This right here is NIL in a nut shell.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

The crux of the issue: Are the players adults, or kids?

Kids don't get to make all decisions. Kids don't have full rights. Kids have to be parented by an authority figure with real discipline power. In that sense, NIL is AWFUL as it leads to the "parents" not being able to discipline without the "kid" leaving, and it leads to the "kids" having all this money to make dumb decisions. If you see a 14 year old with $400k spending cash, you'd think they're spoiled brats. If you saw a 14 year old threaten to change parents in an argument you'd say that kid will never learn their lesson. a 14 year old should be grateful for the life lessons (coaching) and allowance (college tuition) that they're already getting and wait their turn to make their own decisions.

However, if we think of college athletes as adults, NIL is just par for the course. "How can UCONN's coach do his job if his players have the right to leave???" I don't know, how does any boss manage his employees when Indeed has hundreds of jobs they can apply to on lunch break? You speak to them as adults and find non asshole ways to motivate them to do their job. Millions of managers all across the country are able to lead and train subordinates. And if a problem employee leaves because they don't want to change their behavior, you hire a replacement and hope they have a better attitude and are glad to be rid of the cancer. In that sense (Portal = job hunting and NIL= salary) coaches aren't asked to do anything that a manager hiring a 23 year old engineering grad isn't.

Are 18-23 year olds adults, or children? This is the moral difference about NIL. We all agree NIL is awful for the sport itself, but those who are morally outraged about it do so because they don't want "kids" getting uppidy