* Every year every player goes into a pool that includes incoming freshmen, foreign players, everyone eligible.
* Let schools put in a sealed bid of NIL money to buy draft slots -- no limit on slots you can buy with the 1st pick being worth the most, and so on.
* If a school can afford to buy the first five slots by outbidding other schools in sealed bids, then they get first pick of the five players they want. But you are bidding for each slot, so a good strategy would be not to bid on the first pick if you think you have no shot, but put everything into a bid one a second or third pick. I'd guess the rich, elite programs would dominate the draft, the way they do recruiting. But of course putting together a winning team would not be that simple.
* The only limitation is five draft picks per program.
* Draft the first 150 players.
* After that, anyone not taken becomes a free agent and any school can sign him. You'd have the top 30 programs able to draft between 5 and maybe two or three players, with the next 30 programs able to get one or maybe two draftees. Teams would fill their rosters from those outside the 150 taken in the draft.
* Unseal the order of the draft picks in a televised special the weekend after the NCAA tournament - maybe just revealing the top 25 picks live, then letting the others come out in turn. Imagine being a Kentucky fan and the excitement of finding out the team's draft slots!
* Hold the draft the third weekend in April, roughly two weeks after the NCAA tournament. Again, another great night of television on par with the NFL draft night.
* If a school "drafts" a player and he doesn't want to play there, then another school would have to 'buy' that player's rights with more money for the NIL fund -- or possibly a combination of money and the rights to a player that school has drafted.
* Finish the process by May 15, then have a summer practice schedule to let the new teams have a chance to get comfortable with each other and learn the rudiments of a new system.
College basketball is close to this now, why not just go all the way? It'd bring an element of excitement to the casual fans -- college basketball as a rotisserie sport! And imagine the interest in contributing to NIL pools at your favorite school if you KNOW that is directly contributing to getting the top picks. Everyone in Kentucky would dig deep!
* Let schools put in a sealed bid of NIL money to buy draft slots -- no limit on slots you can buy with the 1st pick being worth the most, and so on.
* If a school can afford to buy the first five slots by outbidding other schools in sealed bids, then they get first pick of the five players they want. But you are bidding for each slot, so a good strategy would be not to bid on the first pick if you think you have no shot, but put everything into a bid one a second or third pick. I'd guess the rich, elite programs would dominate the draft, the way they do recruiting. But of course putting together a winning team would not be that simple.
* The only limitation is five draft picks per program.
* Draft the first 150 players.
* After that, anyone not taken becomes a free agent and any school can sign him. You'd have the top 30 programs able to draft between 5 and maybe two or three players, with the next 30 programs able to get one or maybe two draftees. Teams would fill their rosters from those outside the 150 taken in the draft.
* Unseal the order of the draft picks in a televised special the weekend after the NCAA tournament - maybe just revealing the top 25 picks live, then letting the others come out in turn. Imagine being a Kentucky fan and the excitement of finding out the team's draft slots!
* Hold the draft the third weekend in April, roughly two weeks after the NCAA tournament. Again, another great night of television on par with the NFL draft night.
* If a school "drafts" a player and he doesn't want to play there, then another school would have to 'buy' that player's rights with more money for the NIL fund -- or possibly a combination of money and the rights to a player that school has drafted.
* Finish the process by May 15, then have a summer practice schedule to let the new teams have a chance to get comfortable with each other and learn the rudiments of a new system.
College basketball is close to this now, why not just go all the way? It'd bring an element of excitement to the casual fans -- college basketball as a rotisserie sport! And imagine the interest in contributing to NIL pools at your favorite school if you KNOW that is directly contributing to getting the top picks. Everyone in Kentucky would dig deep!
