Transfer Portal's Direction

[Eagle74]

The more I see the evolution of the transfer portal, the less I like the way it's headed.

In the past (pre-portal days) I assisted with the recruitment process for a couple or years, and most people don't see the time and expense invested by colleges in recruiting and signing quality players which fit best with a program.

I'm proposing to the NCAA that a recruitment reimbursement clause be immediately put in place that if any player (who played a minimum of 4 games during the past season) decides to enter the transfer portal pay the school a reimbursement fee of 10 thousand dollars to jump ship.

This reimbursement fee could either be paid by the program the player is transferring to, or by the player before they can play a single down for any NCAA recognize school of any division.

[TheBigCat2192]

I would suggest looking up “State of Ohio v NCAA”, “Sherman Antitrust Act”, and “restraint of trade”, and then pondering for a while how laughably unrealistic it would be to impose an exit fee on the players. If you’d prefer not to get bogged down in reading a law or court cases from 2024 perhaps try this thought experiment: if a school recruits a student athlete, and then decides not to renew his scholarship after the first year, would they have to pay him $10K? If not, why would it be acceptable to require the opposite?

[Eagle74]

Recentlty, and based on the strength of a contract, Duke University's QB Darian Mensah had to pay the school a considerable amount of money to be able to transfer to Miami. (settled out of court)

If a mandated ruling isn't put in place, I believe, moving forward, every school should consider utilizing a contract for every player.

[TheBigCat2192]

That might be more viable legally, and honestly I expect FBS teams to try putting that sort of language into “rev-share” deals until Congress, the courts, or the NLRB tell them they can’t. Since Duke and Mensah opted to settle we haven’t seen the specific language or the amount involved which is a shame. It’s a little sleazy in my eyes so I wouldn’t be surprised if players’ reps/agents/lawyers push back on it at times, and every case like this probably moves us closer and closer to athlete employment and collective bargaining. If teams are signing deals with explicit buyouts (or the player equivalent), then what’s the difference between them and a team in the NFL or a lesser pro league?

I don’t know that what you’re proposing is a realistic option for D2 or D3 student athletes. Can you imagine the negative PR the first time one of our schools tries to make Joe or Jane Athlete sign a deal that says “you have to pay us $X000 if you decide that you want to go to a school closer to home.”? They’re already paying to play! Why should the university be able to extract more money from them? I think you should also keep in mind that what you’re proposing, a buyout between the player and school, would likely make transferring a path open primarily to wealthy student athletes instead of all student athletes as it is now. Should some of them be stuck at schools where they’re miserable because they can’t scrape together the money?

[Predatory Primates]

Recentlty, and based on the strength of a contract, Duke University's QB Darian Mensah had to pay the school a considerable amount of money to be able to transfer to Miami. (settled out of court)

If a mandated ruling isn't put in place, I believe, moving forward, every school should consider utilizing a contract for every player.

North bfe state university isn't paying players directly like Duke and other big schools. This setup can only work at big money revenue sharing schools.

[Predatory Primates]

Also worth noting that typical of these labor situations, a lot of people are quick to blame the employees for the problem instead of looking at the actual root causes.

[Eagle74]

If you get a signing bonus for going into the military, and decide you've changed your mind, or the base you're assigned to is to far from home, you are required to pay back the bonus money, it's in the contract you've signed, and it doesn't matter what income bracket you are in.

Just another one of those big boy rules, fully based on their own decision.

[TheBigCat2192]

If you get a signing bonus for going into the military, and decide you've changed your mind, or the base you're assigned to is to far from home, you are required to pay back the bonus money, it's in the contract you've signed, and it doesn't matter what income bracket you are in.

Just another one of those big boy rules, fully based on their own decision.

Soldiers, sailors, airmen, coasties, etc. are all employees being paid by the military. As of right now, lower level student athletes are not. Do you think that signing an employment contract with the US military and signing an agreement to receive financial aid from a school are somehow equivalent just because you have to sign on the dotted line for both?

