The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
December 19, 2024 - TUSCALOOSA, AL - In recent days, Alabama has lost starting cornerback DeVonta Smith, wide receivers Kobe Prentice, Caleb Odom, and Isaiah Bond, and running back Justice Haynes to other programs through the transfer portal.
Players enter the transfer portal for a number of reasons: to be closer to home, they did not like staff changes by the program, because they weren't getting enough playing time, a coach hurt their feelings, or simply to get more money. That last one has bitten the Crimson Tide particularly hard.
The Tide just missed the inaugural college playoff field because of a dropped pass, a missed tackle, a player getting beat on a block, or a penalty or two in the Vanderbilt and Tennessee games. Alabama was not competitive against Oklahoma; but their other two losses were very tight and could have gone the other way with a couple of better players performing their assignments better.
There are over a dozen former Tide players who took the transfer portal out to other schools where they have been major contributors. Some of them left because Coach Nick Saban left; but many of them left for more money elsewhere. In many cases the Alabama NIL collective is being out bid on players. If the Tide had had another 4 or 5 million dollars to spend last year would the Tide have won another game or two.
Alabama Athletics Director Greg Byrne seems to be in the camp of yes we need more money because that is why he sent an urgent letter out to Tide fans asking for more fans to join Bama's NIL collective.
"Although we have been competitive from an NIL standpoint, our competition has us in their sights and are actively trying to surge ahead with NIL," Byrne wrote. "You have heard examples of other teams using promises of million-dollar paydays to lure away our players or convince them not to come to Alabama. It is time for the Bama Nation to fight back."
"Under the new model of college athletics, which is the result of an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, a university can succeed if their fans purchase authentic NIL from student-athletes," explained Byrne. "The good news is when @yea_ala was created last year, the focus was on providing our fans with a legitimate product rather than booster inducements. @yea_ala delivers exclusive content and access you cannot get anywhere else. We also have a plan to grow @yea_ala's offerings with more videos, features and news in 2025. So, please visit yea-alabama.com/join/ to join!"
"At Alabama, we've not measured ourselves against our competition," wrote Byrne. "We are the standard, and that measurement is against the mirror and against a rich and proud history, but it's impossible to ignore what is taking place in college athletics. Hungry fan bases are acting decisively to give their respective programs competitive advantages. We must respond. We are Alabama. Join @yea_ala today!"
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) recently spoke to reporters about the need for more regulation in college football.
"I bet most SEC schools spent $5 to $1o million on their teams," said Tuberville. "Ohio State spent some where about $20 to $25 million if I heard these numbers correct from some of my former colleagues; but you know what's legal is legal."
"I hate that we got to this point. I am totally for players making money; but I am not for not having enough money for Women's sports and Olympic sports," said Tuberville. "We have got to protect sports and college athletics of all shapes and sizes; and we are going to have to do some sort of federal legislation; but I just don't know what we are going to get through."
Among the twelve teams in this year's playoffs, Boisie State spent less than $2 million on name image and likeness money for its team. Arizona State Spent $10.6 million, Oregon $10.6 million, Tennessee $11.6 million, Indiana $13.6 million, Penn State $13.8 million, Clemson $15.3 million, Georgia $18.3 million, Ohio State $20.3 million, and Texas $22.3 million. Notre Dame and SMU are private schools so they do not have to report their spending so their NIL costs are unknown.
https://nittanylionswire.usatoday.com/lists/college-football-playoff-teams-ranked-nil/
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