What do y’all think
Yes.
5 Likes
Not necessarily over but they will drop down a few levels in this NIL era.
How many marketing opportunities are there in Alabama?
You’ll start to see the best players go elsewhere
1 Like
Alabama has old money
Their Endowment figure disagrees.
Schools with "old Money " have endowments in the $5 billion plus range
Look them up
1 Like
Does their endowment pay for athletics/football?
Yes
Yes. I think they had a mechanism in place to allow them to stack their roster (bag men) and that mechanism no longer gives them a competitive advantage with nil and the portal. There aren’t enough wealthy donors in Alabama to keep up.
5 Likes
You’re absolutely sure about this, or is this just a guess?
1 Like
I’m just guessing.
During the 2023 season I posted on this forum that their era of dominance was over.
They lost in the 2023 CFP to Michigan.
In 2024 they did not make The CFP. They lost to Vanderbilt and were demolished 24-3 by OU, a team that was 6-6.
In the 25 years between Bear Bryant’s retirement and Saban’s arrival Alabama had 1 National Title(Gene Stallings was Coach).
Look for another long era of no National Titles.
3 Likes
The advantage Bama had was their head coach who was a pipeline to the pros.
1 Like
It’s been over for a few years now. Doesn’t mean they won’t compete, but yes, it’s over.
2 Likes
WDE
I think its fair to say yes. They are good, sometimes REAL good, but not national champ caliber year after year as before.
1 Like
Get ready for the new wave of money talks, starring SMU and Texas Tech, they could both be in the playoffs.
2 Likes
Same could be said for Kansas basketball? Haha don’t wanna derail. 
And in Tech’s case, they have become a big NIL and transfer portal hound WITHOUT being in a big market or having a lot of local businesses.
Same for aTm.
That’s why I say @UH1927 , it’s NOT really about being located in a big market or having a lot of businesses nearby. If it were, then Temple, Tulane, Georgia Tech, and Cal would be the leaders in that regard.
Obviously, they are NOT.
It’s about having large numbers of fans with money that care enough about sports to fill the NIL honeypot to a sufficient level to outbid everybody else.
Tech and aTm seem to have it.
Not sure about Bama, BUT, even if they do have it as well, it is NOT as much of an advantage for them as it would be for those other schools.
Same for many other SEC teams.
And that’s why Alabama’s advantage over the rest of the college football, and for that matter, the SEC’s advantage over the other conferences, has diminished in the last few seasons.
1 Like
will take a back seat but will come back eventually, its a legendary program at this point after saban built on top of the bear. my guess is they lure the clemson coach away at some point, who i think is a bama alumn; and have another run.
There are two NIL buckets and BOTH are important
Bucket #1 = Collective via donations
Bucket #2 = via marketing opportunities and Corporate investments in their metro
Only a couple dozen, or so, schools have the POTENTIAL to take full advantage of both buckets and YES UH is on that shortlist…our Basketball team is currently killing it in both buckets right now. We have what, the #2 recruiting class in the nation right now?
But back to Football…the Championship was just won by a school in the Major league city of Columbus Ohio that dominates both buckets.
Look for that trend to continue and be happy that the NIL era will be the golden era of Houston Cougars Football…no doubt about it!
We are so lucky
5 Likes