A Closer Look …

with Anthony Newcombe

January 12, 2024

Yep, it’s another year combined with another reset.  Be it your personal resolutions, professional goals, bucket list aspirations, or something else involving much less angst and/or effort.  The point is people: it’s time to GET MOVIN’!!

THE TRANSFER PORTAL PROBLEM

First, let’s get the college athlete transfer portal stuff straightened out.  The author fully supports athletes finally getting both the college program they prefer to play for – as well as earning the income they deserve from risking their long-term health to quench the financial thirst of fans, bettors, university administrators, coaches, boosters, parents, etc.

CHAOS 101

What is difficult to support is the chaos this current process creates.  We need to figure out a more efficient path and timeline for the portal to work efficiently.  One suggestion floating around is to shift the process beyond the December bowl season and playoffs.  This will allow both teams and players to be able to postpone the decision process until everything is finalized on the field. That sounds less hectic and a pretty good start to me. 

Moreover, we can’t have players moving to and from multiple programs over a 4-5 season college stint.  One player – who shall remain nameless – has already transferred from the East to the West Coast and then back to the East Coast in just a few seasons!  That, to me, is a serious flaw in the system that requires immediate patching.  Personal freedom is fine, but chaos creation should be deemed “the red line.”

(NIL) NAME, IMAGE, & LIKENESS COMPENSATION PROBLEM

Regrettably, the current system mirrors the “Wild, Wild West.” Perhaps some form of “collective bargaining” should be created.  This could be a system which provides some guardrails for a more streamlined and fairer process. 

SOLUTIONS?

We all know college players aren’t “employees,” so it wouldn’t be structured the same as CBAs in the corporate world, but there still is room to introduce an unbiased committee – focused to ensuring fairness and some oversight – while also building a bridge for these young and financially naive players to invest and learn how to build lifelong security in their current NIL earnings.  They should be steered from nefarious characters who, let’s just say, might not have their best interests at heart.

What do YOU think?

Happy 2024 all!

-A.N.

PROFILE

Anthony Newcombe is a 4-time entrepreneur, published author & narrator, and full-stack web developer.  He can be reached directly for appearances via our CONTACT PAGE.