an adult/earning money, you have to manage your tax obligations.

I am not dismissing your point. Doubtless there will be players who end up in serious tax trouble because they didn't set aside $ from their NIL money to pay tax obligations. Hopefully schools are providing information/education about tax rules.
KF and Barta have the benefit of having attorneys, agents, and tax advisors on their payrolls. As a freshman in college, I was being paid under the table to sell bagels on the Ped Mall (shout out to the Bergman brothers!). I didn't have to worry about taxes. I was busy hoping people wouldn't ask for the dime they were due on their .90-cent bagel when paying with a dollar bill.
 
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KF and Barta have the benefit of having attorneys, agents, and tax advisors on their payrolls. As a freshman in college, I was being paid under the table to sell bagels on the Ped Mall (shout out to the Bergman brothers!). I didn't have to worry about taxes. I was busy hoping people wouldn't ask for the dime they were due on their .90-cent bagel when paying with a dollar bill.
This. As a 17/18 y/o kid with alot of money just dropped on your lap, many wont know what to do. They will have uncles who kinda know about taxes help them out and find themselves in trouble. Hopefully the schools will have something in place to help manage this. IMO there should be a clearinghouse for this money that comes with a % fee that includes all tax management. On top of that, some of these kids will find themselves in trouble with the money. Certainly make sit much more difficult to focus on football.
 
Has to be some time of cap put into place otherwise there is no way for the “other schools” to toss around that much money. College has now become much like the NFL… highest bidder wins. Iowa can’t compete with U of Miami and its billionaire owner, Oregon and Nike money … or the Texas’s with its finances. Only way this works if is everyone has to operate within the same financial boundaries. Pay for play is here to stay… but right now it’s the Wild West, and this can’t be sustained.
 
Honestly, I'm not too worried about big programs giving large sums of money to 18 year olds to play college football. They may gain in the short term, but I believe they will suffer in the long run. Greed is not a good recipe for team collaboration and chemistry, which results in resentment, poor attitude, and laziness. Then again, I could be way wrong about all this.

Me as an 18 year old with a million dollars would be extremely distracting, almost a full time job just managing that.....how do I find time to play football?
 
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Some super NIL teams, most of which are already loaded with talent, will obviously fare well.

There comes a point in time however where a talented recruit looks at a super NIL school and sees himself as just another fish in the pond and his NIL money may be good (not necessarily great).

Perhaps that kid would like to be the big fish in the pond and decide to go to Tight End U or DBU, still make reasonably good NIL money but put himself in a much better position to develop himself NFL talent.

That is what we can hope for.
 
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Eventually it becomes an arms race. 2022 #1 QB get $1M, 2023 #1 wants $1.1M, and so on and so on. Once a standard is set and made public, you can guarantee each recruit/family are going to want more than the last contract. Is there a point of diminishing returns? When does it become toxic? Will a cap correct some of it?

if this ends up creating a new division, why watch college ball anymore? Just go straight to NFL, play is better and time commitment is less.
Agreed. At some point legislation will need to be passed or this thing will spiral out of control. The NCAA and the major conferences need to come together and establish rules and guidelines to keep everything in check. I just don't like the direction NIL is taking amateur athletics.
 
at the end of the day, if this phenomenon starts to really affect cfb detrimentally we could just carve out a separate league for the semi-pro teams. there will not be more than 10-15 such teams. My bet however would be on the remaining traditional cfb teams. I suspect people will divide clean between traditional cfb and nfl while nobody will give a shit about the semi-pros.

that said, i think in 3-5 years the effect of money on buying players will likely even out and not make as big a ripple as we worry about.
I agree totally Desi. If there is a break there will be WAY, WAY more teams who will not be playing this game after a few years, and only a handful of "semi pro teams" once we have five years or so of the same teams winning it all like they do now. Then what will they really have? A schedule with 6 teams they play twice a year? There's no way if this goes aholes over elbows with $$$$ for recruits that the majority of Universities will play in that pool long term.
 
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Same teams that had all the advantages before NIL still have them. I don’t think much has changed.

now if somebody like Kansas all of a sudden gets a booster to pledge millions in NIL money and they go to a national power then I would change my opinion.

the lesser schools now need to watch the portal for the NIL busts.
 
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I agree that Proctor is the exception where I hope we can land him with NIL if necessary.
I wish these deals would be private to keep dissension to a minimum.
This better settle down quickly or the golden goose will be slayed.
 
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Few individuals will be willing to give that much money every year. The whole point of the collectives is that they can collect donations from numerous donors, and provide a single point of funding for a school. A&M and others already have these things in place.
Most teams should be able to do that imo. So not much advantage after a couple years unless your ad is garbage.
 
I don't know if it is going to ruin college football or not, but it makes me sad. It's not like college sports were squeaking clean before, but NIL is simply contrary to the idea of college sports.

College sports was supposed to be about college students playing sports, not athletes having to go to class. I'm doubt these kids will even have to go to class at all in 5-10 years.

I'm a little surprised KF puts up with it at all. I wonder if this is his last year.
 
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