My feeble attempt to solve CFB's downward spiral in the open portal and NIL era

May 22, 2024, 10:39 PM

**Background:** Most people agree that the student athlete should have access to profit off of their NIL and holding their playing time hostage as a means to prevent that is not ethical. Most fans also agree that preventing a player from being able to transfer to another school when it might be in their best interest - like any other student - is also probably too much a violation of their rights. However, most fans would probably also agree (correct in comments if I'm wrong) that getting free education, tutoring support for that education, weight room/training room access, and football development from a school and then bailing at a better offer or an upgrade in competition is unjust for the school. My proposal is an attempt at maintaining the first but remedying some of the issues with the second:

**TL;DR**
**The Proposal:** What if when a player is recruited he can be offered 1 year or 4 year "scholarship" offers to the school. Included in this scholarship are the actual cost of attendance, housing, food, tutoring, and athletic development. These costs are all waived as long as the athlete is a student at the school and maintain eligibility (classwork, team rules, etc.). If, however, they decide to transfer while on a 4 year deal, they would owe the university the cost of all aspects of the scholarship.

**Extra Details:** If the player transfers to another school, that school can choose to pay for the owed scholarship and it would count against the new school's 85 man roster dating back to the academic year that the student was first on scholarship. It would then no longer count against the school from which the player transferred giving them an opening should they pursue a transfer themselves.
The student would owe none of the costs back to the university should they leave at the end of the time or leave early to pursue a professional career (and give up amateur status).
The university could not cut the player from their roster and push them into the portal if they still had time left on their "scholarship" as long as they maintained eligibility.
A university could choose to waive the costs should a player decide to leave but not transfer to a school willing to take on the scholarship, but doing so would not reduce the scholarship count from previous years, only going forward.

**My thoughts:** My goal here is to essentially create a "buyout" for the players that protects both the player and the school from the rampant transferring. It would hopefully provide some stability and ensure that players are only transferring when it really makes sense. It should hopefully reduce tampering as a player can only transfer as long as the coaching staff has a spot back to when they first enrolled. This coordination with the coaching staff would require a lot more than a wink and a nudge with a booster.

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that would still be between the player and whomever offers them a deal. I also do not propose that a player not be able to transfer whenever they want to. What I am proposing is that scholarships (the payment they are already receiving for their play) has strings attached should they choose to walk away from their obligation.

If a player wants to walk away from football whether they transfer or not, they would owe nothing back.
If a player wants to transfer to another school before completion of their agreed upon time, they would owe the money back. If they have enough NIL offers to pay it back, great, if they have enough interest from another school that they are willing to take on the burden of paying it back, then that's great also.

No regulation on transfers, no regulation on NIL, only changing how the scholarships are awarded and obligations therein.