With a new landscape in college sports, the time has come to ask a pertinent question: Should college players have contracts? Fizz founder Damon Amendolara discussed this on a recent episode of “Watch D.A. Live” on YouTube. The transfer portal spins feverishly, with some players hopping from school to school every year. While there’s a feeling of “all is fair in love and sports” in the game, it may be a time where schools start asking for more of a guarantee.
Thom Abraham is a sports talk host in Alabama, the epicenter of college football passion and SEC dominance. He says not only did the SEC lead us to a place where college football is now headed, but it’s the time to ask for college players to have contracts.
It’s a fair position to take. If Fran Brown promises a certain amount of NIL money to a recruit, why shouldn’t the recruit also have some responsibility on his side? To this point it’s been a Wild West situation with players and NIL money, but it seems like we’ll be getting some structure around it in the coming years.
Money has exploded in college sports, and specifically football. Conferences have been completely reimagined, to the point it’s becoming nonsensical. California schools are in the Atlantic Coast Conference? Arizona plays Central Florida in a league matchup? UCLA and Rutgers is now a “rivalry” game? But if the administrators are accepting any and all revenue, then the players should as well.
However, with increasing money will come exploding NIL money, and ultimately salaries. And if there are salaries, then contracts are part of that. While it’s not the college football landscape any of us could have imagined just a decade ago, it’s on our doorstep.
So it’s time to begin thinking about it. It certainly makes the college game feel much more like the pros, but if everything else is money-based, then player contracts are the next step.
