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Bama News
Nick Saban proposes equal pay to Alabama players to avoid âcaste systemâ
âI donât think what weâre doing right now is a sustainable model,â Saban told the Associated Press.
Offering his latest thoughts on the evolving state of college football, Alabama coach Nick Saban proposed that his school guarantees a set amount of NIL money for every player on its football team.
âWe give everybody the same medical care, academic support, food service. Same scholarship,â Saban said in a recent interview with the Associated Press published Wednesday. âSo if weâre going to do this, then everybody is going to benefit equally. Iâm not going to create a caste system on our team.â
College athletes have been able to profit off their names, images and likenesses since last July, weeks after the United States Supreme Court upheld a lower courtâs ruling that the NCAA could not cap athletesâ benefits without violating antitrust laws.
Players have been able to strike deals with companies and earn revenue in the months since, with third-party âcollectivesâ of boosters emerging to organize deals for a particular schoolâs players. A collective called âHigh Tide Traditionsâ for Alabama players was launched earlier this week.
But Saban in February expressed frustration with how the quickly-expanding infrastructure of NIL collectives has played a role in recruiting, saying, âPeople are making deals with high school players to go to their school,â and, âThatâs not why we did this.â
Saban reiterated similar points to the Associated Press this week.
âI donât think what weâre doing right now is a sustainable model,â he said, adding that schools can âbasically buy playersâ in recruiting these days.
âI mean, if thatâs what we want college football to be, I donât know.â
Saban made national headlines last July when he said quarterback Bryce Young had earned close to $1 million in NIL revenue before his first start for Alabama, and Saban acknowledged to the AP that Alabama players, âprobably made as much or more than anybody in the countryâ last season.
Even though Alabamaâs football program can benefit from the new landscape of college football, Saban believes competitive balance for the entire sport is at risk. He continued to compare the current system to NFL free agency but without the NFLâs salary cap.
âSo thereâs going to have to be some changes implemented, some kind of way to still create a level playing field,â he said. âAnd there is no salary cap. So whatever school decides they want to pay the most, they have the best chance to have the best team. And thatâs never been college football, either.â
Saban also warned last summer about the imbalance NIL would cause within locker rooms, also comparing it to NFL systems where certain positions and players receive higher salaries because of their performance and profiles.
I hope it doesnât affect team chemistry across the board, in terms of how people respond to that and how players respond to that,â he said at SEC media days last July.
Although he continued to resist the idea of a âcaste systemâ on his team, Saban did not elaborate further about a plan to distribute NIL revenue evenly among players in his the published portion of his interview with the AP, or how that would comply with applicable laws.
But Saban believes that equal pay to players could be used as a draw in recruiting.
âYouâre going to have kids out there that say, âWell, I can get a better deal going someplace else,â and theyâll go there,â he said. âBut youâre also going to have people that see the light and say, âYeah, theyâve got a good history of developing players. They got a good history of developing people, they got a great graduation rate and that value is more important.â And theyâre distributing money to everybody in the organization.â
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney predicted a âcomplete blowupâ of college football in an interview last week with ESPN, proposing Power 5 schools breaking off as a separate entity. Saban said he is âall forâ players being compensated but believes there must be a commitment to the school, too, after transfer rules were also loosened last year.
âThere also has to be some responsibility on both ends, which you could call a contract,â he told the AP. âSo that you have an opportunity to develop people in a way thatâs going to help them be successful.â
