In court earlier this week, former University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban reiterated his position on the NIL and how it is negatively impacting college athletics.
“What we have right now is not college football,” the seven-time national champion said last month.
After 50 years of watching football from the sidelines, he says everything has changed.
“What I believed during my 50 years of coaching no longer exists in college athletics,” Saban said in court Tuesday.
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Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban speaks during the 2023 SEC Media Day at the Grand Hyatt Nashville on July 19, 2023 in Nashville. (Johnny Izquierdo/Getty Images)
Saban reiterated to Bret Baier on Thursday night that the NIL is not the reason for his retirement.
“I didn’t want my age to negatively impact the University of Alabama, the football program and its potential for success,” he said.
But he has been adamant about making changes to the NIL.
Saban was part of an SEC delegation that came to Capitol Hill last year to discuss NIL, which he says needs regulation.
Saban says he would like to see a “collective-driven” system replaced by a “revenue-sharing” type of operation.
“Football and basketball will be okay because they generate revenue, but non-revenue sports have always been funded by revenue sports.” Saban told Bayer:. “We want to be able to continue that, so we need to come up with a system that allows us to do that. And the people who donated all this money to the organization can somehow give it back to the athletic department or university. It is beneficial to create opportunities for student-athletes and help them succeed.
“A man like [former Bama quarterback] Bryce Young had some national commercials, but they weren’t from the collective. They were because he created a brand for himself and that was what his name, image and likeness should be.
“And I think that should still exist for all players, but it’s not like it is now, where the person who raises the most money on the team can pay the player the most money. It’s not just a pay-per-play system, it’s not a level playing field.” I think there needs to be guidelines in any arena to give everyone an equal chance to succeed. ”
Alabama head coach Nick Saban reacts after a touchdown during the second half of the Rose Bowl CFP NCAA semifinal game against Michigan on January 1, 2024 in Pasadena, California. (AP Photo/Gong Kyusung, File)
Saban said the NCAA “can address” the NIL and any necessary changes, but Congress “needs” to add “domestic legislation.”
“Right now, once we establish guidelines for the future of college athletics, we just have state laws that protect the NCAA from lawsuits — which vary from state to state — but the lawsuits got us to this point.” he said. . “We have to have some protection from lawsuits, I don’t know if it’s antitrust or something.
“I’m not familiar enough with all of this to really make recommendations. But I do know that there needs to be some kind of federal standard or guideline that allows people to enforce their own rules. .
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“People go to college to add value to their future, and I want the quality of life for student-athletes to be the best possible. And I think they should be at the same table. “And I think they should share something.” “But I think there needs to be equality across the board in income, so they have more money to spend.” Just because schools have more money to spend doesn’t mean they can’t create an advantage for themselves. But I’m all for student-athletes. I want student-athletes to have the best life possible. I want them to have the same quality. ”
Saban also touched on the recent push for pay-for-play by Dartmouth men’s basketball players after they voted to unionize to become school employees.
Saban said, “I’m not anti-union by any stretch of the imagination,” but he did note the downsides of unionizing.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban answers questions from the media during the Heisman Trophy press conference at the Marriott Marquis on December 11, 2021 in New York City. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“I think you have college athletes as employees, but there are some disadvantages to that. They could be taxed on more of the profits they’re making now. ” he said. “Including all the support that our student-athletes get, like academic support, meals, everything that goes toward their scholarships, we pay about $93,000 per student-athlete. It doesn’t matter if you have to pay taxes on some of them.” That would be very beneficial to them, but I don’t think that’s what we want.
“But you can’t share in revenue from college athletics unless you make college athletes employees. That’s why I’m all for taking this path. If you do it in class, the university has the legal right to patent it, but you don’t have to be an employee to collect that cost.
“What’s the difference for student-athletes who play sports? I just want to replace the collective NIL model with a revenue-sharing NIL model, because sports generate income. You still have the opportunity to get image, likeness rights. It’s good for student-athletes.”
Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban during the second quarter of a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bryant-Denny Stadium on October 14, 2023 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
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Saban declined to say explicitly that he would be interested in serving as college sports commissioner if a vacancy becomes available, but said, “In the future, I am interested in supporting the success of college athletes and college athletics.” ” and “continue to create opportunities for multiple sports.” It’s a non-revenue sport. ”
“I think it’s important to continue to create opportunities like that. I’m working very hard on it, but I don’t know how to best do it,” he said. “But I certainly promise to try.”
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