Should NIL have a cap?

After far too long, college athletes are finally getting paid for their name and likeness. It was taken to a new level though with the ability for coaches to pay students to come to their schools.

There is no doubt that student-athletes should make money, for the most part, they make a huge part of the publicity for universities, especially when it comes to football.

With NIL though, the thought was going to be making money from brand deals and making money off being put in the public spotlight by a large brand, such as Shaduer Sanders with Nike, Quinn Ewers with Gold’s Gym or many of the NCAA quarterbacks with Beats by Dr. Dre.

The biggest one was the use of football players in the NCAA College Football video game, which just had a new game released for the first time in 10 years after NIL was allowed in the NCAA.

This gave every player who opted into the game a $600 payout as well as a free copy of the game.

NIL has been taken to a whole new level though, along with the transfer portal, being used as almost a free agency mechanism. This raises the question, should there be a cap on NIL?

The best way to compare the way NIL money is dealt with right now would be similar to the MLB. The biggest markets are going to bring in the most money which will produce the best athletes going to the biggest schools.

In a market where football and basketball dominate college athletics, those sports will bring in the most money. When you get schools such as Alabama, Michigan, and Ohio State, which more often than not have a solid team in both, athletes will go to the places that will give them the most money.

The expanded playoff in football will help the dispersal of those power schools, but you’re still looking at a consistent four schools to get into the playoffs.

According to Collegefootballnetwork.com four of the top ten paid athletes go to two schools, Colorado and Texas, and only one of the remaining players doesn’t go to a Big Ten school or an SEC school, the two biggest conferences in college football.

Where the argument for the NIL cap reigns from partners with the fact that there is no more restraint on the transfer portal.

Players now have the ability to transfer as many times as they want. With no restrictions on how many times you can transfer, why would a team not offer a large deal to a player who may be a top player somewhere but further down on their depth chart, and why wouldn’t that player leave with a chance to make millions before they are even 21?

A prime example of this (with no evidence of money playing a factor) is Quinshon Judkins, a junior running back at Ohio State.

Judkins left a situation where he was the top running back in an SEC school poised to make some noise with a 12-team playoff but chose to leave where he would hope to split the snaps at Ohio State behind TreVeyon Henderson.

When asked why Ohio State, Judkins responded with “Why not Ohio State?” according to Cleveland.com.

With all of this being said, not every player is going to choose money and championships over their school. Drake Maye was asked to leave UNC and refused because he chose them and didn’t want to leave them high and dry.

There is a lot of hazy information left to be cleared up on NIL and where all the money goes, but the NCAA does seem to be making steps towards clearing up the rules.

Some of these rules could include a cap on what they offer, a certain amount of money going to the school as a whole, not just a sport, and percentages of where the money has to be distributed so that smaller sports get some of the share.

Tristan Kunec is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email tqk5432@psu.edu.