[TheBigCat2192]

I’d also like to point out that a military signing bonus is a surplus that you are being given and if you back out and return it, you and the military are back where you were before financially. What surplus is being given to student athletes that receive no athletic aid, or receive partial aid that doesn’t cover a full scholarship, that they could realistically be asked to return? If tuition for the semester is $10k and the school gives me $2k in financial aid, are they going to distribute it to me as a paper check and expect me to sit on it without cashing it until the end of the semester in case I decide to transfer while I pay the other $8k up front?

[Eagle74]

Funny thing is that I have family members who are and have been in both the military and college football. In all cases they were and are intelligent enough to understand and comprehend what signing a contract means and consequences of not abiding by the rules they entail.

If they weren't intelligent enough to understand a contract. I would believe they weren't ready for college or the military.

Back to the transfer portal: We are seeing more and more coaches switching jobs or simply retiring because of the unregulated unpredictable portal where loyalty no longer matters at all. Also, most players that enter the portal do not get the opportunity to play closer to home, will not see additional playing time, and never see any NIL $$$.

[SW_Mustang]

We wouldn't have had an Indiana/Miami final if it weren't for the transfer portal - it makes the game more exciting and gets talent to where talent needs to be. I'm sure there's some regulation to be made to calm the waters, but the cat is out of the bag.

Now if only we could adopt it at the high school level (I'll leave on that note, that's one of my least popular takes).

[Eagle74]

We wouldn't have had an Indiana/Miami final if it weren't for the transfer portal - it makes the game more exciting and gets talent to where talent needs to be. I'm sure there's some regulation to be made to calm the waters, but the cat is out of the bag.

Now if only we could adopt it at the high school level (I'll leave on that note, that's one of my least popular takes).

You're 100% correct. Both schools were NIL heavely financially supported by billionaires including John Ruiz - Miami, and Mark Cuban - Indiana. So indirectly, a lot of talented players were bought and paid for to be included into the stables of the billionaire's preferred teams.

This is a trend which unchallenged will continue to grow as billionaires are competitive just like everyone else. Maybe in the future the team's names will also include the $$$$ NIL master's names as part of the headline marketing.

[twolfbenchwarmer]

This is a trend which unchallenged will continue to grow as billionaires are competitive just like everyone else. Maybe in the future the team's names will also include the $$$$ NIL master's names as part of the headline marketing.

Like the Michigan State Spartans presented by Rocket Mortgage? That's already happening. This fall D1 teams will be allowed to sell corporate placement on their uniforms. It's been restricted to the manufacturers previously but it looks like teams will be able to sell two 4sqin patches to whomever they like starting next year.

I'm interested to see how the private equity deals like Utah signed are going to work. They're getting a giant chunk of money up front to help them "thrive" but eventually the investors are going to want to see a return on their investment otherwise they'd have just donated If you were running a deficit like Utah was, you're going to need to greatly increase revenue or cut costs to provide that return.

[Eagle74]

Like the Michigan State Spartans presented by Rocket Mortgage? That's already happening. This fall D1 teams will be allowed to sell corporate placement on their uniforms. It's been restricted to the manufacturers previously but it looks like teams will be able to sell two 4sqin patches to whomever they like starting next year.

I'm interested to see how the private equity deals like Utah signed are going to work. They're getting a giant chunk of money up front to help them "thrive" but eventually the investors are going to want to see a return on their investment otherwise they'd have just donated If you were running a deficit like Utah was, you're going to need to greatly increase revenue or cut costs to provide that return.

I guess future D1 football uniforms will resemble NASCAR drivers attire loaded with their sponsorships.

[NWFanatic]

I guess future D1 football uniforms will resemble NASCAR drivers attire loaded with their sponsorships.

Or the clothes people wore in the documentary film ‘Idiocracy’ 😎