Stanford head coach David Shaw highlighted the power of Nick Saban and Alabama football in the NIL era of endorsement deals.
As if it wasn’t clear enough that Nick Saban owns college football, the arrival of the NIL era has only heightened his powers.
The Alabama head coach revealed last week that quarterback Bryce Young is already making close to a million dollars in endorsement deals since the NCAA began allowing players to profit off their name, image and likeness earlier this month.
For Stanford head coach David Shaw, that’s a prime example of Saban’s dominance and how Alabama is on a completely different level from the rest of college football.
David Shaw sees more Nick Saban mastery in Bryce Young’s NIL deals
First, Shaw thinks Saban dropped that figure strategically, knowing what an advantage Young’s example could be in recruiting.
The issue is whether or not that money is a true reflection of the NIL market or if it’s a sign of Alabama’s brand doing the heavy lifting.
“A kid gets a seven-figure deal before he even starts a game. That’s fair market value?” Shaw said. “I don’t think that’s fair market value. That’s Alabama value.”
Shaw has a point. The mere fact that Young is the presumptive starter for the Tide ensured he’d be able to cash in.
A Miami booster allocated $540,000 to pay Hurricane players to promote his MMA training facility.
Shaw wondered if companies are making these deals for an actual benefit to their business or simply to throw money at players for their favorite schools.
That was always going to be a side effect of opening the doors to NIL. It doesn’t make the change wrong, but it’s a complication. When you have someone as successful and savvy as Saban, he’s sure to benefit from it.
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