Editorial

REPORT: Late NIL Payments, Unkept Promises And Outright Jealousy Are Causing Massive Problems In College Basketball

(Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)

Andrew Powell Sports and Entertainment Blogger
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College sports have officially become professional.

Back in July 2021, NCAA put in “interim” NIL rules, and ever since, it’s been utter insanity across the entire landscape of college athletics and the problems are very similar to those in professional sports.

ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla dropped a few bombshells Dec. 14, alleging that multiple college basketball programs are struggling “because of NIL payments not being made on time, NIL promises not kept or jealousy among teammates.”

I know it’s a very touchy subject with university kids, but I don’t mind college sports transitioning into professional sports. The business side of things has been like that for years anyway, so you might as well just do it all-around by allowing the players to get paid — which I advocated for years ago, and am happy to see it happening.

And yeah, it might cause friction between teammates. Most new systems always come along with some kinks at the beginning. Quite frankly though, these kids are just going to have to get used to it. It’s like Fran Fraschilla said, it’s a “new normal.”

As it becomes normalized and isn’t new anymore, future generations of kids will be used to the process and by then this will no longer be an issue. Sure, you may have the jealous teammate from time to time, but this is a business, and there’s really nothing they can do about it. Adapt, or die. And most will adapt. (RELATED: Texas Head Coach Chris Beard Arrested For Assault)

Plus, just think about all the cool things that we’ll be able to get as fans — college football and basketball video games (and hopefully baseball again, and do hockey and soccer too), jerseys with student-athletes’ names actually on them, college athletes in entertaining commercials, the opportunities are limitless here. Name, image and likeness might be causing problems now, but things will eventually work themselves out. Just hold tight, it might be a bumpy ride for a while, but when we get past that, it’s going to be absolutely fantastic.

In the words of Joel Embiid: “Trust the process.”