It all started in 2021 when the NCAA allowed its student-athletes to profit from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights. The overnight changes in student-athlete performances, the radical shift in the mindset from on-field success to off-field popularity, and much more were enough to prompt an outspoken leader like Nick Saban to stand up against it. Albeit, the new era demands proper directives for NIL and collectives, the matter still stands in a grey area as the rules against it are not uniformly regulated.

To make matters worse, litigations have weakened the NCAA and lessened their control over player compensation. Contrarily, Senator Cruz had called for a round table conference in March 2024 at Capitol Hill. “All the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics,” Saban said in the conference. “It always was about developing players. It was always about helping people be more successful in life,” Saban further added, expressing his disbelief in the current NIL system and his fiery passion for changing it. He even went as far as to say that the current NIL system is worse than free agency.

The current opinion that Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne has to bring will surely not sound good to Saban’s ears. “I think we’re a few years away from having a new model in college sports,” Byrne said to the Next Round on Thursday. The Alabama AD did not elaborate on what he foresees as the new model of the NIL but his statement was enough for Nick Saban and Co. to realize the lengthy road ahead. 

While Bryne was not sure about what the new model of NIL would include, he was sure of what he wanted to see as the future of the NIL. A vision that he shared with Nick Saban.

Nick Saban’s preferred model

“I think the system that we have in the NFL, where players are employees, would be better than the system that we have now because at least it creates competitive parity,” Nick Saban has said at the Conference, feigning disapproval. With this dialogue, Saban was sure of one thing, he did not want a model that considers student-athletes as employees. Something that Greg Byrne solidarily supported.

Hence, Saban advocated for a ‘revenue-sharing’ model that would benefit the student-athletes without bringing the employee part into it. “I want them to share in the revenue in some kind of way,” Saban proposed. However, how it would function on a macro level still remains unclear.

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