Changes Ahead
As SEC Media Day takes place this week, the amount of excitement for the 2022 Gophers Football Season is growing. Browsing the Minnesota message boards, there is a sense of nervousness as some of that optimism starts to lead into impatience and dread.
Various teams fans are suffering from the implications of NIL. This has been frustrating for many teams as key recruits are going to locations with deeper pockets. It’s important to not lose sight of the various changes we are going through.
Name Image Likeness - (NIL) - So far this has not been good for Minnesota, in trying to land key football recruits, potential “donors” to an NIL collective have been largely silent. No major recruit has come to Minnesota where the belief was NIL contributed positively to that decision. With Minneapolis being a major sports town, and socially progressive and charitable, it seems very unlikely that any of our major corporations will suddenly decide to jump into the game of paying teenagers to play football and make a random appearance here or there. Combine that with the stringent compliance department at the U of M, and it seems like something that isn’t going to be a direct benefit to Minnesota’s performance on the field for the next couple of years.
Transfer Portal - This has been good for Minnesota, but when you lose two solid Running Backs with bright futures in Ky Thomas and Bucky Irving, it’s a real sock to the gut. Sure, we have solid running backs who will carry the ball this year and new replacements for 2023 and beyond, but it doesn’t take away from the frustration. Losing an MJ Anderson who could have been a key contributor on the defensive line this year, sometimes makes you forget of the players that have been added.
Conference Realignment - The Minnesota message boards don’t seem to be into this as much as they maybe should be. There are a lot of unknowns, but when the Rutgers, Northwesterns, Iowa, Marylands, Indianas, Minnesotas, Wisconsins, are all in a spot where teams like USC and probably soon, Notre Dame, want to join, it’s a pretty good sport to be. In a few years, the changes that occur around conference realignment, pay for play, playoff possibilities, and the growth of Big Ten football will be substantial.
If you look at all of these changes, there is a clear negative so far with NIL, a neutral with transfer portal, and the biggest potential change of them all is conference realignment and the associated media contracts. Minnesota, nor any other Big Ten team, will ever involuntary be removed from the money making machine of Big Ten athletics, and that’s a pretty good spot to be. Being in some major northern markets where the Big Ten exists, with the conference re-alignment could come other changes like pay-for-play which will help the richest schools, compete evenly, possibly negating the value of the NIL money.
How likely will individual booster be willing to compete by throwing in a few hundred thousand when a media marketing machine like Big Ten football eventually allows pay for play.
Changes are coming, but they are not all to be feared.
