DeSantis Talks College Football, Calls for Reforms to NIL and Transfer Portal · The Floridian

Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the current structure of college football’s name, image, and likeness (NIL) policies and players’ use of the transfer portal to move to different schools in an exclusive interview with The Floridian publisher Javier Manjarres.

“This whole NIL and transfer portal has got to be worked out a little bit,” DeSantis said. “If they’re selling your jersey with your name on the back, you should get money for it if they are using your name, image, and likeness.”

Gov. DeSantis signed a bill allowing college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness back in 2020. It was later amended to allow schools, coaches, and athletic departments to assist athletes in the NIL process so Florida could stay on an even playing field with other states that had adopted similar policies.

While the governor has advocated for more player rights, he critcized the use of college football’s transfer portal, which has arguably overrun the sport with player transformers and fans wondering who stayed at their flagship school from year to year.

According to a report from NBC Sports, the number of FBS [Football Bowl Subdivision] transfers increased from 1,561 in 2018-19 to over 3,700 in last year’s cycle. FBS transfers from scholarship players also significantly rose over the past several years.

“To then say, I played three games, coach, I need more NIL money, or I’m going to transfer to another school, that’s almost like they have more rights than pro athletes do,” DeSantis commented. “I think there needs to be some reform of that.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis is a big sports fan. His son, Mason, is also a big fan of the Florida State Seminoles, with the governor often sharing predictions from his son on the outcome of the Noles’ football games on social media.

However, the governor played it fair when speaking about one of Florida State’s chief rivals, the University of Miami, and their rightful spot in the College Football Playoff (CFP).

“The Hurricanes should be in the college football playoff,” DeSantis suggested.

At the time, the governor argued that the team’s strength of schedule, their head-to-head win against the University of Notre Dame, which had been ahead of Miami in the rankings for months despite the team’s win, along with each school’s scoring margin against common opponents, was enough to lift the Canes into the final rankings.

Miami beat Notre Dame 27-24 in Week 1 of the season. In addition, the Hurricanes defeated three common opponents (NC State, Pittsburgh, Stanford) by a larger margin than the Irish.

Both teams also played Syracuse, with the Irish winning by 63 points, while the Hurricanes won by 28.

The governor was right. Miami was selected to be in the CFP last Sunday. The 10th-seed Hurricanes will play the 7th-seed Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of the playoff in College Station on Dec. 20.

DeSantis also advocated for the Fighting Irish to get in, but they were not selected in the final rankings.