NIL deals have completely taken over the world of college sports, and if there’s one former college athlete who certainly would have benefitted from the existence of NIL during his time in college, it would have been Bo Jackson. Jackson was a dual-sport athlete in the pros, and his star shined even brighter during his collegiate career.
Jackson attended college at Auburn, and he starred on their football, track, and baseball teams. Right off the bat, Jackson noted that he would have had separate NIL deals for all three sports, which would have earned him quite a bit of money. Despite that, he doesn’t necessarily think NIL is good for college athletes, because they don’t know how to handle themselves with all the money they are making.
“Well I would’ve had an NIL deal with football, I’d have an NIL deal with baseball, and I’d have an NIL deal with track. Because I lettered in all three sports, All-American in all three Sports. And who knows where I would be, but I tell you what, I would be happy…Who would even think about playing pro ball? I would probably have to take a pay cut to go to the pros.”
“I can’t knock these kids, if they’re getting it, they’re getting it, but I think they’re getting it the wrong way, there should be rules and stipulations with this because kids don’t know how to manage that type of money.” – Bo Jackson, The Bret Boone Podcast
Bo Jackson doesn’t appear to be a fan of NIL
There are definitely pros and cons to NIL, but Jackson is implying that the cons are outweighing the pros. While it’s great to see college athletes getting paid, the amount of money they are making isn’t good for them. When you give an 18-year old millions of dollars, chances are they are going to mess up at some point along the way.
The same thing could have been true for Jackson, but he obviously would have been happy to have so much money at such a young age. And considering how Jackson’s career as an athlete was cut short due to injuries, he would have benefited greatly from bringing in some extra cash during his time in college.
Of course, Jackson’s opinion isn’t going to slow NIL’s meteoric rise, and it seems like it will only continue to grow over the years. There are certainly some aspects of these deals that need to get fine-tuned, but this is just the start of college athletes getting paid to play their respective sports.
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