TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – College athletics has never been more popular. From the rise of sports beyond football and basketball and the increase in interest in women’s athletics, college competition and spirit is exciting.
But we are seeing the impact of the NIL policy and the rise in popularity of the transfer portal, and both urgently need revision. Student athletes deserve to be paid for the use of their name, image and likeness, but the absolute trashing of the educational process while students chase these dollars is atrocious.
We have provided the NIL policy and it is totally twisting the reason these teenagers and twenty-somethings are in college. There is no salary cap in the age of NIL. And it shows.
Remember when students couldn’t even accept a meal from a booster, now students can be offered $1 million to join a college team. And the transfer portal allows students to transfer nearly at will between schools which has caused numerous top-level coaches to leave the profession.
At some point the money from the booster well will cease as we see top line athletes bounce from school to school. Gone are the days of multi-year careers for so many athletes. Ultimately, there must be some structure, some restrictions before this snowball gets any bigger.
And in the end, we need a return of the term student athlete. Student first. Get them prepared for the real world, not the fantasy world that currently exists and that will make for a Better East Texas.
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