ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. — Oakland University coach Greg Kampe’s Golden Grizzlies shocked the basketball world last year in the NCAA Tournament as a 14th seed, defeating perennial powerhouse Kentucky as a 13-point underdog.
It was Campe’s biggest win in his 41 years at Oakland in Rochester Hills, Michigan. But now, he says, his biggest challenge lies off the court.
“We spend the summer raising money to acquire players,” Kampe said. “Can you imagine? College coaches are saying that now because it’s true.”
Forget the old definition of an amateur athlete. college athlete Now you can make millions Thanks to a series of NCAA rules that loosened previous restrictions on players profiting from NIL representing their name, image and likeness before turning professional.
As of 2021Any athlete, especially a big star like Colorado football’s Shedule Sanders or former Indiana basketball sensation Kaitlin Clark, can benefit from commercial endorsements, jersey sales, and even autograph sessions. .
But what’s really changing the game is another part of the program that has turned into a monster: athletes getting paid just to play.
Kampe said conversations about financial compensation are “at the very beginning, at the very beginning,” when acquiring players.
Schools use deep-pocketed alumni and donors to pay millions of dollars to high-level athletes. Schools have begun bidding wars for new students, raiding each other’s rosters. Three of Campe’s best players transferred to programs with more money immediately after last year’s tournament.
“The Power Five came and offered him $500,000,” Kampe said. “Okay, I can’t encourage him to do that. So how do you tell a kid, ‘Don’t go and get $500,000?'”
An estimated $1.67 billion will be spent on student-athletes in 2024, according to a report by NIL technology company Opendorse. Almost all of that went to men’s sports, including $1.1 billion on college football and an estimated $390 million on college basketball.
So much money is being poured into these two major men’s sports that sports that don’t generate profits are at risk of shrinking.
“I’m not signing for millions of dollars. I didn’t get into track and field for the money,” said Jadyn O’Brien, a two-time national champion in the pentathlon at Notre Dame on CBS. told the news.
O’Brien appreciates the money, but it’s about a third of what the average college football player makes.
“I love this sport and I’m good at it,” O’Brien said. “And if you can make some money on the side, that’s great.”
Kampe says he’s not against the new system, just hoping it gets better.
“I’m not some old guy screaming at the clouds,” Kampe said. “I want to be part of the solution.”
Now playing teams that can spend millions of dollars more than Oakland, Kampe worries that college sports are heading into an era of haves and have-nots.
“I think the panic now is that the NCAA Tournament is going to have the same 68 teams every year, and the College Football Playoff is going to have the same 12 teams every year,” Kampe said. Ta. “And I think the real fans are panicking.”
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