Nick Saban Answers Questions on Football and College Sports

In higher education, we revenue generate. We have 21 sporting activities — I don’t know how numerous hundreds of university student-athletes we have on scholarship — and most of these sporting activities produce no income. But the sports activities that build profits make it achievable for all of people sports to exist. We reinvest all the resources, all the money, we reinvest in the programs.

I hear persons say all the time, “Well, you make a large amount of money.” Yeah, but I create a great deal of value.

There is far more dollars to reinvest simply because the earnings sports activities do very, very effectively, so that assists all of the other sports activities and all of the other opportunities that are produced for all of the other sporting activities. So when it comes to identify, picture and likeness, I’ve got no trouble with that.

You know, players have generally been authorized to perform. They could have a summertime job, they could make funds. Less and much less do because value of attendance offers them more cash now, and we’re permitted to pay for their summer season college, where yrs back players weren’t on scholarship in the summer. Everybody selected to perform, to make money so they’d have additional cash. But we didn’t have any other cash that we bought possibly they just obtained place, board, tuition and textbooks.

Their high quality of daily life has improved to some degree. Identify, image and likeness is a superior thing for the gamers — it is an chance for them to perform, it’s no distinctive than that. I guess I’ve been criticized for indicating this, but possibilities also create some hurdles, probably, that we haven’t experienced to offer with in the previous, which is that it is not likely to be the exact for most people.

Everything in higher education has always been the very same scholarship, the exact value of attendance, whichever it is, similar positive aspects for when you are right here in phrases of academic support or individual enhancement or whatever it is. So it’s not likely to be the identical. Some fellas are going to make additional than some others, and they are likely to have more alternatives. Some positions are building additional worth than other individuals, so how is that likely to have an impact on college or university football groups and players on groups?

We’ve talked to our gamers about that, so they recognize that. I coached in professional football, so everybody didn’t make the exact same in professional soccer, all people did not get the exact same gains, every person did not get the identical chances for endorsements, and I have experimented with to clarify that. But that is kind of what it is. I’m happy for the players to have the prospects to do that.

So when you speak about what’s the pink line, I feel I cannot notify you what the purple line is. I just know there’s only so considerably income to go all around, so the additional we spend in some means, possibly you can have fewer sporting activities. So now there is much less opportunities for other people today in sporting activities simply because if you’re paying gamers, then there is only so considerably cash. Consequently, how lots of gamers can you pay for to pay out, which would establish how a lot of sporting activities you can basically have?