Alabama needs more NIL money, but do they need to be more like Ohio State to compete?

To the tune of Mortal Combat, DUH DUH DUH DUH DADUH DADUH DADAH DUH DUH DAH DUDAH PORTAL COMBAT!

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to tell Bama Nation it’s time to “fight back.” 

Byrne’s plea listed above encouraged people to go to yea-alabama.com to donate to the Crimson Tide’s NIL collective and help out in the fight over players in the transfer portal. 

Looking through the comments, plenty of people are critiquing Byrne’s plea, but it’s the modern nature of College Football. Teams need NIL money to compete for recruits, and once what you’ve already sent has been spent, they need more. 

Missing in this discussion, though, is how Alabama’s NIL benefits stack up against the other big schools. Are you getting the best benefits and deals by contributing to Alabama as opposed to what other schools are offering? 

Looking at the most expensive team in College Football, Ohio State’s NIL collective, I don’t think so. 

The Donation Process

Both Alabama and Ohio State offer one-time and recurring donation options. Alabama has a minimum donation of one dollar, whereas Ohio State starts at a minimum of $10. 

Single Donations

There are benefits to being able to make small donations, but for every one-dollar donor,  Alabama needs to bring in 10 donors to Ohio State’s minimum $10 donation. When you’re playing a numbers game, this puts you at a disadvantage right out of the gate. 

Advantage: Ohio State

Recurring Donations

For recurring donations, Alabama offers five packages ranging from $5 to $250+; each package is built to automatically give you certain benefits based on your level of donation. For Ohio State, you have to make a recurring donation of over $75 a month before you qualify for any of the experiences or gifts that are included in your donation. Ohio State does offer more benefits if you join its founder's club, but with a price entry point of $1,000, it is more pricey to see a return. 

This allows Alabama fans to get more out of their smaller donations and offers Alabama fans more bang for their buck. 

Advantage: Alabama

What you can buy from the NIL collective

Yea-Alabama does have a store on their website where you can buy exclusive merch autographed materials, and they even occasionally auction off big experiences, though there are none currently listed.

Ohio State’s NIL store is built around purchasing experiences. The experiences range from getting a private video shoutout from your favorite player to getting an athlete to joining the team on the team walk before the game. These packages range anywhere from $1,000-$20,000. 

The big difference between the two schools here is while Alabama is trying to sell you autographs and merch, Ohio State is trying to sell you the big donor life. With Ohio State, a purchased experience could buy a player showing up to your office Christmas party or a round of golf with a player or coach (both of which are sold on the collective's website). While still extremely expensive, it’s something that used to be reserved only for mega-donors, at Alabama, it still is. At Ohio State, it can now be technically bought up by anyone. 

Advantage: Ohio State 

Interacting with the Athletes

If you want to reach out to the players with Alabama, whether it be to advertise services or to get an autograph, you fill out a form with the collective, and they reach back out to you with what you need to know as far as prices, etc. Ohio State has it all readily available. 

You can quickly buy a social media shout-out, you can buy a round of golf with the players, buy a private message, or, for an entry fee of $25,000, have a player endorse your business. 

The deciding factor is that Ohio State offers more, and it’s easier to access. 

Advantage: Ohio State

When you sign up to play College Football, you don’t sign up to be a show pony, and that is a big part of the Ohio State business model in their NIL marketing. But in the age of social media, where everyone craves instant access, it is a better model to raise funds quickly. 

For Alabama to stay competitive in the modern era of NIL, it may have to make changes to more closely resemble Ohio State if it wants to compete.