NIL has drastically changed the outlook of college sports.
When it comes to college athletics in the Year 2025, every conversation is surrounded by one overarching topic: Name, Image, and Likeness, or NIL for short.
What was completely out of the realm of possibilities five years ago has now taken over the sport completely, incentivizing players to use resources like the transfer portal to their advantage to best support themselves financially during their collegiate careers.
There have been massive deals struck, reaching even eight figures, but there have also been major fallouts, like the one we saw earlier this month between the Tennessee Volunteers and quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Now, it’s completely within the players’ rights to seek as much compensation as they can during their collegiate careers. After all, schools have long benefited and profited from the achievements of their athletes.
But, given the current state of college athletics, is NIL ruining the sport?
In our latest reacts poll, 53 percent of fans believe that NIL is actually a detriment to the sport, while only seven percent of fans think that the resource is a great thing for players.
Well, when you look at the result of NIL, it has directly influenced the spending budgets of top teams. Take a look at St. John’s basketball, for example.
This offseason, the Red Storm took some big hits, as star R.J. Luis entered the NBA Draft, subsequently putting his name in the transfer portal. In addition, forward Brady Dunlap, guard Simeon Wilcher, and centers Khaman Maker and Vince Iwuchukwu are all headed elsewhere in the portal.
Not to mention, St. John’s is also losing Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith, and Aaron Smith due to eligibility. That means eight of their top nine rotation players will not be on the team next year.
And yet, the Red Storm are considered a top team in college basketball currently, thanks to their efforts in the transfer portal, where they’ve been active in retooling their roster.
St. John’s has added former five-stars Ian Jackson (from UNC), Joson Sanon (from Arizona State), and Dillon Mitchell (from Cincinnati), as well as Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers and Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins to form one of the best portal classes in the country.
Those five, paired with returning center Zuby Ejiofor, are expected to be the top players for St. John’s next year, thanks to a high NIL budget that reportedly could exceed $10 million, according to CBS Sports’s Matt Norlander.
As a result, the Johnnies currently have the fourth-best odds at +1600 to win the Championship next year, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, sitting behind only Purdue (+1000), Duke (+1100), and Houston (+1200). They’re tied with Kansas, Louisville, and UConn at +1600 odds.
Has NIL changed college sports for the worse or the better? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.