DeAngelo Evans

The Goal of the Pre-Draft Process from an NFL Organization’s Perspective

          During the pre-draft process, the main goal of all 32 NFL organizations is to decrease your value so they can justify drafting you later, and as a result, paying you less. When they test the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine or your Pro Day, if you don’t possess the speed they believe your position requires, it decreases your value. When they contact your college’s athletic trainer regarding your injury history, if that information leads to concerns related to your durability, it decreases your value. If background checks reveal you have had run-ins with the law and issues related to your character arise, it decreases your value. As an NFL prospect, conduct yourself—on and off the field—in a manner that increases demand for your services and requires the market (NFL organizations) to invest the highest possible draft pick on you based on that demand.

The Reputation of Your Agent and/or His Firm Does Not Determine Your Draft Position

          NFL organizations’ draft decisions are made by a combination of the following: the product you display on the field during your collegiate career; their needs at your particular position; your skill set’s fit with their offensive or defensive scheme; and their belief (or lack thereof) in your ability to conduct yourself in a manner that is conducive to becoming a positive member of their community by exhibiting a level of character that is deemed acceptable by their fanbase. Your agent and/or his firm have no bearing on an NFL organization’s draft criteria or your position on their draft board. And anyone that directly states or implies that you will improve or lower your draft prospects by signing with a particular agent is misrepresenting the NFL Draft process.

Nearly 70 Percent of NFL Players Retire Broke

          The difference between professional athletes who squander their earnings from their lucrative careers compared to those who don’t has to do with whether they choose to adopt the rich mentality, which is based on defining one’s financial outlook by their income, or the wealth-building mentality, which is based on amassing income-producing assets that generate several streams of passive income. Once you’re drafted, you will be considered a rich person by most standards based on the fact that you will earn a minimum of $750,000 per year. Unfortunately, the vast majority of NFL careers last approximately 3 years. Therefore, in order to achieve financial security, your responsibility is to find a means to use your earnings to acquire income-producing assets that will allow you to financially absorb the inevitable loss of your NFL salary.

          In order to do so, it will require you to focus on two of the most important aspects of financial freedom: managing your expenses (because rich people spend a lot of money, but individuals focused on building wealth save and invest their money); and investments (because rich people don’t invest because they spend their money on things that don’t appreciate in value, while wealthy individuals spend their money on assets that accrue value over time). During your NFL career, if you make it a priority to create a detailed budget that allocates at least two-thirds of your earnings to your long-term savings and investments in assets that will increase in value over time, you will achieve financial freedom. Remember, your financial freedom is your responsibility. Therefore, do not entrust it to anyone else. Take ownership of your financial future by becoming financially literate, surrounding yourself with competent and trustworthy advisors, developing a wealth-building strategy, and practicing financial discipline as you execute your plan.

Vet and Hire Your Own Financial Team with Members that Operate Independently

          One of the most crucial mistakes professional athletes make is allowing their agent to manage all of their financial affairs. When you build your team of advisors, there needs to be checks and balances on each member in order to prevent fraud, embezzlement, or any form of mismanagement. One of the most common ways to do so is to hire individuals that are separate from one another, that you have personally vetted, all functioning independently, with the purpose of serving your needs in their specialized area. When you employ advisors that operate independent of one another, it doesn’t allow cover-ups or illegal schemes involving multiple individuals of your team to go unnoticed. Another benefit of hiring independent advisors is that it provides you with a diverse set of ideas to ensure that multiple perspectives are being considered in your quest to reach your financial goals.

Think About Life After Football

          It is highly likely that your football career will have concluded before you are 25 years-old. Many of you have spent your entire childhood, teenage years, and young adult lives pursuing your dream of competing at the highest level. The downside of that years-long journey is that you have never had time to develop interests outside of your sport. Therefore, when your career ends abruptly, most of you will not have any idea of what other skills you possess. Take time to ask yourself:

Besides football, what else am I good at?

What am I passionate about?

What do I intend to do with my life when my football career ends?

          It may be uncomfortable to contemplate answers to these questions because they are accompanied by so much uncertainty and unfamiliarity. But make it a point to formulate honest answers to the aforementioned questions. And let those answers serve as your roadmap to your life after football.  You will be pleasantly surprised to discover that the soft skills of leadership, work ethic, and dedication that you developed as a professional athlete will be transferable to other disciplines. And the application of those soft skills will allow you to acquire the hard skills for your post-football professional endeavors.

