Sports
How is college football trying to rein in ‘wild West’ of transfers? Make players pay to leave
For four years, college coaches and administrators have lamented the “wild, wild West” nature of the transfer portal, with athletes hopping from school to school in search of more money, more playing time or a better fit. Now, some universities are invoking a new threat to keep their players: Leave, and you’ll owe us money.
Programs are chasing that kind of leverage under the assumption that they will soon be in a position to directly sign athletes to NIL deals without having to depend on outside collectives or individual donors to make arrangements. They would gain that ability with the landmark House v. NCAA settlement, which would permit schools to share as much as $20.5 million in revenue with their athletes in the next school year if the settlement is approved by a federal judge in California. A hearing is scheduled for April 7.
Many schools during the recent winter portal cycle used that anticipated revenue to make school-funded NIL deals that would go into effect only if the House settlement is approved. The Athletic reviewed redacted copies or was briefed on the terms of several Power 4 schools’ proposed or finalized contracts, which were shared on the condition of anonymity due to the private nature of the contracts.
While there is no such thing as a standardized NIL contract, all contained language intended to deter the player from entering the portal.
“You’re seeing some stuff similar to coaching contracts with the buyout language in there,” said agent Joe Hernandez of Just Win Management Group. “Which is something that you wouldn’t really see in an NFL player-team contract.”
One Big 12 school required the athlete to pay a buyout equal to 50 percent of his remaining compensation if he transferred before the end of the deal’s term. An ACC school required the athlete to pay back 100 percent of his earnings if he transferred before Jan. 31, 2026.
One Big Ten player’s contract, based on a suggested template the conference sent to all of its members, requires the athlete to pay liquidated damages in the event he transfers. Another defers two-thirds of the athlete’s payments for the coming season until the end of January — after the winter portal window closes.
“They can’t stop players from moving from school to school,” said NIL attorney Mit Winter. “But the buyout clause is an attempt to limit that by making the player have to pay back money to the school if they want to get out of that contract.”
Shane Burnham, a former FBS defensive line coach who is now director of football for Ascension Sports Consulting, said he recently reviewed the contract of a player who signed with an ACC school in January. The deal included a clause where the player would have to forfeit 50 percent of the money he’d received if he entered the portal in April.
“It’s predatory what these schools are doing,” Burnham said.
Industry sources say the practice did not become prevalent until the most recent transfer portal cycle, when programs’ general managers began negotiating NIL contracts directly. In the past, schools were more mindful of maintaining separation between the school and an outside collective, but that’s gone by the wayside with the advent of revenue sharing.
“There’s just so much money,” said Walker Jones, executive director of The Grove Collective, which supports Ole Miss. “It got to the point where collectives and schools felt they had to be protected.”
It remains to be seen whether that protection is realistic.
Wisconsin set the tone for this new era in January when it refused to enter cornerback Xavier Lucas’ name into the transfer portal after Lucas had signed a two-year NIL deal. Lucas still left the program and enrolled at Miami, which Wisconsin subsequently accused of tampering with Lucas.
“A request to enter the transfer portal after entering into such an agreement is inconsistent with the representations and mutual understanding of the agreement and explains the reason for not processing a transfer portal request under these circumstances,” Wisconsin said in a statement, which also hinted at potential legal action. “Under the terms of the agreement between Xavier and Wisconsin Athletics, it remains in effect and enforceable.”
The schools are asserting that these contracts are licensing agreements that don’t make the athletes employees, echoing a red line for the NCAA and universities. They also say that the payments are not for athletes to attend the university or to play for it, even as they try to disincentivize players from leaving.
Several figures interviewed for this story speculated or assumed that schools that sign transfers, rather than the players themselves, would be expected to pick up the tab for a buyout.
“It’s basically a carbon copy of what happens with coaches,” said Winter. “They all have employment contracts that say, ‘You can’t coach anywhere else, but if you want to break the contract, here’s what you have to pay.’ And it’s almost always the new school that pays the buyout.”
In interviews with several athletic directors, football general managers and lawyers, all sounded skeptical that the buyout provisions concerning transferring could actually be enforced.
“Our preference wouldn’t be to be the first school to have to take a kid to court to chase down your $25,000 or $50,000,” said an ACC football administrator. “But … the student-athlete would be aware that, ‘Hey, I signed this contract and if I go in the portal, there’s a chance I might owe this money back.’”
“Theoretically, this kid isn’t getting paid to play still,” said a Big 12 general manager whose program did not include a buyout, “so when push comes to shove, if it gets litigated, you’re not going to win that. Now, I see the advantage of potentially using it as a scare tactic to keep players. They don’t know better. But the second any agent gets involved, they’ll just bypass it.”
“The first team that sues a kid — I’d like to see their next recruiting class,” said a second Big 12 GM.
Three agents told The Athletic they’ve insisted the buyouts be removed or reduced from their clients’ deals. However, many players do not have agents and may be unaware that this is a possibility.
Winter said schools need to be careful not to insist on such a high buyout that it might be deemed a penalty, which a court would not enforce, rather than a reasonable estimate of damages.
Meanwhile, it’s believed that most schools’ NIL contracts this cycle were only one-year deals. (Star quarterbacks may be a notable exception.) If there are buyout clauses, the remaining payments owed might be minimal. Multi-year contracts would make the buyouts more prohibitive and, in theory, decrease roster attrition. But as tempting as it may sound to lock down players, in reality, schools may want their own roster flexibility.
“If there’s a buyout, it’s usually both ways,” said the first Big 12 GM. “So it would limit our freedom to just cut the kid if he doesn’t turn out to be good.”
Which would be especially pronounced at a school with a coaching change. A new football hire will invariably want to bring in “his guys,” but may be stuck with some well-paid underperformers who know they won’t make more elsewhere.
After four years of seemingly never-ending chaos and relentless legal challenges, NCAA president Charlie Baker and others have been hoping the House settlement will bring much-needed stability to the NIL space. Collectives are not likely to disappear — if anything, they may help programs spend more than $20.5 million — but the Power 4 conferences have enlisted Deloitte to serve as a clearinghouse for all deals above $600.
As it pertains to transfers, though, any sense of order does not feel imminent.
“I’m not sure my expectation is that the current revenue sharing contracts will change the (transfer) flow,” said Nebraska AD Troy Dannen. “It hasn’t shown to be that way yet.”
— The Athletic’s Jesse Temple contributed to this report.
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Alex Slitz / Getty Images, AP Photo / Michael Conroy)
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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