CHARLOTTE — NIL is a popular topic all around college sports, and it’s seeping into media days around the country. Since its introduction July 1, 2021, it’s been a highly contested rule because of the structure or lack thereof.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips briefly discussed the contentious situation, and referenced integrating more disclosure and transparency in NIL deals. He also stated “our athletes are students, not employees,” emphatically. The conversations continued to Wednesday.
During Day 2 of ACC Kickoff, Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi was asked about the state of NIL and the concerns he has about it. During that time, he gave a suggestion of a change that could help the balance of competition.
“There’s got to be a lid on it, right? I think everybody wants to play under the same rules. National Football League, they have a salary cap. I think you want to have some type of salary cap,” Narduzzi said.
One of the underlying reasons that continues to come to light is how the larger schools dominate the NIL scene. Take the Cam Cannarella situation for example, there’s schools that have money to spend and why would they not take advantage of it?
Narduzzi sees this and understands the competition it creates, and the need to have a massive school so there’s more money circulating.
“It can’t be based on how big your university is because we’ll start building more dorms and what are we doing?” Narduzzi said. “We have education that is a priority, and we’re not going to have classes full of thousands of kids. We’re going to have small class sizes and, again, we’re going to have small alumni groups as they matriculate through the University of Pittsburgh. I think there’s got to be a lid on the thing…there has to be a salary cap so people can’t just go overspend.”
There’s an unimaginable amount of factors at play with NIL, and the little brother is taking the brunt of it all. The looming topic of super conferences adds to the elitism building in college football. Narduzzi’s suggestion could help balance the playing field while also removing the secrecy of it all.