Be Careful Not to Spread Yourself Too Thin

          One of the most difficult aspects of being a professional athlete is learning how to strike the perfect balance between sharing yourself with others and maintaining a level of privacy and anonymity. You will have many requests for appearances, speaking engagements, etc. Therefore, it’s important to understand that as well-intentioned and forthcoming as you may be, being a professional athlete is a time-consuming profession both in-season and during the offseason, and you only have a finite amount of time to fulfill requests that are outside the scope of your contractual duties with your particular NFL organization.          As a general rule, prioritize certain requests over others based on your own criteria. And do not make promises you do not intend to honor.

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

          There are so many professional athletes who get drafted, buy big houses and nice cars, and become more recognized by their nightlife than their production on the court or field. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a good time and enjoying the fruits of your labor. But don’t ever forget how you got to your “promised land”. It took hard work, dedication, and focus to realize your dream of becoming an NFL player. Don’t allow anything to cause you to deviate from keeping the game of football as your focal point. You have a small window to earn an amount of money that can permanently change your financial outlook. Therefore, take the time to keep yourself in shape, maintain your playing weight, and continue to develop your skills during the offseason. Your knowledge of the game will continue to grow after college, so put yourself in a position to benefit from that knowledge by continually honing the skills required for you to maximize your output on the field.

Be Likeable

          Growing up, the game of football was something you played as a hobby; in high school, it was an extracurricular activity; and in college, it more than likely served as a vehicle that provided a means for a free education. But in the NFL, it will be your j-o-b. And like all jobs, managing the day-to-day can be monotonous, draining, and at times, seemingly overwhelming. And individuals that you work alongside that are difficult to get along with—because they have personalities that suck the air out of the room instead of their mere presence bringing life to it—make demanding jobs even more demanding. That’s why it’s imperative to be approachable, easy-going, and likeable in a work environment. The players that are part of the NFL organization to which you are drafted will be your teammates on Sundays, but they will also be your colleagues Monday through Saturday. So first, make sure you gain their respect as a colleague. And that will make it much easier to earn their trust as a teammate.

Understand the Terms of Your NFL Contract

          Your contract is a legally binding agreement between you and the NFL organization that employs you. As such, you need to have a clear understanding of it before you sign it. Be sure to carefully read and review every clause of it. If the contract language is too complicated to comprehend, ask your representative to simplify it so you can be clear regarding the obligations it places on you.

Prior to signing your contract, you should know:

–whether the contract terms reflect what was orally agreed upon

–the obligations of both parties, and they should be clearly stated

–the duration of the contract

–how the contract is terminated

As a general rule, if you are not comfortable with any of the terms of the contract, you should express it to your agent so he or she can negotiate those terms on your behalf. A contract is an agreement that allows both parties to “bargain for” their interests, so make sure your interests are clearly made known.

All Professional Leagues Were Not Created Equal

          Professional sports leagues operate by written and unwritten rules that provide a basis for one to draw conclusions regarding whether the power resides with the players or that league’s owners and management. For example, based on the NBA’s rules that permit rookies to receive guaranteed contracts and more established players to be awarded super maximum deals; their flexible policy on player availability via “load management”; and a structure that allows for players to be members of an organization’s G- League affiliate and the parent organization and receive incentivized compensation via two-way contracts, one could make a plausible argument that the NBA is a player-friendly league.

          The NFL and the NBA are starkly different in terms of their power structure. It is indisputable that NFL owners have structured an owner-friendly league. The overwhelming majority of NFL contracts are not fully guaranteed; the rules allow organizations to unload “bad” contracts by cutting players whose production is inconsistent with their compensation; and instead of flexibility regarding player availability in a sport where major injuries are more common than any other professional league, NFL owners regularly explore ways to add more games to the current 20-game schedule, which would increase the risk of injury to its players.

          The NFL is not a league that allows a player to be “grandfathered-in”, where their compensation is primarily based on their reputation and past performance. Instead, it’s a league whose compensation structure is based on the player’s current value to that organization, which is one of the reasons there is so much player turnover. Whether or not you agree with how the league is structured, it’s important to understand its realities and the potential implications those realities could have on your professional career.

Considering these 5 factors in the design, manufacturing, and marketing of your product are guaranteed to increase its demand:

Products with Aesthetics that Speak for the Athlete

          An athlete’s appearance has an effect on their psyche and can impact their performance. Many athletes subscribe to the belief that “if you look good, you play good”. Highly-visible athletes understand that with stardom also comes an opportunity for scrutiny. Therefore, the products they are associated with must be fashionable, and they must be consistent with their representation of themselves and their brand. And ultimately, they must provide them with the athletic confidence that validates their platform.

