The college sports I knew and love are changing and while the athleticism may be great, cheering for old State U is a lot harder these days.

                  YES, I KNOW a national coup is underway, but I am not writing about politics these days and besides, as a former sports writer, there is something much more important on my mind this morning.

            College sports, particularly football and basketball. I am thinking about its death as we have known it.

            I am from southern Ohio and hence, should be feeling very happy that THE Ohio State Buckeyes won the national title. But I really am not feeling all warm and proud. Sure, athletically the Bucks won it, but in fact they bought it. They paid an estimated $20 million for it.

            If you haven’t been following this issue, here is some history.

            For ages colleges and universities have made millions off slave labor. In exchange for “scholarships,” which, in fact, set them back very little and in the end have been funded largely by fat cat alums who like to cozy up to college athletes and share glory they never had, they promoted teams and coaches to draw in more and more money.

            For ages this was not considered a problem. But then came the modern age of the internet and massive product marketing. Schools began using the images of players on all sorts of paraphernalia and cashing in even more. A few folks began to yell “stop!” and lo and behold, things changed.

            A while back the “NIL” came into being. This stands for “Name, Image, Likeness.” It said universities had to compensate players for using their names, images and likeness. And, they had to pay the going rate – same pay the Manning brothers get for all their commercials.

            At the same time the rules about transfers went out the window. In the old days there was a penalty paid for transferring. An athlete usually had to sit out for year. Now they don’t. They are eternal free agents.

            I suspect professional athletes might be a bit jealous. In the pros there remain contracts, rules about trades, etc. College sports now is the wild west. While the “rules” about the “transfer portal” run three pages, in fact they are pretty meaningless.

            Now an athlete can play for four different schools in four years, even five if you count extra eligibility and graduate school. And, schools have opened bidding wars. A pendulum has swung too far….

            PAUSE. THE MAJORITY of college athletes don’t benefit from this. It is primarily football and basketball players and then only the more talented. Players sitting the bench or playing practice dummy roles don’t really benefit all that much. They still live in the old scholarship world, as do most athletes in the “minor” sports.

Q         But, for those who do cash in, how much cash are we talking about?

            Football quarterbacks are at the top, averaging $820,000 in compensation. Offensive linemen can get $500,000. Not surprising, the five biggest conferences come with the sweetest payout.

            Who is the highest paid? No surprise, really, but it’s Shedeur Sanders, son of “PrimeTime,” who has an NIL valuation of $4.7 million. He’s going to the NFL next year. He is followed by a QB who has not paid that much. It’s Arch Manning of Texas, nephew of Peyton and Eli, at $3.1 million.

            If you flip over the college basketball, the numbers can be even higher and spread across a wide range of schools since basketball teams are smaller. But, once you get out of those sports, the numbers drop dramatically. I have a grandchild who is a swimmer. The average NIL deal for a swimmer is around $1,000, hardly worth looking at these days. Baseball players get around $45,000 on average, which means the majority don’t get much at all.

            If there is any silver lining, it is for women, at least basketball players. As a group they come in second on earnings behind football, and ahead of men’s basketball.

            So, why am I making a big deal out of this? Because it sucks. I have long advocated for college athletes getting compensation beyond scholarships. I can remember a time when a college would bring in an athlete on scholarship who came from a poor family. Yeh, the athlete got a scholarship but didn’t have enough money to go to a movie. Something had to change.

            But this change is ridiculous. As a fan, it hasn’t changed the quality of play. You can still enjoy a game for the pure athleticism. But the total lack of controls has concentrated sports into the largest conferences who chase after ever-growing TV contacts and donations. I haven’t even mentioned the almost total take-over of college and professional sports by gambling money.

            Not to mention – several coaches have left college sports because dealing with NIL isn’t worth it. Said former Alabama Coach Nick Saban….

 “Guys are looking to where can I develop value right now and more about what can I get instantly in terms of getting in the portal or going to another school. No one talks about the college experience anymore. Nobody talks about graduation, all these things are probably important to the future.”

I guess I am an old fogey who likes to think that all those athletes out there representing my school were just like me – students who were just bigger, faster, better coordinated. My school against your school.

            Nah. Not any more. Things have changed and this is a sign of that. Sort of like a coup….

                  Rich Heiland is a retired journalist and semi-retired consultant, trainer and public speaker. During his journalism career he was a reporter, editor, publisher, college instructor, part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team and a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year honoree. He also writes the intodementia.com blog about his family’s experience with dementia. He lives in West Chester, PA and can be reached at [email protected].