NIL in College Sports: Boon or Bane for Athletes and the Transfer Portal
- Khangelani Zila Mbekela
- 5 days ago
- 9 min read
College sports used to ask athletes to create value while pretending the money around them was someone else’s business. Packed football stadiums, billion-dollar TV deals, sold-out arenas, apparel contracts, video games, donor collectives, and coaching salaries all pointed to the same truth: major college sports were already a marketplace.
NIL did not create that marketplace. It exposed it.
Since July 2021, college athletes have been allowed to earn money from their name, image, and likeness. Around the same period, the transfer portal became a defining part of roster building, giving athletes more freedom to move and coaches less control over their futures. Together, NIL and the portal have reshaped American college sports faster than almost any rule change in NCAA history.
The result is both exciting and messy. Athletes have more power than ever. Coaches have less roster stability than ever. Fans are watching stars appear, disappear, and reappear in rival jerseys. The question is not whether the old system was pure. It was not. The better question is whether the new system can become fair without turning college sports into a year-round bidding war.
NIL corrected an unfair bargain
For decades, the NCAA model rested on a strained idea: scholarships were enough compensation for athletes who helped generate huge revenue. That argument always sounded cleaner in theory than it looked in practice.
A star quarterback could sell out a stadium, lift TV ratings, and boost merchandise demand, but could not profit from a local car commercial. A basketball player could become the face of March Madness, while the school, conference, broadcasters, and apparel partners all benefited from the attention. Even Olympic athletes had more control over their personal endorsements than college stars in football and basketball.
NIL changed that. It gave athletes the basic right to earn money from their identity.
That matters for more than the future pros. Most college athletes will never play professionally. For them, NIL money can help support family, cover travel, pay rent, build savings, or start a small business. A swimmer with a strong local following, a softball player with a training camp, or a lineman with a restaurant partnership can now take part in the same economy that surrounds their sport.
The best version of NIL rewards:
Market value
Athletes can earn what businesses, fans, and collectives are willing to pay.
Personal effort
A player who builds a real audience or community presence can benefit from that work.
Local connection
Smaller deals can tie athletes to college towns in ways fans understand.
Family support
Some athletes come from homes where immediate income matters far more than abstract future opportunities.
At its core, NIL is not the scandal. The scandal was asking athletes to be grateful for exposure while everyone else cashed checks around them.
The problem is that NIL arrived without a real system
The right to earn money is simple. The system built around it is not.
NIL began in a patchwork way, shaped by state laws, school policies, NCAA guidance, donor collectives, and market pressure. The rules have shifted, but the central tension remains: college sports wanted athlete compensation without calling it pay-for-play.
That distinction has become harder to defend.
In theory, an NIL deal pays an athlete for a real service, such as an appearance, autograph signing, social media post, commercial, camp, or sponsorship. In practice, some deals look more like recruiting tools. A player enters the portal, schools show interest, collectives get involved, and suddenly the line between endorsement and inducement gets blurry.
That does not mean every NIL deal is shady. Many are legitimate. Many are modest. Many athletes earn small amounts, not headline-grabbing checks. Still, the biggest names in football and basketball have pushed NIL into a new phase, where roster construction can feel less like college recruiting and more like free agency.
For fans, that can be hard to digest.
College sports have always sold identity: the school, the fight song, the colors, the student section, the rivalry, the idea that players chose a place and grew with it. NIL does not destroy that by itself. But when money, playing time, and transfer options all collide, commitment can feel temporary.
That is the cultural cost.
The transfer portal gave athletes long-overdue freedom
The transfer portal launched in 2018 as a database that allowed athletes to declare their intent to transfer and be contacted by other schools. Before that, coaches controlled much of the process. Athletes often needed permission to speak with other programs, and transferring could mean sitting out a season.
The portal did not instantly create chaos. The bigger shift came when rules changed to allow many athletes a one-time transfer without sitting out. That gave players something they had rarely enjoyed: mobility.
That freedom matters.
A coach can leave for another job overnight. An assistant who recruited a player can get fired. A scheme can change. A quarterback room can become crowded. A player can misjudge a fit at age 17, then mature and realize another school makes more sense. Injuries, family needs, academics, and mental health can all make a transfer the right decision.
For years, coaches had the power to move and rebuild careers. Players often had to wait. The portal narrowed that gap.
It also helped athletes who were buried on depth charts. A former four-star recruit who never cracked the rotation at a powerhouse can find real playing time elsewhere. A mid-major standout can move up and prove they belong on a bigger stage. A player from a smaller school can earn exposure that was once nearly impossible to access.
The portal has produced great stories. It has revived careers. It has made the sport less rigid and more honest about how opportunity works.
Repeated transfers can hurt young athletes
Freedom has a downside when every setback starts to look like a reason to leave.
The transfer portal can offer a fresh start, but it can also create a cycle of constant movement. A player transfers for playing time, faces another crowded depth chart, then moves again. A basketball guard leaves after one bench season, then enters another program where the system still does not fit. A football player chases a bigger NIL opportunity, then finds fewer snaps and less trust from coaches.
Young athletes are making high-pressure decisions with incomplete information. Many are still teenagers. They are balancing money, family advice, coaches, collectives, social media attention, school credits, and the dream of going pro.
That is a lot to carry.