Products Manufactured with Flexibility that Don’t Restrict Movement Because they are too Rigid or Overly Cumbersome

          All equipment, apparel, and protective gear must provide the proper support and protection without inhibiting an athlete’s ability to move with freedom and ease on the court or field of play. From an athlete’s perspective, a product that is designed to support and protect is only as valuable as its capability to provide that support and protection without decreasing their range of motion, reaction time, and the rate at which they accelerate and decelerate. The ideal product becomes one with the athlete’s body. Therefore, instead of restricting certain movements, it is designed to promote functionality.

Products that are Resistant to External Factors that Decrease their Effectiveness

          A product’s ability to maintain its integrity is not only defined by its durability over the long term, but it’s also determined by its capacity to withstand the stress it is put under during competition, and whether those factors cause its effectiveness to be compromised over that short period. The best products consistently perform well regardless of external factors ranging from weather conditions, physical torque and brunt force, or changes in the temperature and moisture of the athlete’s body surface.

Products that are Exclusive to a Select Group for a Period of Time

          Professional and Division I athletes take pride in endorsing products that are strictly for their use that have yet to be made widely available to athletes at all levels. Because they equate the quality of certain products with their exclusivity. Making a product exclusive to a select group can be rewarding to both the athlete and the supplier. For the athlete, it provides the psychological benefit of importance and a sense of belonging to an elite group. And once it becomes accessible to athletes of all levels, it can increase the demand for the product based on the principles of identity branding, where consumers develop a level of trust, loyalty, and awareness of a product based on that product’s association. If youth and high school athletes associate a company’s product with their favorite college or professional athlete (who was granted an exclusive right of use), then one can logically conclude that the company can potentially expand their market of consumers exponentially once it is available to the masses.

Products that are Customized to Meet an Athlete’s Specific Needs

          Products that are marketed to a wide range of athletes increase their demand when they provide each athlete with a means to tailor it to their specific needs.  Even though most athletes compete in team sports and are well-versed on its principle of uniformity in regard to team-related attire and equipment, products that create a space for athletes to establish and express their own identity by fulfilling the basic human desire for individuality can distinguish it from its competitors.

Why Speed is Important in the Game of Football

          First, because there are no countermeasures that can be used to offset its advantages. Speed is the ultimate equalizer because it neutralizes an opponent’s size advantage and negates their physicality.  

          Second, because it is an essential element to self-preservation and longevity in an inherently violent sport. Speed allows offensive players to dictate the game’s tempo, which keeps defensive players off balance. And when defensive players are off balance, it limits their aggressiveness. And when a defensive player lacks aggression, their ability to execute tackles with force is compromised, which reduces the offensive player’s probability of injury as a result of the impact from being tackled. Similar to offensive players, speedy defenders force offenses to combat their aggressiveness in several ways: design plays to go in the opposite direction of where they are aligned; attempt to block them with quicker (and usually smaller) offensive players; or allow them to go unblocked and hopefully run themselves out of the play—all of which limit the physical contact that defensive player is required to engage in over the course of a game, which ultimately prevents the cumulative effects of repeated collisions.

          Third, because football is a game that requires players to have the ability to play in space. Offenses attempt to create space for the path of least resistance to the end zone. And they do so by formation and play design. Conversely, defenses aim to reduce the amount of space on the field by filling vacated areas with defenders in hopes of creating as much body traffic as possible. Without speed, offenses cannot effectively create favorable advantages. And defenders who are speed deficient are prime targets to be isolated in one-on-one matchups against athletically superior players who are intent on exploiting their weakness.

            Whether it’s from an offensive or defensive perspective, speed is a prerequisite to execution on both sides of the ball. Running backs must possess it in order to separate from defenders once they’ve penetrated the line of scrimmage; it’s required for wide receivers to run routes with precision and to get out of their breaks smoothly; defensive backs need it to react to short passing routes and keep pace with wide receivers downfield on longer ones; and although they operate in a more confined area, defensive linemen must exhibit speed in order to effectively pressure the quarterback; and offensive linemen must be able to contain pass-rushers intent on applying that pressure.

