NIL concerns remind me of this scene in the wire

[Dodge St Boilers]

The scene where the lawyer is scolding Omar for being a stickup man and making his living off the drug and gang culture in the city, and Omar point out that as a lawyer who is representing the leaders of the drug and gang culture, he’s doing the same thing

I’ve got the shot gun, you’ve got the brief case, it’s all in the game right?

for years college football and basketball has made stupid amounts of money, whether it be through gates, concessions, sponsorships, boosters, or TV deals. Some schools went nuts with coaches salaries. Some schools got into a facilities arms race. Some schools just kept hiring coaches. Some schools use it to subsidize their academic arm. But in all the ways the players benefitted, they weren’t allowed to dip into that money and draw a salary, they only were allowed certain benefits.

now, players can go into an open market and get what someone is willing to pay them. And the people are freaking out like “what happens when someone holds out” or “what if a player makes more than a coach” under the assumption that it’s going to destroy the sport by creating tension and inequity, as if that’s something new

there’s always been inequity, and there’s a million things that create tension. This is two sides of the same coin. If you were fine overlooking the money and watching before NIL, I can’t see how you’d have an issue now