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City Club Missoula explores changing landscape of college sports

Published

4 months ago

January 14, 2025

City Club Missoula explores changing landscape of college sports

MISSOULA, Mont. — The landscape of college athletics is rapidly evolving, following the approval of Name, Image and Likeness deals by the NCAA in 2021. Now universities in Montana are grappling with the next steps for student-athletes.”College athletics is shifting. It’s changing. It’s changed dramatically over the years,” said Kent Haslam, director of athletics at the University of Montana.Marcus Welnel, a former UM football player, expressed concerns that Montana is losing athletes to wealthier programs offering more money.”We’re just continually seeing our players get call after call after call — ‘We have a lot of money to dish out, do you want to come move up and make a lot more money?'” Welnel said. “It’s starting to slowly affect us here in Montana with our athletes.”This new territory presents opportunities and challenges. On one hand, athletes are being compensated for their hard work, but concerns have emerged, including the growing disparity between wealthier schools with better sports programs and the impact on students’ education. There are also worries about a lack of transparency in how the system operates.In our previous reporting, officials with the University of Montana stated that local businesses are the largest contributors to athlete endorsements.The University of Montana restricts endorsements in four categories: tobacco, marijuana, sports-enhancing drug companies and gambling. Montana State University adds alcohol to its list of prohibited categories.Haslam voiced frustration over the lack of transparency, saying, “All of that stuff, nobody knows because there’s no transparency. There’s none whatsoever. And so that’s part of the problem, you have some people that are kind of juicing the system.”

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No. 1 recruit Jackson Cantwell chooses Miami over Georgia. Good.

Tuesday was yet another reminder that I’m glad I’m not a recruiting reporter. In case you missed it, on Tuesday afternoon Jackson Cantwell, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 247Sports composite ratings, chose Miami over Georgia, Oregon and Ohio State. I do not know this first hand — again, I am not a recruiting reporter […]

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31 minutes ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Tuesday was yet another reminder that I’m glad I’m not a recruiting reporter.

In case you missed it, on Tuesday afternoon Jackson Cantwell, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 247Sports composite ratings, chose Miami over Georgia, Oregon and Ohio State. I do not know this first hand — again, I am not a recruiting reporter — but one does not have to be J.R.R. Tolkien to understand the subtext at play here: Cantwell was set to go to Georgia, until he wasn’t. DawgNation reported Cantwell, who retained none other than Drew Rosenhaus to represent him, had offers all in the neighborhood of $2.5 million, until he didn’t. Don’t take my word for it. Here’s Rivals recruiting reporter Adam Gorney:

Georgia felt great about Jackson Cantwell through this weekend after his sixth visit there. But there is a lot leaking about Miami now.

Almost there. pic.twitter.com/MHG2hLwEFp

— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) May 13, 2025

There will be a lot of voices in college football that try to tell you it’s a travesty that the No. 1 recruit chose a B-level program over an A-level program.

A player used his talents and leverage within the labor market to leverage the best possible offer. Many people will try to tell you this is a breaking of the social order, a sign of all that’s supposedly wrong in college football. In any other walk of life, we call this capitalism. An 18-year-old kid from Nixa, Mo., is about to become a multimillionaire before he steps foot on a college campus, securing his family’s financial future for years to come, if not generations. If everything goes according to plan, Cantwell will be worth north of $10 million before he even signs a professional contract.

We used to call this the American Dream.

Set aside the particulars for a moment. My take today is the same as it was when Dylan Raiola chose Nebraska over Georgia a year and a half ago: Good, I’m glad it’s happened.

College football is better off with Raiola at Nebraska and not Georgia, and college football is better with Miami getting a little bit better and Georgia a little bit worse.

Before we declared college football players getting fair market value for their services to be the biggest problem facing college football — and, make no mistake, $2.5M+ is fair market value for Jackson Cantwell — it used to be a concentration of elite talent and coaching at a handful of programs.

From 2015-20, nine programs gobbled up the 24 available College Football Playoff spots. Clemson went six straight seasons; Alabama went five. Oklahoma made four trips, and Ohio State made three.