  How to Quantify Speed in Football

          For many years, there has been a considerable amount of debate surrounding the most effective method to measure a football player’s speed. Some rely on tests like the 10, 20, and 40-yard dashes, while others believe analyzing the suddenness and fluidity in which a player moves in an actual football game, where he’s in full-pads, making football movements, is the most accurate reflection of speed. Whether one’s means of rating speed is by an objective or subjective standard, there is an indisputable, scientifically-backed equation for speed:

STRIDE LENGTH x STRIDE FREQUENCY = SPEED

Stride Length

          Stride length is the amount of ground covered with each stride or step length. It is determined by measuring the distance between each successive foot contact with the ground. When a football player is sprinting, his ability to optimize the length of his stride is one of the factors that dictate the rate at which his body travels down the field.

          Stride length consists of two components that work in conjunction with one another—force applied to the ground and range of motion. Force applied to the ground is simply the amount of force the football player generates through each step or successive contact with the ground in order to propel himself forward, while range of motion is his ability to produce longer motions. In other words, a football player’s stride length is the amount of power his foot can apply to the ground as he pushes off, combined with the flexibility of his hip-flexors, hamstrings, and quadriceps and their ability to support that force and extend the leg.

Stride Frequency

          Stride frequency is the number of strides taken in a given amount of time, or how often a stride or step occurs over a distance.  The number of times a football player’s legs can repeat the cycle of pushing off the ground, extending, and recoiling will determine the sum total of revolutions they produce. But unlike stride length, this is not solely a physical process. Stride frequency combines the physical element of leg turnover with the nervous system’s ability to contract and relax the muscles to quickly repeat the leg turnover process. In other words, a football player’s leg turnover is reliant on neuromuscular activation in order to a have a nervous system that can produce a quick leg turnover.

The Most Effective Method for a Football Player’s Speed Development

          The conclusion that should be drawn from stride length and stride frequency in the speed development process is that there is a relationship between the two, and any training method designed to promote speed development in football players must address both components. Depending on their body type and physical characteristics, most football players’ sprinting mechanics illustrate that in order to maximize their speed output, either their stride length or stride frequency require improvement. Players who are more powerful and can generate a lot of force through their stride are considered stride length dependent, while those who rely on their nervous system’s ability to rapidly turn their legs over are more reliant on stride frequency. Therefore, the first step in a football player’s speed development training process involves determining which side of the speed equation needs to be addressed.

Speed Development Training for Stride Frequency Dependent Football Players

          Football players who are stride frequency dependent typically lack flexibility, so they have shorter range of motion in their stride; or they’re deficient in leg strength, which prevents them from producing enough force to the ground to cover more distance with their stride. Diagnostic tests administered for players who are deficient in flexibility come in the form of functional range of motion and elasticity tests of the hamstring and quadricep muscles. For those who are believed to lack strength, diagnostic tests are designed to measure the player’s ability to generate power using the combination of the glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps in conjunction with one another.

          In order to maximize stride length, the speed equipment or training protocol must:  provide resistance that requires the player to generate power through a triple extension motion, which means the player’s hips, knees, and ankles must all fully extend simultaneously in order to execute the movement; and the movement must increase functional flexibility by improving the player’s natural range of running motion.

Speed Development Training for Stride Length Dependent Football Players

          Stride Length dependence manifests itself in football players in ways that illustrate deficiencies in the ability to generate faster force production. And these issues are normally evidenced in the hip-flexors. The hip-flexors serve as a source of force production, but the rate at which that force is produced is a neurological function. Therefore, diagnostic tests measure the speed of hip flexion and extension, which is the nervous system’s ability to contract, relax, and successively repeat the leg turnover process. Deficiencies in these tests will illustrate that hip flexors with slower neurological reactions have limited flexion and extension, and as a result, a lower rate of leg turnover.

          In order to increase stride frequency, the training protocol must: train the neuro-system to recruit and relax muscles quickly, which simply means to train the system to react subconsciously which will in turn stimulate the fast-twitch muscle fibers; and focus on movements that target the hip-flexors and increase their strength and endurance, which can  be accomplished with sets of exercises that involve a high amount of repetitions and a minimum amount of resistance.

Conclusion

          The goal of this article is to provide a base level of knowledge of the principles that govern speed development in football players. In order to achieve the desired speed results, football players should apply these principles to training drills that are consistent with their current skill set (meaning, they should not engage in drills or use equipment that is too advanced for their level because their bodies won’t respond favorably, and doing so makes them more susceptible to injury).

