Gone are the days when the NCAA and money were two disjoint sets. Beginning July 1, 2021, the NCAA began the NIL era, which stood for name, image, and likeness. With this, the college players could earn profit from their name, image, and likeness, which was previously banned in the NCAA. However, former freestyle wrestler and UFC star Bo Nickal was a part of the pre-NIL era while he dominated the NCAA Championships. As a result, he once called out the downsides of the college-level championships.

Nickal has one of the greatest records in wrestling at the college level. Graduating from Penn State University, he had 120 wins while losing on just three occasions. Additionally, in the NCAA tournaments, he had just a solitary loss while winning 19 matches. With this, he had three titles in NCAA Division 1. However, despite his popularity, Nickal wasn’t happy with the structure of the NCAA, given that the players were restricted from earning money for their name, image, and likeness.

During the recent episode of the FloWrestling Radio Live podcast, Bo Nickal admitted how he criticized the NCAA before the NIL era, saying, “You know, my junior, senior year, I would tweet stuff like the NCAA; this is basically slavery. This is unbelievable. Like, how could I not make a t-shirt with my name on it and sell it when they’re doing that in stores and I can’t even get paid for an appearance? Like, this is crazy!”

Further, he went on to add, “I started; I’m very, you know, entrepreneurial, business-minded, and so… I was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, you’re telling me that I’m selling out Bryce Jordan Center R Call Carver and they’re giving me, uh, you know, a hundred bucks for a meal stipend?’ Like this is kind of crazy!”

After failing to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Bo Nickal turned his focus to mixed martial arts and even signed up with the UFC a year later. Like his NCAA record, Nickal is also a force to be reckoned with in the UFC and has won all seven bouts so far. Despite his immense success right from his college days, Nickal continues to criticize the pre-NIL era in the NCAA. While most of the athletes welcomed the NCAA’s decision to introduce the NIL era, renowned sports commentator Nick Saban unearthed the downsides of it.

Nick Saban contradicts Bo Nickal with a warning on NIL era

The veteran sports commentator welcomed the NIL era of the NCAA, albeit with some caution. While Saban accepted the idea that the players should have financial security, he also advised some downsides in this matter. One of the major factors going against the NIL era could be “competitive imbalance,” as per Saban.

Talking about it, he said, “It’s whoever wants to pay the most money, raise the most money, and buy the most players is going to have the best opportunity to win. I don’t think that’s the spirit of college athletics. I don’t think it’s ever been the spirit of what we want college athletics to be. That’s my major concern: the combination of pay-for-play and free agency and how that impacts development.” 

Although every coin has two sides, it looks like the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to the NCAA’s NIL era. Even legendary players like Bo Nickal, who weren’t a part of it, have welcomed this new change in the world of college sports and it will have a long-lasting impact on the system as a whole.