That whooosh! was the sound of college basketball players rushing into the NCAA transfer portal on Monday.
It was players seeking more PT and/or name, image and likeness paychecks; agents salivating over their expected cuts; and coaches either gleeful over the buffet of available talent or pained by emptying rosters.
The chaos intensifies next month when 1) a finalized settlement will create more NIL opportunities for student-athletes, and 2) the spring portal opens for football players.
While there are many fans of college sports who believe the ol’ days were the good ol’ days, there are parties benefiting from this age of players changing schools without restrictions and prospering from NIL deals. Here are the winners:
>> The student-athletes
There was a time when, if a football or basketball player wanted to transfer for whatever reason — lack of playing time, wanting to be closer to family, head coach’s departure — the student-athlete had to redshirt for a year before being eligible to play a game at the next school. It was a blanket non-compete policy applicable to football and basketball players but not their coaches. It was not even a universal rule. Some sports, including baseball, allowed players to transfer without redshirting. The right to change schools, maybe even twice, without restrictions is a freedom found in most occupations. The risk is a player not finding another school or scholarship. But that’s life, too.
And while compensation to players has skyrocketed — $100,000 appears to be the opening asking price for a mid-major basketball starter — companies and schools pay what the market sets. It’s fun to play NCAA football video games, but it’s fair to pay the players for their avatars.
>> The schools
The transfer portal is similar to video poker. “Hold” the potentially valuable cards, discard the rest, then get new cards. Sometimes it works in creating a winning hand; sometimes it’s better to go through the process again. While it is unfortunate when players choose to leave a program, there are more than enough immediate-impact replacements available in the portal.
Maybe a school has to pony up money to secure a player from the portal; maybe the value of a scholarship and a chance to develop is enough. There also are available — and affordable — options from signing junior-college players. UC San Diego won a Big West basketball title with a scoring leader from Division II. Cal Poly also went the Division II route, for a coach and key players, as part of a program that made a late-season surge.
The flip side to the portal is schools now are free to “move on” from players. With the ease in transferring to other schools, players no longer sign National Letters of Intent. Instead, they ink scholarship agreements, which bind only the school from honoring a scholarship for a year. While players can transfer at any time, even before bowl games and, in theory, during the NCAA basketball tournament, schools have year-to-year obligations to players. With a new rule paring football rosters to 105, every Division I school is expected to cut players at the end of semester. Supply and demand works both ways.
>> The agents
The NFL caps an agent’s commission on a player’s salary at 3%; it’s 4% for an NBA agent. There is no cap in representing a college player or recruit on NIL deals. Working with third-party collectives, there is money to be made in NIL deals for players … and their representatives. After all, self-described agents often are announcing a player’s entrance into the portal.
Lynn Lashbrook, who has more than 50 years of experience as an NFL agent, athletic director and coach, is offering an online course on sports management this summer. Lashbrook said “KRS 399: sports management” is affiliated with UH and will be taught July 7 through Aug. 14. The game’s changing — it’s good to be familiar with the new rules.
>> Local businesses
Until recent years, student-athletes were prohibited from even mentioning a favorite restaurant in interviews. Now restaurants, banks, car dealerships and other entities may sponsor current players for promotions and appearances. They also can provide internships.
>>Die-hard fans
Here’s the offer: Bruno Mars will perform three songs for you and three friends. But no photos will be allowed, and you and your friends can never tell anybody about the event. Do you accept? Of course, you do … and, of course, you tell everybody. Because for some, it’s not just about knowing something, it’s about others knowing you know.
Now fans are allowed to sponsor NIL deals with players. A group recently chipped in for a Zoom Q&A with a UH football player. And another session is planned. And all their friends know about it.