          However, the most important takeaway from the information provided in this article is that in order to maximize one’s skill set as a football player, one must be motivated by a desire to improve. The litmus test to determine whether that desire exists is based on a player’s willingness to explore different means to educate himself regarding the elements of his craft. Half the battle of speed development (and any other aspect of a football player’s skill development) is gaining a keen understanding of one’s body—it’s strengths, weaknesses, and most importantly, the type of training it responds to.

          Sports are a personification of American culture. We live in a sports-centric society where a premium is placed on success on the court and field of play. However, most sports enthusiasts would argue that while Americans share an affinity for sports in general, there has always been a stark contrast between intercollegiate athletics and professional sports that has made one more attractive to sports fans than others. Studies show that nearly 60 percent of fans prefer college over professional sports. Many of these fans possess an innocent, child-like love for their sport, based solely on their love for the game and their alma mater or adopted school of choice. They detest the inherent nature of professional sports. From contract and labor disputes to the constant roster influx due to free agency and player availability, they believe the business aspects of professional sports diminish its entertainment value. They contend that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) principles of amateurism—that intercollegiate athletics are centered around a much larger educational mission, and that student-athletes are required to embody that mission—should be preserved at all costs.

           It would be logical to assume that an organization whose stated purpose is to serve as a filter that rids intercollegiate athletics of any semblance of professionalism would also uphold those same foundational principles of amateurism. However, that’s not the case in the present world of intercollegiate athletics. The balance of this article will discuss the 3 factors that have led to its infrastructural change, and why it is on a course that cannot be reversed.

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL)

          NIL is a legal concept that refers to an individual’s “right of publicity”, which means their ability to capitalize on anything that identifies them, including their ability to engage in third-party sponsorships and endorsements. NIL was first adopted by the state of California in 2019. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that allowed student-athletes in California to accept compensation for the use of their name, image, and likeness.  Shortly thereafter, in NCAA v. Alston, the United States Supreme Court handed down a monumental decision that has changed the parameters by which intercollegiate athletics may be governed. In Alston, the Court struck down any potential limitations on benefits that student-athletes were permitted to receive. They strongly rejected the NCAA’s principle of amateurism as being “overly broad” and as an “outdated defense” for failing to allow its labor force and revenue-drivers to be compensated.

          After the Court’s decision, the NCAA instituted NIL, which was intended to be a temporary policy to permit student-athlete compensation by third parties. However, an overwhelming majority of states ensured this policy change would be permanent by enacting their own similar laws that permitted student-athletes to receive fair market value compensation for the use of their name, image, and likeness. In the context of intercollegiate athletics, NIL is inconsistent with the NCAA’s principle of amateurism because it allows student-athletes to receive compensation outside of their financial aid and scholarship agreements from third parties.

          From the NCAA’s perspective, one of the many unresolved issues posed by NIL is finding a common ground between permitting student-athletes to trade in the free market without allowing NIL to become a license for corruption, where universities abuse its legislative intent by making it a legal pay-to-play scheme. As a result of its abuse of its power over decades, many believe the NCAA does not possess the political capital to take the appropriate regulatory stance to provide structure and guidelines to NIL. And based on the most recent comments of Charlie Baker, the organization’s newly appointed president, the NCAA is now playing catch-up in an ever-evolving world of intercollegiate athletics: “I think it was a big mistake by the NCAA not to do a framework around NIL when they had the opportunity to. And I think there were too many people in college sports who thought no rules would work really well for them.”

          Unfortunately, the hurdles related to NIL aren’t exclusive to the governing body level of intercollegiate athletics. At the member-institution level, the distinction between the 68 schools that make up the 5 largest conferences (the Power 5) in the NCAA—the Southeastern Conference (SEC); Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC); Big Ten; Big 12; and the Pac 12— and the other member-institutions has become much more pronounced in the NIL era. The Power 5 schools have always held an advantage over their smaller counterparts in regard to athletic budgets and their vast alumni networks. Historically, because of these advantages, Power 5 schools competed against one another in the recruitment of the highest rated high school talent, while institutions outside of the Power 5 were relegated to recruiting against member-institutions who had comparable athletic budgets. The advantage of the pre-NIL world for schools outside of the Power 5 was that the recruiting markets were so defined that they bordered on being unwritten rules. For example, coaches from basketball bluebloods like Duke, North Carolina, or Kansas would fuel-up their private jets and travel coast-to-coast, scouring the nation  for the next five-star high school prospect, while coaches from smaller schools concentrated on players in closer proximity, with a few less stars next to their names, in hopes of managing their more conservative recruiting budgets and ensuring their  efforts (and dollars) weren’t wasted on kids that were “out of their league.”

