It’s safe to say that NIL and the transfer portal have changed college football, and Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban isn’t necessarily a fan.
During an appearance on The Next Round podcast, Nick Saban made it clear that while he does support NIL, he does not support how the NIL market has turned into a “pay-for-play type of thing.”
“First of all I think NIL is good for the players, I think it gives them an opportunity to make money and use their name, image and likeness, which is what it was supposed to be. But what we’ve made it and the unintended consequence of collectives and creating opportunities for players that they really didn’t create on their own — and they use that in recruiting and it becomes a pay-for-play type of thing — I don’t think that’s what anybody wanted it to be or thinks it should be,” Saban said on the podcast according to On3.
Saban said that when you combine NIL with the transfer portal, it gets especially out of control.
“But when you put the portal and NIL together, where somebody can say ‘Hey, if you get in the portal, we’ll pay you this much to come to our school.’ That’s a little bit of an issue that I don’t think is a consequence that anybody anticipated, as well,” Saban said.
The state of college football is certainly different than it was even just a few years ago, and Saban is going to adjust.
[On3]
