How the Portal and NIL Have Messed up March Madness

By now, now that we are down to the Sweet 16, it should be clear that the portal and NIL have not only messed up genuine amateur athletes, they have also messed up the BIG Dance.  This year the Sweet 16 should be called the SEC invitational tournament, because 7 (yes lucky 7) of the teams in the 16 are from one conference, a conference that in the past might have one or two teams in the final 16.   How did this happen?   Short answer—- money.  Almost over night, the big dog conferences have gotten richer (with NIL money) and the poorer conference have gotten what’s leftover.  Really the slippery slope began when the NCAA decided that for BASKETBALL, in tandem with the NBA, exceptional players could either go right to the NBA from high school or be rented one and done players in college, and all this under the pseudo-outrage over amateur athletes not being paid for playing college ball.   Rented players are not amateurs, and frankly, with rare exception one and done players are not college students either.  How many of them go on to get their college degree?  Shush— it’s a state secret.  What’s been lost?  Loyalty to an alma mater for a start.   Also now that the portal and NIL are in high gear especially in the Big 12, the Big 10, the SEC, and the ACC is trying hard to catch up, basketball coaches have had to have their institutions hire a general manager to deal with the money raising for NIL etc. and the legal aspects of people slipping in and out of the portal.  It’s gotten out of hand.  Meanwhile, football and basketball are having to pay the bills for all the other sports at university, which mostly stays amateur athletics.  How many field hockey athletes have you seen in TV commercials lately?  No NIL money for you.

And then of course there is the scourge of sports betting thrown in to stir more corruption into the pot.  Shame on all the networks enticing teens to get involved in sports betting during March Madness with what little spending money they have while trying to pay for an expensive college education.  Meanwhile, basketball and football coaches are making more money not only than university presidents, they make WAY more money that teachers, who are chronically underpaid most everywhere.  Apparently the university has capitulated to the vision that they must be entertainment enterprises first and educational institutions afterwards—- way afterwards.

I could go on, but I am simply disgusted with the whole deal.   Yes I know COVID helped mess this whole thing up, but we are well past that factor.  As much as I love sports, including college sports, we need to realize the great price our kids are paying to live in an environment where entitlement and entertainment not education are the driving forces behind decision making.   Enough said.