          That recruiting model has changed in the era of NIL. And many schools outside of the Power 5 are not equally benefitting from the landmark legislation in comparison to larger, more resourceful institutions for the following reasons: First, Power 5 schools are not only able to recruit the top high school players. Schools outside the Power 5 are now witnessing them recruit their players. Not the high school players they are targeting in recruiting, but the ones who are on scholarship at their institution and members of their rosters. Similar to professional baseball, we’re witnessing the development of a farm system in intercollegiate athletics, where the best players from schools outside of the Power 5 are now being targeted by Power 5 schools. The problem that NIL has created for schools outside of the Power 5 is that many of their student-athletes are now auditioning for scholarships at Power 5 schools, which puts these schools at a major disadvantage when it comes to retaining their best student-athletes.

          Second, since NIL has not been regulated by the NCAA or the state legislatures that have enacted legislation on the issue, there is no cap on how much a player can earn through a sponsorship or endorsement deal. Many Power 5 schools can sign a blank check for the “services” of a student-athlete from a school outside the Power 5 with minimal concern that a bidding war between the two member-institutions will ensue.

          Third, many Power 5 institutions have formed “NIL Collectives”, which are groups that raise money and seek sponsorship and endorsement deals on behalf of the Collective, with the intent of being able to offer their student-athletes the most lucrative opportunities. Most schools outside the Power 5 lack the network and brand name to present comparable counteroffers to their student-athletes who are being pursued by Power 5 institutions.

          Although NIL has changed the infrastructure of intercollegiate athletics from the governing body and member-institution levels, the most concerning aspect of NIL’s restructuring of intercollegiate athletics involve the effects it has had on college coaches, who are on the frontlines of a seismic shift in the business of intercollegiate athletics. Most coaches would agree that recruiting has always been an inexact science based on the fact that they have the challenge of convincing young men and women to make life-impacting decisions who aren’t even old enough to purchase alcohol legally. However, they would all agree that NIL has made an already difficult job even more difficult. This is primarily because many high school players and college transfers are making their college decisions based on which school can provide them with the best NIL deal. Pre-NIL, student-athletes’ college choices were based on a combination of factors such as his or her relationship with the coaching staff; their ability to receive the amount playing time they believed their ability warranted; the reputation of the coach; the school’s brand; and that institution’s ability to provide them with the platform to showcase their skills for the professional level. Even in the NIL era, the aforementioned factors are still somewhat important, but none of them take precedence over the school’s ability to provide an NIL sponsorship or endorsement deal that suits the desires of the student-athlete. In other words, a nationally ranked program with a reputable coach that has failed to develop an adequate NIL Collective will have far less success on the recruiting trail than a program with an NIL Collective that has secured a significant amount of resources and corporate partnerships but lacks the sport-specific attributes of its competitors. This presents a major challenge in evaluating coaches because their ability (or inability) to build a quality roster is dependent on factors beyond their control. NIL Collectives are independent of a university’s athletics departments. And even though a coach has the freedom to express his or her general wishes regarding the Collective; their formation, structure, and management are entirely separate from the athletics department. NIL Collectives work in conjunction with athletics department for the overall benefit of the athletics department, but they are not a part of the athletics department. In the NIL era, Collectives, sponsorships, and endorsement deals are the drivers in recruiting, and college coaches are the passengers; and player loyalty has now been exchanged for immediacy, while three to four-year commitments have been substituted with the uncertainty of year-to-year agreements.

          In today’s landscape of intercollegiate athletics, after a coach has assembled their roster, the real work begins. Pre-NIL, the only compensation a student-athlete received was the stipend provided for his or her living expenses. All student-athletes on scholarship received an equal amount, regardless of their significance to the overall success of the program. The same cannot be said for sponsorship and endorsement deals under NIL. NIL allows for major discrepancies in compensation to exist between student-athletes. The best and brightest stars receive the most lucrative deals. And many coaches believe this type of structure breeds jealousy amongst teammates, which makes it difficult to form the requisite chemistry needed to perform at the highest level as a team.

          College coaches acknowledge that the challenges posed by NIL make their jobs more demanding than ever before because they are required to manage so many issues that are unrelated to their particular sport. Many believe these costs outweigh the benefits. The vast majority of these coaches once believed that intercollegiate athletics was the most logical career path to combine their deep passion for their particular sport with their desire to develop student-athletes as young men and women, on and off the court. Many coaches now believe that in order to retain their positions and for their programs to remain (or become) relevant, they must concede to the manner in which intercollegiate athletics has been restructured and conform to the new model.

