NIL vs. Scholarships: What Should Future Athletes Prioritize?

 The surge of NIL deals in the past two years have monumentally changed the landscape of collegiate sports forever. NIL deals have new video games, television shows documenting the day to day of collegiate athletes and have given the top athletics in each sport the change to becoming millionaires without stepping foot on professional field. It seems great! A chance for these athletes to receive financial compensation for their hard work and dedication to their sports. But what about scholarships? 

Nick Saban, the greatest college football coach of all time, attributed the addition of NIL's as the reason he stepped away from coaching. Saban stated that recruits would continually ask how much he could pay them through the NIL Pipeline. It is from stories like this that the question has to be raised. What is more advantageous for college athletes, NIL deals or college scholarships?

I understand this is a loaded question. Different sports have different opportunities. For instance, football, basketball and gymnastics have exceptional opportunities to receive NIL deals due to the popularity of previous athletes. However, for the vast majority of athletes who participate in sports outside of this realm of popularity, it can be difficult to secure major NIL deals. 

Athletes who earn scholarships offers are blessed with the opportunity to play their sport and receive an education for free. According to the NCAA schools across the country grant more than 3.5 billion in scholarship funds every year. Based on this knowledge I believe that students should strive for the scholarship rather than that of the NIL deal. Unfortunately, there is no parody in NIL. The top 1 percent of players are receiving lucrative deals while the rest are not receiving any compensation through NIL. It is safe to say a majority of students should strive for a scholarship and if they are awarded a chance to participate in an NIL deal they should jump on the opportunity.