Pat McAfee's pledge to West Virginia's NIL collective raises massive concerns
The 2020 college football season was a massive shift in the landscape for multiple reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic season allowed players to play a season for free which changed fortunes for multiple teams with extra eligibility. That allowed quarterbacks Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. to play one more year in college and become top-12 […]
The 2020 college football season was a massive shift in the landscape for multiple reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic season allowed players to play a season for free which changed fortunes for multiple teams with extra eligibility. That allowed quarterbacks Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. to play one more year in college and become top-12 draft picks.
The biggest aspect of the 2020 season was the advent of NIL. The state of Florida initially passed legislation that allowed college athletes to make money off of their name, image and likeness. It was set to begin in 2021 and that caused the NCAA to enact NIL policies of their own.
Over the last few seasons, NIL has been a wild west with little oversight from the NCAA and it has continued through the current day.
Pat McAfee to donate to West Virginia's NIL collective
It's not uncommon to see a celebrity donate to the NIL of their alma mater. LifeWallet's John Ruiz is the main booster to Miami FL's collective being the biggest example. Joining the ranks of boosters helping out their NIL collective is ESPN's Pat McAfee who pledged to donate $1 million to the NIL collective at his alma mater of West Virginia.
Yes, you read that right. McAfee, who is employed by ESPN and covers the sport of college football for College Gameday, is donating money to an NIL collective. Here is what McAfee had to say about the donation.
"What you did for this entire city, program and everything around you will never be forgotten, and thank you for making the trip up on this beautiful program," McAfee said to former West Virginia QB Pat White. And with that being said, I would like to make an announcement that I will be donating $1 million to the West Virginia NIL collective.
"And it would not be from my name. It'll be for the entire team that I played alongside. It was all of us. I was very lucky to be on a team with you, Pat White, I was very lucky to be on a team with you Owen Schmitt. Reed Williams, Darius Reynaud. You go through the list of absolute dogs from front to back that we had on those teams that changed this entire place, from our West Virginia team to this new West Virginia team. We want to say thank you for the hospitality. 1 million bucks. I hope you spend it in the right way, and let's enjoy the shit out of a weekend in Morgantown, West Virginia."
You can tell his heart is in the right place, but does it matter?
That's not where the issues end either. ESPN is set to air Mountaineers games this year with the first one coming in in week two as they host Albany on ESPN+. That is a potential ethical dillema for ESPN and college football, which doesn't have a ton of oversight on NIL. That becomes a major problem when you have a college football analyst openly donating to the NIL collective of a team that their network has a contract to air games.
We know that McAfee loves West Virginia University. He was the punter and kicker for the Mountaineers during the peak of Rich Rodriguez's run in Morgantown. We've seen plenty of fans show their fandom for their team or university, but becoming financially invested in them is a different level.
How big of a deal is it? We can take a direct look at how the NFL is handling Tom Brady potentially being a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and broadcasting games for Fox as a good example. If he becomes a minority owner, Brady won't be able to attend practices or production meetings and not have access to team facilities.
Why would Brady not have those privileges that every other broadcaster gets? Simple: Brady is financially invested in the Raiders and could give them a competitive advantage. Who's to say that it won't happen with McAfee? It's way more likely than not with the nature of College Gameday that he has access to inside information. Will he be cut out of those elements in the same way Brady is likely going to be?
He may not be a traditional journalist, but is at worst journalist adjacent and it presents a littany of potential issues for both the NCAA and ESPN.
