A new era has created an opportunity for student-athletes to earn income through NIL, but a former Sooners linebacker warns about the impact it may have on the game.
Name, image, and likeness (NIL) has created a debate among college sports fans who grew up watching their favorite teams and players during the amateur era of college athletics. Much like the Big 12 with the future departures of Oklahoma and Texas for the SEC, what it once was is no more. Many aren’t fond of the idea that third-party sources will pay student-athletes for opportunities to use an athlete’s name, image, or likeness for advertising or promotional purposes.
While the players at the top of the NIL hierarchy stand to make upwards of millions of dollars profiting off of their likeness, former Oklahoma Sooners legend Brian Bosworth is concerned about the impact it could have on players and the future of collegiate athletics.
In an interview with USA TODAY Sports College Writer Paul Myerburg (subscription required), Bosworth shared his candid thoughts on NIL.
He spoke about many of the potential pitfalls of NIL in today’s game.
When you put people around that now are incentivized by the money, it takes the passion of the path of success and the dream that you’ve always had as a football player and an athlete and puts it not in the back seat, it puts it in the trunk or maybe even the trailer that you’re dragging behind you. Because someone else is driving the ship. Someone else is making the decision for you.
Money can certainly become a driving force in a player’s life as he attempts to balance classes, practice, film sessions, studying, workouts, and games. In an already busy life, a NIL deal can become a distraction from what the player was brought to the school to do; play football.
In the USA TODAY Sports piece, Bosworth speaks on his own experience getting caught up in the fame and what that did to his and the University of Oklahoma’s reputation. If NIL were a reality in the 1980s, there’s no doubt that Brian Bosworth would have been one of the most profitable players of the time.
For players today, Spencer Rattler, in particular, it takes a village to help manage the expectations that he has to fulfill on a daily basis.
From the athletic department to the coaching staff, to his agent Lee Steinberg, to his family, Rattler has a ton of people in his corner helping him navigate the NIL life.
In the article, Bosworth also brings up concerns about what it could do to locker rooms where some players are making millions and some are making nothing. Sure, it can be an issue. However, that never seems to be an issue in NFL locker rooms when the quarterback is making more than $40 million a year and the last guy on the roster is making the minimum.
There are certainly challenges to navigate as athletic departments and players wade into the waters of NIL. That’s why you’ve seen many schools create whole programs to help their student-athletes manage the potential minefields and find a way to make some extra cash while in school.
Brian Bosworth has experienced much of what football has to offer both in college and the NFL. He understands the highs and the lows. His opinion certainly carries weight and should provide a warning sign for universities as they venture into the unknown of the Name, Image, and Likeness era.
