The NIL deal system with college athletes is a $1 billion industry, but the system has issues that needs fixing.
Charles Barkley sarcastically calls out the NIL system and the NCAA in front of Adam Silver (image via NBA on TNT/YouTube)
Several sports leagues in the United States of America are dealing with different forms of crises. The college sporting landscape has changed, and its ripple effects are being felt in the professional leagues.
Charles Barkley wanted to point it out on the best platform available to him when the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was present.
Adam Silver was with the crew of Inside the NBA on TNT on Sunday. The backdrop of the 73rd NBA All-Star game was the setting as the Inside the NBA crew discussed with Silver how far the league has progressed.
During this talk, Barkley decided to chime in about how he feels about college sports and the NIL deals. He said;
Barkley alluded that there is something fundamentally wrong with how the NIL system works. He mentioned that college coaches are leaving their jobs because of the NIL system.
Barkley went on to add that the NBA should sit down with the NCAA and discuss how they can solve the problem of NIL deals dictating how a team performs in a given season.
Adam Silver agreed that the way the current system is, some teams have advantages, and some are at a disadvantage.
"We screwed up college sports with the NIL thing… Can you get together with the NCAA? Because, No. 1, the NCAA, they're boneheads…" – Charles Barkley to Adam Silver pic.twitter.com/hTs0Y0wwFq
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 19, 2024
Barkley called the NCAA leaders ‘boneheads’ as he thinks they are reactive. They did not think beforehand about what repercussions the current system would bring.
Silver acknowledged that notion and mentioned that the current NCAA President, Charlie Baker, wants to completely rework the current NIL system.
College basketball players make massive money from the NIL deals
The Name Image Likeness deals openly handed out to rising college athletes are common talk in the college athletics arena. College basketball has its big-name players who are paid big money.
NCAA women’s all-time scoring leader Caitlin Clark has been a big name in the NIL game. Her arch-rival Angel Reese is currently one of the highest-earning female college basketball players through her NIL deals.
Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Bronny James are some of the top-earning college basketball athletes, all through NIL deals (image via IowaWBB/LSU/USC/X)
College women’s basketball players are paid more on average than their male counterparts. But that did not stop Bronny James from becoming the highest-earning college athlete in NIL history. His landmark deal with Nike has made him the highest-earning college student.
With the sort of deals taking place for college students, Charles Barkley thinks that Adam Silver along with the NCAA should fix the NIL system. Only then can they ensure that proper development of players happens at the collegiate level.
