Lato’s Lens: Why NIL and the transfer portal are ruining collegiate athletics 

This past week, the collegiate football world was taken by storm when Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the former No. 1 ranked player in the class of 2023, abruptly entered the transfer portal after leading the Vols to their first College Football Playoff berth in the new 12-team era. 

As a college football junkie myself, I was shocked by the news. The noise that Iamaleava has generated for his university has been incredible over recent years, especially after throwing for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and only five interceptions in his redshirt freshman campaign. The program head coach Josh Heupel has built in Knoxville is one of college football’s crowned gems, making it seem almost impossible for Iamaleava to ever leave. 

Iamaleava’s reason for departing, however, was somewhat inevitable given the current landscape of college sports. 

According to a report  from On3’s Transfer Portal Tracker Pete Nakos, amid the offseason, Iamaleava entered into contract negotiations with the university in search of a greater, more lucrative NIL deal for the 2025 season. Yes, you heard that right: contract negotiations. If his needs weren’t satisfied, transferring was on the table, despite being content with the school. Nakos indicated that Iamaleava’s current NIL agreement pays him roughly $2 million per year, an absurd amount for a college athlete. 

In another report by Ryan Roberts of A to Z Sports, Iamaleava’s father and agent allegedly shopped him around to other programs in hopes of securing a more profitable deal—all while he was still enrolled at Tennessee. One of the schools contacted during this process was Oregon. As a result, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning notified Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, escalating the situation dramatically. 

To put it simply, the university said “no” to its starting quarterback’s demand for more compensation, prompting him to part ways with the team and enter the portal. After a stint of greatness, Iamaleava left the school many never thought he’d walk away from. 

This was all a matter of name, image and likeness compensation, more commonly referred to as NIL. In the landmark court case NCAA v. Alston (2021), the U.S. Supreme Court overturned long-standing restrictions on student-athlete compensation, setting the stage for college athletes—not just college football players like Iamaleava—to finally be paid for their name, image and likeness. 

Currently, student-athletes can receive compensation in many ways, such as through commercials, advertisements and brand deals. Though schools still can’t pay athletes directly, collectives—groups of alumni and boosters— work alongside colleges to facilitate NIL opportunities to attract top talent. Combined with the NCAA Transfer Portal, where athletes can switch schools with minimal eligibility restrictions, the current dynamics of collegiate athletics are becoming increasingly unstable. 

First off, I’ll admit that the transfer portal and NIL compensation come with their respective pros. 

The portal, for instance, has allowed athletes to transfer to a school with a better situation, whether that be more playing time, a stronger program or even just a better personal fit. Walter Clayton Jr., the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, initially began his career at mid-major Iona before transferring to Florida, where he showcased his talents on college basketball’s biggest stage. Had he stayed at Iona, it’s highly unlikely he would have received the same national attention, let alone led his team to a national title. 

Playing a sport in college is more a way of life than just a game. Whether it’s practice, games, film sessions or the weight room, collegiate athletes dedicate their lives to the sport they love and, in turn, generate millions of dollars in revenue for their universities. For example, it’s estimated that the Ohio State Buckeyes football team earned upwards of $20 million for winning the 2025 CFP National Championship (per Sportskeeda)—an unfathomable amount of money. Since it’s nearly impossible for student-athletes to generate an income due to their demanding schedules, it makes perfect sense to compensate them, especially after yielding such immense value in the multi-million-dollar collegiate sports industry. 

With these opportunities come drawbacks, which are so large that I believe they threaten to ruin collegiate sports altogether. Despite having potential benefits, NIL compensation and the NCAA transfer portal have created an environment that undermines amateurism and school pride, all while fostering an uneven playing field that ultimately endangers the integrity and tradition of college sports. 

Amateurism, once the foundational basis of college sports, is virtually shattered nowadays. In fact, there is hardly any line between the college and professional levels of athletics. An eye-opening moment for me came three years ago when I heard the story of how Jordan Addison, who is now wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, was offered an NIL deal worth around $3 million to transfer from Pittsburgh to USC. In this instance, there is literally no distinction between the NFL and the NCAA. This is just the reality of NIL and the transfer portal—ruining the longtime traditions of amateurism at the college level. 

Being a student at UConn, otherwise known as “The Basketball Capital of the World,” one thing I’ve noticed about the basketball players here is their unconditional love for the university. Recent national champion and WNBA No. 1 overall draft pick Paige Bueckers has remained at UConn for all five years of her career, a truly impressive feat. What I’m trying to say is that athletes like Bueckers are a dying breed in the current age of NIL and the portal. You rarely see an athlete remain at one university for their entire career, and it’s common to see a player who has suited up for three, even four different schools over the course of their collegiate journey. One characteristic that I believe sets college sports apart from the professional level is school pride. How is one supposed to love their university when hopping around schools is as rampant as it is, especially with NIL incentives to transfer? This is something I cannot wrap my head around. 

Out of the eight teams that reached this year’s Final Fours in both the men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments, seven were No. 1 seeds from Power Five conferences. This is undoubtedly the result of NIL, where larger schools with expansive alumni networks (and lots of money) can literally buy players to enhance their chances of winning. The University of Michigan made headlines recently when Bryce Underwood, the most sought-after high school football prospect in the country, flipped his commitment from LSU to Michigan after being offered an NIL deal worth up to $12 million over four years, funded by billionaire donors. Mind you, Underwood has yet to play a single collegiate snap. This raises the question: How are smaller, mid-major schools supposed to compete? I really don’t know. As a result, NIL and the portal have created an uneven playing field, top-heavy with larger schools dominating smaller programs that lack financial backing. 

What I’ve just described to you, although nightmarish, is the current state of college athletics due to NIL and the NCAA transfer portal. Together, they have created a chaotic, semi-professional marketplace where top student-athletes like Nico Iamaleava flee universities in search of more money, generating unfair competition among schools and eroding the integrity and tradition of college sports. Though this is not the case for everyone, if the NCAA refuses to act now, I cannot imagine what the future of college athletics will look like. Time will only tell.