The Transfer Portal

          There are two documents that create a legally binding relationship between the student-athlete and the university. First, there is the letter-of-intent, which can be defined as an athlete’s binding promise to attend a particular school and play a particular sport. It is worth noting that an athlete’s agreement via the letter-of-intent is with the university, not a particular coach or individual. The second legally binding document is the statement of financial assistance. This outlines the financial agreement between the university and the student-athlete. It simply states that the university will provide the athlete with the financial assistance to pursue a college degree. In exchange, the student-athlete must provide the university with their athletic services and remain eligible to participate athletically. Additionally, the student-athlete must comply with the rules and regulations of the university, the conference of which the university is a member- institution, and the NCAA. Failure to meet the academic requirements or comply with university, conference, or NCAA rules automatically terminates the financial agreement.

          From the 1960s until 2021, if a student-athlete expressed a desire to transfer from one NCAA member-institution to another, the only legal means to remedy a breach of that binding agreement would be to prohibit the student-athlete from competing in their first season at their new school. This rule applied to all lateral transfers, which is a transfer from one Division I school to another. The only exception where a student-athlete was immediately eligible was when he or she transferred to a lower-level NCAA member-institution (i.e., Division II, III, or to an NJCAA junior-college). In 2021, the NCAA’s Board of Directors revisited its nearly 60-year-old rule on student-athletes’ ability to transfer without penalty. In a nearly unanimous vote, new legislation was enacted. The new transfer policy allows for a one-time transfer from one member-institution to another without penalty, which grants a student-athlete immediate eligibility at the time he or she transfers. Since the new transfer rules were passed, over 9,000 student-athletes have exercised their right to do so.

          Proponents of the new rule insist that the previous rule was archaic, while the new legislation has modernized intercollegiate athletics. They believe the modern era is the era of player empowerment, and the rules should reflect that. Opponents argue that there are no winners when it comes to this legislation. They contend that coaches are disadvantaged by the constant turnover to their rosters. And since every program attempts to establish its own culture, the new rules make it far more challenging for that culture to take root when there is no guarantee that he or she will coach the same player or group of players every year. They also point to the fact that team sports require trust. And since trust can only be developed over time, rosters that are constructed and deconstructed all within a calendar year affect team chemistry, and ultimately result in a lesser product being exhibited on the court and field of play.

            They further contend that the new transfer rule not only impacts the student-athletes and coaches, but it also compromises the interests of the fans. College sports fans—particularly those of proud, tradition-rich programs—are the most loyal and engaged fans in all of sports. The fanbases of these programs value the connections they establish with the student-athletes who represent their institutions. They not only witness their athletic development over a three to four-year period, but they are also privileged to watch many of them mature into young men and women, fully prepared to become productive members of society. To college sports fans, these are the elements of fanhood that define them. And the fly-by-night nature of the new transfer rule could pose a serious threat to that. Over time, this could result in fan disengagement, which would ultimately affect the fabric of intercollegiate athletics.

          Ironically, those who oppose the new transfer rule believe the new legislation is the most detrimental to the group it is intended to benefit: the student-athletes. They argue that the new transfer policy directly contradicts the NCAA’s educational mission to serve as a governing body that “provides opportunities to learn, compete, and grow on and off the field.” They insist that the new rule amounts to the miseducation of the student-athlete because it endorses the following: the devaluing of commitment (by not honoring the letter-of-intent signed by the student-athlete); the inability to develop problem-solving skills (by providing a means to make a long-term decision based on a short-term result); and the eschewing of the development of conflict resolution skills (by providing an easy exit strategy as opposed to resolving the issues they may face at their current school), all of which are fundamental to success in any undertaking they may choose as adults.

Conference Realignment

          It’s well established that professional sports organizations are primarily for-profit businesses that provide entertainment for sports fans. Far too often, intercollegiate athletics’ economic interests and its partnerships with corporate America seem to go unnoticed. This is partly because the NCAA is a non-profit organization which benefits from its tax-exempt status in the same manner as other educational institutions. However, when it comes to the NCAA, even though there are no retained earnings because all of the money that flows into the organization must also be accounted for as an expense on its outflow, non-profit is not synonymous with a lack of resources.

