NIL Is Destroying The Soul Of College Athletics | Jack Brewer

America is in danger of losing something uniquely its own, college athletics.

Once the gold standard for discipline, education, and opportunity, college athletics are being hollowed out by a system that prizes short-term cash over long-term value. Since the introduction of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), college sports have shifted from mission-driven to money-driven. Universities are stretching themselves to keep pace. Student-athletes are being forced to chase paydays before diplomas. The institution that once expanded opportunity is now threatening to consume itself. As a result, the time has come for President Trump and Congress to step in to save college athletics from itself.

I approach this issue as someone whose identity is deeply ingrained in college athletics. I started as a two-sport athlete at Southern Methodist University and the University of Minnesota and went on to captain three NFL franchises. I support athletes being compensated for the value they create – fully and without apology. They deserve it.

Jack Brewer, former safety in the NFL, speaks during a panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida on Feb. 27, 2021. Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images

But compensation without structure is not progress. And compensation without sustainability is a slow-moving collapse.

Athletic scholarships in the United States have been a vital gateway for millions of athletes to receive an education and realize the American dream. Participation in college athletics provides young men and women across the country with opportunities in their post-grad years. My degrees opened doors that football could not and have continued to provide career opportunities since I hung up the pads.

But many of these opportunities are now in jeopardy.

Since the NIL system was implemented, colleges and universities around the country have taken on massive debt in desperate attempts to pay players and remain competitive. This is unsustainable. Schools are mortgaging their future, while graduation rates for student-athletes continue to fall. When universities prioritize payments over education, everyone loses.

Desperation breeds bad ideas. We are already seeing schools consider risky private-equity arrangements to paper over the cracks. At my alma mater, the University of Minnesota, the Big Ten recently explored a proposed $2.4 billion deal that would have sold a stake in the conference’s media and sponsorship rights to outside investors. Only public opposition from other programs managed to stop it.

That deal asked the right question – how do we stabilize college athletics – but landed on the wrong answer. Yes, collegiate athletics need a sustainable financial model, and students deserve to benefit from their talent and hard work. But we cannot be rash with decisions that cannot be reversed. I’m not saying all outside financial partner deals are bad, but we cannot mortgage our future for a short-term fix.

Meanwhile, the consequences are cascading. As NIL costs rise, colleges across the country are already cutting non-revenue sports – the programs that built America’s Olympic dominance and fueled the explosion of women’s athletics. With those scholarships go pathways to education for thousands of young Americans who rely on sports as their bridge to opportunity.

A common-sense solution to the problems that face collegiate athletics is necessary. The answer is harnessing the value of college football. While college football ranks second in national viewership, behind only the NFL, it ranks just fifth in total revenue generation. The potential is enormous.

Former NFL safety Jack Brewer watches the game between his New York Giants and the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on December 12, 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Professional leagues long ago solved this problem. Under the Sports Broadcasting Act, the NFL and other leagues negotiate media rights collectively, maximizing revenue while preserving competitive balance. College football deserves the same opportunity.

Like any other job, a contract should be a contract. I remember being a transfer, with a small child, when the NCAA only allowed players to make $2,500 a year. I had to hustle in college. Even then, if you wanted to move from one program to another, you had to sit out a year. You couldn’t just bounce from team to team at will. Today, athletes can transfer based purely on feelings, leverage, or the next offer. That sets a dangerous precedent. We are losing resilience in sports and in society because an instant-gratification culture is smothering the youth of America.

If this is truly a marketplace, then it needs real rules. We should put a reasonable cap on the number of transfers and give programs the option to sign guaranteed agreements with the athletes they are investing in. That is not anti-athlete. That is free enterprise. Stability, accountability, and commitment are not restrictions – they are the foundation of every functioning system, from business to family to sports.

Expanding antitrust protections for college athletics to negotiate their media rights collectively is the answer. This is not groundbreaking legislation; every professional sports league in the United States does this through protections under the Sports Broadcasting Act. President Trump and Congress can solve this problem.

Unifying media college media rights will allow college football to realize its full revenue potential. This would get rid of business competition between conferences that undermines negotiating leverage against media companies, and provide Big Ten schools, like Minnesota, a larger revenue distribution than they could through any other model.

This is President Trump’s America-first agenda at work – saving something so uniquely American and ingrained in our national identity. Collegiate athletics are a public good. They inspire communities, unite campuses, and provide pathways to success for talented young people who might not otherwise have access to higher education. But if we continue down this current path, we risk destroying this American institution entirely.

We can still get this right. We can build a system where athletes are fairly compensated, universities remain financially stable, and education remains the cornerstone of the college athletic experience. But it will require leadership, courage, and a willingness to prioritize long-term sustainability over short-term wins.

The soul of college athletics is worth fighting for because it reflects the soul of America itself. It’s about discipline over entitlement, commitment over chaos, and opportunity that can be earned through hard work. If we allow college sports to become nothing more than an unregulated bidding war, we won’t just lose an institution, we will lose one of the last systems that teaches young people accountability, resilience, and what it means to build something bigger than themselves. This is a fight worth having, and one America must have the wisdom not to lose.