AJ Dybantsa at BYU shows NIL is out of control in college sports
News

AJ Dybantsa at BYU shows NIL is out of control in college sports

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

Utah Prep's AJ Dybantsa drives to the basket on Highland's Jemal Smith (left) and Josh Hamilton during a game at Emmanuel College in Boston on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. PHOTO USA TODAY SPORTS IMAGESUtah Prep’s AJ Dybantsa drives to the basket on Highland’s Jemal Smith (left) and Josh Hamilton during a game at Emmanuel College in Boston on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. PHOTO USA TODAY SPORTS IMAGES

It’s a long, long way from suspending Terrelle Pryor for trading autographs for tattoos.

The introduction of name, image and image rights for college athletes was intended to give them access to revenue through sponsorship deals with major clothing companies and local sandwich shops.

At least that’s what we were told. Most fans stand behind it because it’s common sense.

Because high school athletes can be promised zero “packages” as a condition of signing with a school, this has quickly become a form of “pay-for-play.”

AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 basketball recruit in the class of 2025, announced Tuesday that he will commit to BYU for his one year of college. He chose the Cougars over Alabama, Kansas and North Carolina.

In a bizarre move, this happened on ESPN’s “First Take,” where Stephen A. Smith told Dybantsa he was surprised he didn’t choose the Tar Heels because they had the opportunity to play in the Duke-Carolina rivalry .

Stupid Stephen. Do you think tradition, legacy or even past championships motivate today’s youth? You of all people should know that it’s all about the money. Yet NIL was not mentioned once during the passage.

In October, a BYU source leaked to On3 that they were “willing to pay $4 to $4.5 million” for one season of Dybantsa. That already corresponds to the annual salary of new coach Kevin Young (US$4.2 million).

Then on Tuesday, reporter Adam Zagoria published the figure $7 million, a ridiculous number whether true or false.

Don’t mistake this column for me saying, “Ohhh, poor Kansas! Poor North Carolina! Who’s going to think about the little guy?” They could have ponied up a few million for a single player if they really wanted to. Maybe they understood that this was unwise.

This is the latest example of the growing divide in college sports between the haves and have-nots.

BYU and some schools are well-funded and have enough money to throw silly amounts of money at players. But most don’t have the $7 million for their entire NIL operation.

Dybantsa had already agreed to zero deals with Nike and Red Bull before Tuesday’s announcement. Good! Get the bag. Do you know who else is signed to Nike and Red Bull? Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper, who has a couple of 30-point games, challenging Duke’s Cooper Flagg for the top spot in the NBA mock drafts.

Rutgers is even less of a traditional basketball destination than BYU, but Harper chose the Scarlet Knights because he’s from New Jersey, his brother played for them and he liked coach Steve Pikiell. Yes, NIL must have been a factor in his decision too, but we haven’t heard anything even close to what Dybantsa is reportedly getting.

I don’t like to delve into religion to conclude here, but LDS Church elder Clark Gilbert told the Deseret News just six weeks ago: “The church will not get involved in dollar amounts or recruits; That is the task of the university. But we will lay out some principles. We can never become a place where culture is paid for. We would undermine everything at BYU if this prevails.”

The reported Dybantsa package shows us what’s catching on, and not just in Provo.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *