There is no question that the most controversial topic within college athletics right now is Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), which allows student-athletes to receive compensation from third parties for use of their name, image and likeness according to the NCAA and the transfer portal.
It seems every year we see bigger NIL deals than the year before, which has completely changed the way players and coaches approach their sport. Most importantly, it has majorly impacted fan engagement with college athletics.
In the last two months, we have seen major discourse in decision-making by some of the most high-profile power four athletes and coaches. University of Washington star quarterback, Demond Williams, faced backlash from the media after announcing he was entering the transfer portal just four days after signing a $4 million NIL deal to return to the school.
Williams later announced that he will remain with the Huskies after the school pursued legal avenues to enforce his signed contract.” sports reporter Pete Thamel said on X.
This occurred nearly a month after former University of Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin announced his departure to take the head coaching position at Louisiana State University, just weeks before Mississippi’s first round playoff game against Tulane University.
Writer for The Sporting News Morgan Moriarty said “Kiffin was lured away from Ole Miss with a massive NIL budget the Rebels could not match, among other perks.”
Both these decisions skim the surface of the changing landscape for all collegiate athletics. Across all sports, we are seeing moves being made like Williams and Kiffin, which has shifted college athletics from a place where young men and women work to achieve their dreams of one day going pro into a lucrative environment fueled by business decisions.
While it might look like the state of collegiate sports has worsened, I believe the introduction of NIL and the transfer portal in 2021 has positively impacted the experience for fans nationwide.
I know that there are a large number of fans who feel that the new standard of players not committing to one school during their career takes away from the point of college athletics.
However, these are the same people who still tune into every sporting event, because deep down they love the dramatics and improved quality of play as much as I do.
According to CNBC’s Official College Sports Valuations in 2025, there were 13 universities nationwide whose total athletic valuation reached at least $1 billion dollars, with the University of Texas leading the pack at $1.48 billion. This report totaled that the 75 most valuable athletic programs in 2025 are worth a combined $51.22 billion.
These numbers don’t appear out of thin air; they’re generated from ticket sales, donors, sponsorships and media deals that all become available because more fans tune in everyday to watch their favorite schools compete.
This is also clear when you look at the viewership rates for college football’s National Championship and college basketball’s Final Four, two of college athletics’ biggest events.
The Sporting News Indiana University’s National Championship win over the University of Miami last Monday had record viewership, with 30.1 million fans tuning in nationwide to watch the game, making it the second most watched National Championship game of all time.
Shifting to college basketball, the Associated Press reported that the Final Four games for the 2024-2025 season averaged 15.3 million viewers, making it the most watched Final Four in the last eight years.
These numbers make it clear that although fans may not be in support of NIL or the transfer portal, they are clearly drawn to the more competitive games that are a result of NIL and the transfer portal.
Along with the entertainment value that comes with controversies, it is also a lot of fun to keep up with who is coming in and who is coming out of a program every year. For an example close to home, the University of Colorado lost left tackle Jordan Seaton, our best player, to the transfer portal since the season ended.
As much as that hurts, it’s fun to see how we are replacing him with multiple players announcing their commitment to come play under Deion Sanders. Having new, refreshed rosters every year is something that can either turn a program around or completely tank it and I think having that extra excitement in the offseason is entertaining.
Thinking back to 2022 when the Buffalos hired Deion Sanders, I felt when I heard that we were going to be getting stars like Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. It was a level of excitement that I had felt very few times before. The transfer portal gave CU a shot at being great, similar to the University of Indiana this past year.
Do you think Hoosier fans hold a grudge against NIL or the transfer portal? No! They just went from being college football’s most losing program to national champions. These tools are giving teams who have been terrible in the past an outlet to find success.
At the end of the day, sports are most entertaining when games are competitive and the transfer portal has pushed competition closer than it has ever been. This means that fans are receiving the best possible product through the transfer portal.
The new environment of collegiate athletics with NIL and the transfer portal is something that needs to be addressed and regulated, but as fans, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that these two tools have brought entertainment to college athletics in a way we haven’t seen before.
Name Image Likeness. Picture by the Seattle Times.