The current NFL practices in the College Football periphery make a mess of the team’s security over their roster. It’s crazy how players jump ship from one to another before we blink, just with the lure of a bigger paycheck. Yes, that’s the shadow side of the NIL permissions. On one hand, it promotes financial literacy among young nonprofessional athletes. On the other, it forged a volatile, fickle-minded set of future stars who sell out their loyalty to some millions. It’s an altogether tricky area to shed light on. But Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne had an answer for that. Spicing it up more, the Bama AD added a dark truth to it.

Byrne urged fans to come forward to help the Tide keep up with the lump sum cost of the contracts. He asked them to start with a subscription to the official Bama fundraiser, Yea Alabama. It’s debatable whether his request or suggested formula sounds feasible on a larger scale, but it sparked some controversies as people usually viewed Alabama as a wealthy program” receiving a lot of support from different ventures. Well, it’s partly true, while Greg Bryne’s latest stance came off as a myth-buster for the other part of it. Bama drew plenty of scholarships, ticket revenues, and some grasp on other sports, too, that helped their program on different layers, but that’s not all.

”We have economic realities that we face. To be able to compete on the level that we expect and desire, will take a lot of resources. We tried to send it as a very strong message purposefully, you know you have to ask, you have to be direct,’‘ Byrne said in an eye-opening confession in the next round podcast.

Byrne knows that the $25 million line item is needed for the role, but he still believes that in becoming and remaining the biggest college football program in the country, fans’ proactive participation is a must. Bama has not lived up to its standard in the running season. It’s a no-nonsense fact. The post-Nick Saban era hit hard in Tuscaloosa not only on the scoreboard but also on the recruitment front. They lost a host of players in the last fortnight.

‘Yea Alabama’, the initiative that enables the fans to donate as per their capacity in exchange for availing the merchandise, exclusive content, etc., looks like a decent solution, a smart business initiative for real. I mean, in the money-driven age, you have to think of new creative ways of drawing more money no matter how many resources you already have. You can easily dry out anytime and miss out on the lucrative prospects. 

However, on the flip side of the coin, analyst Jason Whitlock sees it as another death trap for the reality of college football.

Veteran sports columnist vehemently opposed Greg Bryne’s unique call for action

Jason Whitlock didn’t really buy what the Bama AD had to convey. He thinks it will promote further competition among high schools to demand the same from fans, cluttering it up more.

”This is a recipe for disaster in college football, coz schools are gonna start coming with their hands out asking more from the fans, and I’m not sure if the fans are gonna be getting more they’re gonna be getting less,” Whitelock put it out straight on his YouTube channel.

His co-host mentioned Tennessee already implemented a similar sort of model to swoop in money from fans, and it’s totally awful. It raises the biggest doubt about fans’ comfort and overall experience in the bigger picture.

Alabama AD knows well that fans belong to different social hierarchies, and it’s not even sane to expect the same amount of contribution from all of them. All he asks is decent participation from those who can afford it.

But if you pitch it against the traditional value and essence of football, it will dishearten you on so many levels. Did Alabama just leave its generational fanbase, immense love and support, and unconditional rooting in serious jeopardy through a hasty move?  The future will bear the answer to it.