Inside the college football NIL market: How much players at each position are actually getting paid

What does it cost to get a starting player in this current college football ecosystem?

It’s a question begging to be answered but fraught with complications. Even in Year 3 of name, image and likeness where players getting paid has become increasingly accepted, it is still beyond challenging to get real, hard data on what players are making. 

There is no centralized data. There are deals that are run through platforms like Opendorse that give a sense of what the market is doing, but there are still plenty of deals happening in the shadows and not officially run through any system. 

With all that in mind, CBS Sports attempted to put together as accurate a market assessment as possible. We talked to NIL agents, collective operators, college coaches and personnel staffers, players and their parents and others with knowledge of the space. There will always be outliers, but this is our best effort at establishing the market range for Power Four starters at each position. These numbers also take into account what we believe to be the retention cost to keep a player from hitting the transfer portal.  

QB market range: $500,000 to $800,000

Just like in the NFL, quarterback is the most valuable position in college football. There are some notable outliers here — more on them in a second — but the industry agrees that you can get a quality starting Power Four quarterback in the $500,000 to $800,000 range.

“It’s QB1,” said a Power Four collective operator. “That’s the most important playmaker on your team and the most valuable.” 

During a recent interview with Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said he couldn’t bring himself to spend $1 million on a transfer quarterback, especially with Payton Thorne already on the roster….

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/inside-the-college-football-nil-market-how-much-players-at-each-position-are-actually-getting-paid/

Author : John Talty

Publish date : 2024-05-20 21:24:21

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