For The Love of the Game: Western Michigan Won The College Hockey National Championship Without Spending A Single Penny On NIL
Tyler Schank. Getty Images.Most people would be able to agree that the current state of college sports is completely broken. It seemed like the original idea behind the NIL deal was for athletes to be able to make money off of signing autographs without losing their eligibility. To be able to get a free meal from the local diner without having to forfeit the rest of the season. To make some money based off of their jerseys being sold, and maybe even receiving a car somewhere along the way from the boosters. The original idea of NIL was to not completely screw over the kids who make a little money on the side. Somehow it went from that, to wildly overrated college football quarterbacks attempting to extort $4 million from their institution just to step on the field.
It's ridiculous, but it seems like we've completely lost control of the situation at this point. There's no going back now. College sports have turned into professional sports, but even worse because there are seemingly no rules or regulations. The bigger schools with deeper pockets are always going to be able to spend more to get better players. That's how you end up with a college basketball Final Four featuring all 4 top seeds in the tournament.
But just when you thought college sports were shattered and broken, in come the Western Michigan University Broncos to make everything right again.
This was just a group of guys who love the game, love their university, love to score, and love their team.
DI football and basketball schools are spending literal millions of dollars in NIL money to construct their rosters. The Western Michigan Broncos didn't spend a single dollar. Not a single dime. Not a single penny. And how were they rewarded for sticking to their convictions and building a roster through guys who actually want to be there instead of just collecting a paycheck?
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By winning their first national championship in program history. After taking down the reigning champs in the semifinals, and then straight shit pumping a powerhouse like BU in the final. These guys may not have been making thousands and thousands of dollars this year to wear that sweater, but here's to hoping they get thousands and thousands of drinks for free every time they're in Kalamazoo for the rest of their life because they wore that sweater.
Listen. I get it. The demographics for elite hockey players are slightly different than football and basketball. We can't just overlook that glaring reality. A lot of these kids probably come from families who will be perfectly well off without taking an insane amount of money to go play college puck. But that doesn't change the fact that there's something to be said about having a group of guys who care more about their team than their bank account. The more you watch guys in other sports immediately sprint to the transfer portal to go wherever the money tells them to go, the more you realize how much this Broncos team rips.