Re: What would you do to stop opt outs in bowl game?

All run hand in hand. First, I will address the opt out. If a player opts out for the NFL draft and does not participate in post season games, then you send that player a bill for the cost of their education. This should be included in the scholarship contract details. The player takes the risk of not being drafted and owing a large debt to the school. It would deter players from doing this.

Transfer portal is another issue I would address. A player should only be able to transfer as a starter or 2nd string player if his recruiting coach is fired from the program or if the player has an immediate family member who is terminally ill and the player desires to transfer to a closer school. 3rd string players should be allowed to transfer but waive a year of eligibility after their first transfer should they decide to transfer again.

NIL should only be available to players who decide to return as a starter for their senior year. A prime example would be Xavier Thomas.This establishes an incentive for players to complete their education and earn a degree. The NIL offer can only be presented by a source connected to the player’s current school. In other words, outside schools cannot lure a player away from his current school with NIL money. Doing it this way also prevents NIL money from going to waste in a player like DJU who ends up being a bust.

NIL sponsorship funding should be used to pay a stipend to players who participate in sports at the collegiate level. This marks a requirement for a minimum investment to the school in order to become a NIL sponsor.

If the NCAA incorporates the above it settles things back down, puts the needs and welfare of the players first, and protects coaches and players alike from tampering.

Anaton21®

Team Captain [488]

TigerPulse: 100%

Posts: 200

Joined: 1/16/22

Dec 31, 2023, 10:42 AM

A lot of people keep wanting to lock players into playing with their NIL deals, the schools have no legal say in that. Legally the schools are not involved in NIL deals at all, they are strictly between the player and a 3rd party who wishes to buy that players NIL for some purpose. Advertising their product is the generally accepted premise, but how many ads have you seen some of these players in? The point is however, the schools are not and cannot be directly involved in NIL. There are collectives that work with the schools of course to help distribute NIL opportunities, but unless the collective tells the player that they must participate in all games including bowl games in order to get paid, the opt-outs will continue. But then you have to consider that another NIL collective will just offer the player money to skip and come to their school.

There is no "easy fix" to the NIL/transfer portal. You cannot tie the scholarships to NIL, and scholarships are already on a year to year basis, there are no 4 year scholarships given out. Unless the scholarship offer has terminology in it requiring participation in a certain number of games or else it must be repaid, you cannot use it to force players to play. And what of 2nd and 3rd stringers that don't get into enough games? All you can do is not grant the player a scholarship for next year.

As for players going into the NFL draft, I don't blame them for skipping a bowl game. There's several examples of players getting hurt in bowl games and dropping from 2nd/3rd round to 5th or not drafted.

In the case of FSU yesterday - all of the players that opted out, if they aren't transferring/NFL draft bound I'd pull their scholarship and let them figure out what they want to do and where they want to go, but it's not at my school anymore. That frees up opportunities for new recruits/portal players that want to play for my school.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

What would you do to stop opt outs in bowl game?