Nick Saban: Current NIL System Hurts Competitive Balance
I’m not sure NIL is to blame for college football’s parity issue but the Sith Lord of college football had some thoughts on it anyway. The incumbent Alabama head football coach claims the current NIL system is really hurting competitive balance in the sport.
“When it turns into pay-for-play, now you’re getting into a different area. When you start talking about players being employees, you’re talking about unions. You’re talking about now you’re getting paid for something, now you’ve got to pay taxes,” said Saban, who has won six national titles in 16 seasons at Alabama.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be a level playing field because some people are showing a willingness to spend more than others,” he said. “Where if you want to bring the NFL into it, they have a salary cap. They have all the things that level the playing field. And we could put guidelines on some of this stuff that would do the same thing.”
I think it’s important to note that NIL only became a thing in 2021. This whole thing is in the infancy stages of college football. There are going to be so many rules and regulations added to this thing even five years from now. Deion Sanders basically overturned his roster within a few months and some coaches certainly have a problem with it.
I still think the funniest part of these comments are what happened with Kadyn Proctor. You know, the guy who took less money to go to Alabama. I’m not sure NIL is the leading factor to competitive balance but it sure helps if your program is doing the right things on that front.
