Ex-NFL quarterback Charlie Batch offered Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams $1 million in an NIL deal if Williams transfers to Eastern Michigan University, Batch’s alma mater. Welcome to college football in the year 2022. We love it!
Hey @CALEBcsw, have you considered Eastern Michigan, @EMUFB? If not, you SHOULD. GameAbove Capital is prepared to pay you ONE MILLION DOLLARS for one year! Are you ready be an EAGLE?@espn @CBSSportsNet @CBSSports @NBCSports @FOXSports @barstoolsports @MACSports @FS1
— Charlie Batch (@CharlieBatch16) January 5, 2022
Now that the corrupt cartel known as the NCAA has allowed athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness, athletes have more choice than ever and a modicum of control in the multibillion-dollar business of college athletics.
Williams threw for 1,912 yards, 21 touchdowns and four interceptions and rushed for 442 yards and six touchdowns, in his freshman season at Oklahoma. But with the departure of head coach Lincoln Riley to the University of Southern California, Williams has decided to enter the transfer portal.
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He will be the target of a lot of top-tier programs, and while Eastern Michigan isn’t that, Batch figured he could entice the young signal caller with a deal.
Batch played his college ball at Eastern Michigan and in the NFL for the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers. With the latter he was a two-time Super Bowl champion.
Since he’s retired Batch has worked with CapStone Holdings as their senior vice president of Strategic Investments. In that role he works primarily with CapStone’s family of businesses, including: GameAbove Mobility, GameAbove Capital and GameAbove EMU.
This is an interesting time in college sports and frankly a welcomed change by many.
For too long the NCAA, its member universities and their television partners (read: adults) enriched themselves off the backs of free labor from the athletes (read: kids). The shifting of the scales has been long overdue.
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Williams will have options and choices now that were not available to players in the past. Maybe he’s good enough to go pro and instead chooses a major program where he follows the traditional path. Maybe he’s from a family with means, and pro or not, a $1 million NIL deal won’t sway his decision.
Or perhaps this is the most money he may ever have the chance to get his hands on in his life. You know, bird in the hand. Whatever decision he makes, he won’t be at the mercy of a corrupt NCAA system.
Traditionalists will say this is “bad for the game” and it’s creating more “entitled athletes.” Nonsense.
Where else in America, the home of capitalism, do we expect people to provide labor and not be compensated? One-year renewable scholarships, room and board, and PELL grants are not compensation. Not when you consider the revenue reaped by the powers that be.
The NIL provision is the first step in cracking the facade of amateurism the NCAA has propped up for more than a century. When billions of dollars are generated it isn’t amateurism.
Will some young athletes make decisions solely based on money? Yes. Will it go bad for some of them? Yes. But it’s not our place to judge why or why not. We don’t know the intimate details of these kids’ financial situations, what kind of pressure they’re under, and who they have to support.
No, this isn’t the college sports your grandfather grew up with. But it has a chance to be more fair to the athletes.