Over the past three seasons, nine separate programs have taken the 12 available seats in the CFP semifinals. Only three programs have made return trips — and they’re Ohio State, Texas and Michigan.

That’s a clear dividing line there, a Before and After once NIL went into effect in 2021. An oligarchy has been replaced by democracy. Lots of different people get votes on who accumulates difference-making talent at the highest level of the sport, and it’s made the Notre Dames, the Michigans, the Texases and the Miamis (and perhaps USC is next) better, and while Alabama, Georgia and Clemson have gotten a little bit worse.

And in the process, lots and lots of young men have gotten rich playing America’s pastime. That doesn’t sound like an end-of-days apocalypse to me. It sounds like America.

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How a presidential committee and a 64

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1 hour ago

May 13, 2025

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NiJaree Canady handles pressure, makes $1 million-plus NIL deal pay off for Texas Tech | Sports

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1 hour ago

May 13, 2025

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Mark Pope jokes he spent nearly $200 million on UK Basketball roster through NIL

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope isn’t shying away from the school’s aggressive approach to name, image, and likeness (NIL) funding — and he’s even having a little fun with it. Speaking recently about the program’s ambition and investment, Pope jokingly claimed the Wildcats have poured nearly $200 million into their roster. “It’s close to […]

Published

2 hours ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope isn’t shying away from the school’s aggressive approach to name, image, and likeness (NIL) funding — and he’s even having a little fun with it.

Speaking recently about the program’s ambition and investment, Pope jokingly claimed the Wildcats have poured nearly $200 million into their roster.

“It’s close to $200 million,” Pope said with a smile. “We would like to win at everything, guys. Like, we really would. This is the flagship program in the country, and so I’m fully on board with all of it.”

Reports have suggested Kentucky’s 2025-26 roster could top $20 million in NIL value. While that number may be exaggerated or symbolic of broader investment, Pope didn’t shy away from the concept.

In fact, he leaned into it.

“We want to play the hardest schedule. We want to play the best teams. We want to win the most games. We want to have the best players. We want to have the highest NIL. We want to have the coolest uniforms. We want to have the most media attention,” he said.

Going into his second year at Kentucky, head coach Pope emphasized that the program’s stature demands a top-tier approach in every aspect of the game, from recruiting to competition to player compensation.

“This is Kentucky, and we’re going to do this the very best we can,” Pope said. “We’re really blessed to have President (Eli) Capilouto and Mitch Barnhart, and some of the most committed, generous fans and donors in all of college basketball.”

He added: “Our job is to go be the best at everything. So we’re not shying away from that. Like, it’s important to us.”

Whether hyperbole or a hint of truth, Pope’s message is clear: Kentucky plans to lead the way in the new era of college basketball.

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Executive order dealing with student athletes and NIL signed by Gov. Landry

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – An executive order dealing with student athletes and NIL in Louisiana has been signed by Governor Jeff Landry. The governor’s office said the move is “aimed at ensuring Louisiana’s student-athletes are not left at a competitive or financial disadvantage as national legal proceedings continue around name, image, and likeness (NIL) […]

Published

2 hours ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Executive order dealing with student athletes and NIL signed by Gov. Landry

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – An executive order dealing with student athletes and NIL in Louisiana has been signed by Governor Jeff Landry.

The governor’s office said the move is “aimed at ensuring Louisiana’s student-athletes are not left at a competitive or financial disadvantage as national legal proceedings continue around name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation.”

According to officials with Gov. Landry’s office, the executive order does the following:

Protects Louisiana postsecondary institutions from adverse action by the NCAA, athletic conferences, or other governing bodies if they facilitate or offer NIL compensation to student-athletes.
Prohibits the use of state-allocated funds for such compensation.
The order remains in effect until the earlier of two events: the enactment of relevant federal NIL legislation or the effective date of the proposed NIL settlement.

“Louisiana is proud to be home to student-athletes who consistently compete and win at the highest levels of college athletics,” Gov. Landry said. “As national policies and developments continue to reshape the landscape of college sports, this executive order is about fairness for our Louisiana students, our schools, and our athletes.”

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