The Nebraska football team is currently in a down period as it has been nearly 10 seasons since they made a bowl game. The Cornhuskers are one of the most storied programs in college football, but they haven't looked the part in awhile. Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen seems to think that NIL could have something to do with their struggles. He recently talked about NIL budgets for big schools like Ohio State and Oregon, and he doesn't think the playing field is even right now.
“We've got great advantages here,” Troy Dannen said, according to an article from Football Scoop. “We don't have debt; we have great reserves, we have a fan base, facilities, we have great advantages to addressing what lies ahead. Let's talk about what happens in the next two years. NIL's not coming in-house, it's going to be replaced by something else. At Washington, our football program last year had an NIL budget of about $10 million and went to the national championship game. Oregon's is 23; Ohio State's is 23. Ours here is not even 10. We have the facilities, we have the coaches, we have the fans. In the next couple years, we'll be fighting an even fight. Right now we're not fighting an even fight.”
Troy Dannen also said that he thinks major changes to NIL are coming. He thinks that collectives are going to go away, and athletic departments will be able to share money with their athletes. He believes that the Cornhuskers will be in good shape for that.
“Let me tell you something about NIL: It is not going to last forever,” Dannen said. “Here's what I think is going to happen, and I'm pretty sure I'm right. There will be an antitrust settlement this year in the courts. Part of the antitrust settlement, 1890 (Nebraska football collective) is going to get banned. The collectives are going to go away. What's going to be replaced is athletic departments, revenue sharing with our athletes. In the budget of our athletic department right now, we have a $20 million placeholder in two years to share money with our athletes. It's in the budget right now. There's three schools in the country, I think, that have that in their budget right now: Georgia, Texas and us.”
Are big changes coming to the NIL world?
It wouldn't be surprising to changes in NIL, and Nebraska AD Troy Dannen thinks that it will happen. NIL is extremely new in college sports, and like anything that's brand new, there are some flaws that need to be worked out. Like all things in college sports, it will continue to change over time.
Dannen thinks that these collectives could be stopped, but that could be a slippery slope.
“Any effort to try to eliminate what’s been created by collectives has a significant risk of violating antitrust laws and the protections of the Sherman Act,” An executive in the collective industry said, according to Yahoo Sports. “You can be certain that we are following things closely and have a team ready to enforce the rights in court if necessary.”
NIL has brought good things to college football, but there are definitely some flaws. That was to be expected. No one thought everything would be perfect right out of the gates. Perhaps future changes can help teams like Nebraska football that feel like playing field isn't even.
Follow Us
Subscribe