Repeated transfers can create real costs:
Academic disruption
Athletic instability
Relationship strain
Emotional pressure
Draft uncertainty
Credits may not transfer cleanly, and degree progress can slow down.
New playbooks, new strength programs, and new coaches take time to learn.
Trust with teammates and staff can be harder to build after multiple moves.
Every transfer can feel like a public referendum on a player’s worth.
Pro evaluators may ask why a player kept moving, even when the reasons are fair.
The portal gives athletes a door. That is good. But a door is not the same as a plan.
The strongest programs now need more than recruiters. They need honest player development, academic advising, NIL education, mental health support, and adults willing to tell a player when staying may be smarter than leaving.
Coaches are adapting to a sport with no offseason
The old recruiting calendar already wore coaches down. The new one can feel endless.
Staffs must recruit high school players, retain their own roster, scout the portal, manage NIL expectations, and prepare for opponents at the same time. A backup today can be a portal entry tomorrow. A donor collective can change a roster conversation. A player who once would have waited for a chance may now look elsewhere after one season.
For coaches, roster management has become more like professional sports. They track contract-like expectations without actual contracts in many cases. They build depth charts knowing depth may transfer. They must recruit their own players after every season.
This has changed team culture.
The programs that thrive are not always the ones with the biggest NIL war chest. Money helps, especially in football and men’s basketball, but clarity may matter just as much. Athletes want to know:
What role can I realistically earn?
Who is developing me?
What NIL support exists?
What happens if I do not start right away?
How does this school help me beyond sports?
Coaches who overpromise may win a signing. Coaches who tell the truth may keep a roster together.
The fan experience has changed too. Some fans love the drama. Portal season feels like recruiting season with current college players. Others feel worn out by it. A favorite wide receiver can leave after one good season. A beloved point guard can transfer after becoming a local star. Rivalries still matter, but rosters now turn over so quickly that fans sometimes need a program guide by November.
NIL has widened the gap between rich and poor programs
College sports have never been equal. Big brands always had better facilities, bigger staffs, stronger exposure, and deeper donor networks. NIL did not invent inequality, but it gave it a new scoreboard.
A school with a large fan base and wealthy boosters can build a strong NIL collective. A smaller program may offer playing time and development but struggle to match outside opportunities. That can make it harder for mid-major basketball programs and smaller football schools to keep breakout stars.
Still, the story is not one-sided.
A smaller school can use the portal to find overlooked talent. A player who needs minutes may choose a mid-major over sitting at a national power. Some athletes prefer a clear role, a coach they trust, and a campus that fits over the biggest possible NIL number.
The concern is concentration. If the richest programs can both buy depth and poach proven players, competitive balance suffers. Cinderella stories become harder when the best players from smaller programs leave before fans can watch them grow. College basketball, in particular, has long relied on older teams with chemistry. The portal can help build those teams, but it can also strip them apart.
That tension cuts to the heart of the NIL debate.
NIL is fair because athletes deserve market rights. It becomes dangerous when the market has no guardrails.
The best answer is reform, not retreat
Rolling back NIL would be wrong, and likely impossible. Athletes are not going back to a system where everyone else profits while they accept restrictions. Nor should they.
The better path is a clearer framework that protects athletes and preserves competition.
A healthier model would include several principles.
Real contracts with real services
NIL deals should be documented, transparent to governing bodies, and tied to clear obligations. That does not mean every dollar must be public to fans, but there should be enough oversight to separate real endorsement activity from disguised recruiting payments.
Better education for athletes
Every athlete who receives NIL money should understand taxes, contracts, agents, budgeting, and long-term planning. Schools should treat NIL education as part of athlete development, not as an optional seminar.
A player who earns money at 19 needs guidance before signing paperwork, hiring representation, or making a transfer decision based only on short-term cash.
Transfer rules that balance freedom and stability
Athletes should be able to leave bad fits. They should not be trapped by coach changes or broken promises. At the same time, unlimited movement can harm both players and teams.
Transfer windows help create order. Academic protections matter too. If a player transfers, the system should make sure degree progress stays part of the conversation.
Collective accountability
Donor collectives now play a major role in college sports. They cannot operate like shadow front offices without responsibility. Schools, conferences, and national leaders need clearer standards for how collectives interact with recruits, transfers, and current players.
A national standard
A state-by-state approach creates confusion. Programs need one set of rules. Athletes need predictable rights. Fans need to know the competition is not being shaped by loopholes more than coaching and development.
So is NIL a boon or a bane?
NIL is a boon in principle. It gives athletes rights they should have had long ago. It lets them share in the value they help create. It gives families support, rewards personality and performance, and brings the business of college sports into the open.
The current version is also hurting parts of the sport. Not because athletes are being paid, but because the rules are unclear, enforcement is uneven, and the transfer portal has turned roster movement into a constant churn. Some young athletes benefit from freedom. Others get caught chasing the next promise.
The same tool can open doors and create instability. That is where college sports sits now.
The answer is not nostalgia for an old system that was unfair. The answer is structure. NIL needs cleaner rules. The portal needs guardrails that protect player choice without making commitment meaningless. Schools need to invest in education as much as recruitment. Fans need to accept that athletes are not props in a tradition. They are people with value, options, and futures.
College sports can survive this era. It may even become better. But only if leaders stop pretending the market is temporary and start building a system worthy of the athletes who power it.
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