Charles Barkley: NIL has made college basketball ‘a travesty and disgrace’
Charles Barkley is not a fan of the new era of Name Image and Likeness (NIL) in college basketball.
The former Auburn basketball star and NBA All-Star was featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes immediately after the conclusion of Sunday’s Elite Eight games. In his interview, the outspoken basketball commentator criticized the lack of NIL regulation in college basketball, saying that the same top 25 programs would “dominate” the sport for the next three to five years.
“It’s a farce and a disgrace,” Barkley said of the state of the game. “I’m so angry now how can we mess up something so beautiful.”
When asked how basketball has been “screwed up,” Barkley said colleges can’t afford to pay all players, which will create a disconnect between the rich and elite teams and the rest of the field.
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“We can’t pay all of these players,” Barkley said. “In the next three to five years we’re going to have 25 schools that are going to dominate the sport (sic) because they can afford players. And those schools that can’t afford or pay players will be irrelevant.”
Barkley’s comments follow a Final Four group that includes first-time entrant Miami, who notably used NIL deals to secure transfer players in Kansas State’s Nijel Pack and Arkansas State’s Norchad Omier. Isaiah Wong, who was among the team’s top scorers in 2021/22, said he would leave the Hurricanes program unless his own NIL deal with the school was strengthened.
Wong ended up staying in Miami, where billionaire LifeWallet CEO John Ruiz has helped close several high-profile NIL deals in both men’s and women’s basketball.
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While Miami’s use of NIL to attract high-ranking recruits is a controversial topic in college basketball, the sport has already seen significant dominance from just a handful of teams: last year’s Final Four contenders Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and Villanova, have combined for 15 of the 37 national championships of the extended bracket era.
This season, three first-time participants have made it to the Final Four: Miami, Florida Atlantic, and San Diego State. Only UConn, a four-time national champion since 1999, has seen this stage before. Only four other programs have won their first national championships since the first Huskies: Maryland 2002, Syracuse 2003, Florida 2006, Virginia 2019, and Baylor 2021.
This isn’t the first time Barkley has spoken about the need for regulation in the NIL era. Speaking on Thursday’s NCAA tournament pregame show, he asserted that it is up to the NCAA to regulate NIL deals, adding that the organization cannot expect — or rely on — any help from Congress.
Whether Barkley envisions the future for college basketball remains to be seen. But he has at least spoken out against the lack of NIL regulation – in a way only he can.