SEC coaches sound off on moving home games for NIL dollars
ATHENS — College football NIL dollars likely are coming to — or, perhaps, “through” — a stadium near you.
The Aflac Kickoff Game on Sept. 5 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium between Baylor and Auburn will allow the game’s organizers to “utilize third-party entities to secure marketing assets and promotional appearances by Auburn student-athletes,” per an event release, translating to NIL dollars going into players’ pockets.
The game originally was to be played in Auburn as the back end of a home-and-home agreement between the schools that started this season with the Tigers’ 38-24 win over the Bears in Waco, Texas.
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said moving the game from Auburn to Atlanta to allow the players to earn NIL dollars — a benefit of up to $8 million in revenue, per an On3 report — should pay off for everyone, even if it means one less home game at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“In a lot of ways it may be cheaper for some of our fans, with hotel rooms and things like that being a lot cheaper in Atlanta than they are in Auburn on a game weekend,” Freeze said on the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday. “Bottom line is, what is best for helping us build and maintain and retain the roster? It was really hard to argue that this is not a step in that direction.”
Indeed, the quest to secure NIL deals and funds for athletes and athletic departments has become paramount to programs looking to stay competitive as college sports has become a money game.
Kirby Smart said there’s a lot to consider when moving home games for the sake of money.
“It’s very interesting, (but) I don’t know if you say it’s the tip of the iceberg,” said Smart, whose program (along with Florida’s) will make $7.5 million to play the Georgia-Florida game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium next season (the teams will play in Tampa, Florida, in 2027).
Smart indicated Wednesday that since the Auburn-Baylor game in Atlanta was announced, “people have reached out” about future opportunities for Georgia.
“I think you’ve gotta be careful because you’re working for two different groups: You’re working to generate revenue for your players, which is the lifeblood of your program, but you’re also trying to entertain and make sure your customers — the home ticket fans, the alumni, the people who buy your seats — are just as engaged.”
Smart knows about that from the years of discussions about Georgia giving up a home game to play Florida in Jacksonville. The Bulldogs will play next season’s annual neutral-site game with Florida in Atlanta, as Jacksonville’s $1.4 billion “Stadium of the Future” renovation will be under construction through 2027.
Smart, while questioning moving games for NIL dollars, acknowledges that, “every coach is trying to get every dollar they can in terms of roster retention and roster management.”
LSU coach Brian Kelly confirmed Smart’s suggestion that the Auburn-Baylor NIL deal to play in Atlanta is indeed the beginning of more creative ways to generate money for college athletes and athletic programs.
“I think that discussions about NIL tax for hotels and things of that nature are on the table for discussion as it relates to home games versus neutral sites,” Kelly said when asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the SEC coaches teleconference if there was a way for players to earn NIL money through home games.
“I think once we opened up this box, I think all of those now become, you know, fiduciary decisions that are made by the administration.”
Kelly said financial incentives to play games at neutral sites or add NIL opportunities with home games — through hotel taxes or otherwise — generally amount to the same thing.
“When you think about it, all that money is coming out of the same pot,” Kelly said. “The revenue share is coming out of the same pot. Now, if that can be redirected to NIL, I think it just gives you another option now as you start to consider whether we’re going to play a home game or whether we’re going to play a neutral-site game from a revenue standpoint.
“I think that’s all that’s on the table now, given the model we have.”
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said he would prefer his football program not move home games to neutral sites for the sake of NIL dollars.
“I like our home games for our fans. They get to come, and it does a lot for our community and our town,” Kiffin said Wednesday. “I wouldn’t want to take that away from our fans and our community. NIL dollars aren’t the answer to everything. They got a lot of them over there.
“I’d prefer in that situation to keep supporting our community and our town and our university that has been so great to us.”
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said he applauds the creativity taking place as schools look for ways to generate added revenue.
“I was made aware of (Baylor-Auburn), and again, good for them and good for their players, you know, for thinking of unique ways to make some money for the players to help in any way that they can,” Stoops said Wednesday.
“So, good for them, and certainly it would be something … we would look at and try to find ways. We certainly need to find some ways to create some of those dollars.”
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