          In order to fully comprehend the economic incentive associated with conference realignment, one must have a basic knowledge of the financial structure of intercollegiate athletics, and specifically, how the NCAA and its member-institutions each earn their revenue. The NCAA earns 98 percent of its revenue from television and media rights deals and the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments. In 2022, that amount was over $1.1B—over $940M for their television and media rights deals, and $198M for the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. Roughly 50 percent of those revenues (approximately $500M in 2022) are redistributed to the member-institutions primarily based on performance in the NCAA tournament and other scholarship and supplemental funds. The other half of their revenue is used to fund their operation. The major portion of these expenses come in the form of sponsoring the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments and championships in other intercollegiate athletics sports.

          Like the NCAA, member-institutions also earn revenue based on television and media rights deals, but it’s separate from the NCAA’s media rights deal, and it’s primarily based on their conference affiliation. The larger conferences that feature schools with large, reputable brand names earn a significant amount of revenue in this category. Member-institutions also generate their own revenue based on ticket sales and marketing and licensing deals.

          But the most significant portion of each member-institution’s earnings are derived from revenue-sharing, where conferences pool their earnings from the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments and payouts from football bowl games and the College Football Playoff (CFP) and redistribute them to each conference member. This revenue category is significant because it is the single-most important factor for why so many schools are severing—in some cases, decades old conference alliances—in order to form new ones. This economic motivation is primarily based on the fact that football programs generate over 80 percent of an athletics department’s earnings, so member-institutions are forming conference alliances with the most prominent football programs in hopes of having the largest amount of pooled resources to be redistributed to conference members. And once that revenue is redistributed, it funds scholarships, economic reinvestment, and research and development across all departments.

          The following figures illustrate the football revenue generated by the SEC during the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Of the 14 member-institutions, a total of 13 participated in bowl games, 2 of which competed in the CFP, with both advancing to the National Championship game, which produced $1.13B in revenue. And the SEC is not a statistical outlier in the amount of football revenue generated. In that same fiscal year, the Big Ten Conference earned $1.127B, followed by the ACC ($723M), the Big 12 ($689M), and the Pac 12 ($679M). In sum and after each conference’s expenses, the Power 5 collectively had over $3.16B dollars that were available for redistribution, with an average redistribution amount of $46M per member institution. Two logical conclusions can be drawn from these numbers: a football program is the lifeblood of a university’s athletics department; and without a successful one, the odds are unfavorable that an institution will be an attractive candidate to join other conferences (with the intent to share revenues) if the athletics department’s most significant revenue producer is not economically viable.

Conclusion

          In less than four years, intercollegiate athletics has endured the most significant infrastructural overhaul since the NCAA was founded in 1906. And for the following reasons, this restructuring has set it on an irreversible course: First, member-institutions are voluntary members of the NCAA. And collectively, they grant the NCAA its governing power to preside over all of the affairs related to intercollegiate athletics. In other words, without the endorsement of its member-institutions, the NCAA lacks the policing and legislative powers to operate the system of intercollegiate athletics. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not an independent organization. Its regulatory powers are limited to the matters its member institutions vote to have legislated. The current landscape of intercollegiate athletics is one that has been permitted by the NCAA’s member-institutions.  The NCAA’s legislative powers are contingent upon whether these institutions are dissatisfied with the overall direction of intercollegiate athletics. And since there is no evidence that suggests that is the consensus opinion amongst university presidents, more of the same can be expected. Second, the economic incentive for intercollegiate athletics to remain on its current course is far too enticing to resist. From the perspective of the student-athletes, NIL provides universities with yet another means to attract the most talented student-athletes, while the new transfer rule grants student-athletes the freedom of movement to pursue those economic opportunities. And the argument that intercollegiate athletics restricts student-athletes’ rights of free trade can no longer be made. At the member-institution level, one cannot make a plausible argument opposing conference realignment because it is economically beneficial to every department of a university, which means it positively impacts the entire student body. Lastly, today’s technologically-advanced society makes information more accessible, so it’s virtually impossible for large entities to make decisions without factoring in the public’s potential reaction to those decisions. The topics discussed in this article are part of the public consciousness. And the vast majority of individuals with opinions on this particular subject matter strongly support the rights that have been granted to student-athletes via the NIL and transfer rule legislation.

           If student-athletes are now permitted to get a piece of intercollegiate athletics’ proverbial economic pie, and universities are forming strategic alliances with other member-institutions in good faith to ensure that they possess an infinite amount of resources to benefit students across all departments, are the forces that oppose this movement powerful enough—politically and economically— to disrupt it and cause it to change course? No, they are not.