Crazy Money
Right now, I am sure you are tied of hearing people say Happy New Year, so I won’t do that as I have the honor of writing the first blog of 2026. I am sure you have heard our first podcast of 2026, but if you haven’t take a listen to our conversation with Devin Reese.
We all know there are some organizations out there are corrupt. FIFA is certainly number one on that list as Chris mentioned in his last blog, Red Card - Grifters Gonna Grift. They certainly do not leave much for the imagination in this area, but there are other organizations that rank on this list. One of these organizations is the NCAA. They have for the longest time been so corrupt and run backwards. They have never treated the students-athletes that well and always capitalized off of their play on the field, court, etc.
You can go way, way back and see examples of athletes getting ripped off by the NCAA. Sure, you get a free education, which is certainly invaluable, especially for the students who are not going to make it big going pro in their sport. The very small percentage of athletes who go pro and make millions and millions of dollars is not many but a free education can only take you so far when you do not have a lot of money and nobody is allowed to give you any money, otherwise it could be considered a bribe.
You can go back to the Fab Five or the 1980s Miami Hurricanes Football teams, just to name a few of players who took money for whatever reason. Jalen Rose, for instance has been on the record saying, how is a low-income kid from inner city Detroit supposed to survive getting groceries, etc. without getting any money. This went on for generations of players and these players would starve, literally or take something. It could have been a sandwich and if somehow the NCAA found out and investigated the player, they could have been suspended and their school could have to forfeit wins. These wins could have been national championship wins. What is a kid supposed to do while the NCAA was making millions and billions off of television rights from these players.
Fast forward to 2019, when California passed the Fair Pay to Play Act, which allowed athletes to take money and profit off of their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). This allowed players to begin profiting off of themselves but this was only in California. In June, 2020, Florida passed its own law for a version of NIL which then started to push other states. Of course, the NCAA was not a fan of this and tried to stop it but a Supreme Court ruling in June, 2021, pushed forward further changes in NIL. After this ruling, the NCAA realized they had no choice but to move forward and began the implementation of NIL.
That is when things started to get crazy. NIL was originally established as the name says, Name, Image and Likeness, meaning an athlete could receive money for using their name, image or likeness in a video game or to promote a car dealership, for instance. This all made sense and finally players were starting to get their just due. They could make a few thousand dollars, no problem.
The deals started flowing right after, but in 2022, Arch Manning received over $3 million to go to the University of Texas to play football via the Texas Collective, which is basically a large group with a lot of money and receiving donations from others to pay players. This then told high school athletes, they could go to the highest bidder and college sports basically professional, because these players could make millions. What then began to happen is these athletes started to use the transfer portal to go to the highest bidder.
When an athlete used to sign a letter of intent to play at a university they were there for 3-4 for most and some for less. If a player wanted to transfer, they would have to sit out a year or a Division I athlete would have to transfer to Division II or III. In 2021, the NCAA changed the rules to allow a one-time transfer with immediate eligibility and then in 2024 granted unlimited transfers if a player was academically eligible. What this did was begin what is now called the Transfer Portal. As mentioned, the transfer portal is now allowing players to see who will offer them the most money and then go there. These players are not going to a school for the education or the love of the program. It’s how much will I play and how much can you pay me.
If a player sees a school bring in 2 running backs, he will look to transfer because he thinks his playing time will decrease. A coach now has to recruit the same players they recruited to play there originally after each season. The NCAA has completely lost control over the system and the athletes. We are seeing players play for a championship one year and then transfer to another school where they think they have a better chance to win another championship the next season. The quarterback of the Washington Huskies, Demond Williams Jr. signed a deal for up to 4.7 million dollars one day and then decided to enter the transfer portal a few days later. Washington took a stand and said he signed a contract, they would not let him out to transfer, so he eventually came back, but it was said he had offers for upwards of $6 million after he had signed the deal with Washington.
As corrupt as the NCAA was, it is now sitting on its hands and doing nothing. How is this fair? This is not becoming like Major League Baseball where we know certain teams can pay more than others, which in turn gives them the best chance to win a national championship.
This is not what college sports is all about. I have always been an advocate for players getting their just due, but what we have now is just out of control. There need to be some rules put in place, where people way smarter than me will need to come up with something, whether it is a cap, contracts get published so everyone knows what players are signing for as well as a limit on transferring. If players are going to transfer at will, schools should be able to put in these contracts that they have to stay for the length of the deal, unless the coach leaves or they go pro.
Where will this shake out eventually, nobody knows, but I do not see what is happening stopping anytime soon because the once strong fisted NCAA is now afraid to step in.
Only time will tell!!!