Mark Stoops would give up part of his salary to help fund NIL for Kentucky players

We are getting very close to the Kentucky Wildcats kicking off the 2022 season with high expectations.

However, away from the performance on the field, Mark Stoops is concerned for college football when it comes to NIL.

Stoops is a huge advocate for players benefitting financially through NIL deals, but Stoops has concerns about sustaining these collectives.

In an interview with The Cats’ Pause, Stoops talked about his concerns.

“We’re all majorly concerned about the sustainability of pay-for-play and putting these collectives together and paying kids out of high school.”

Despite the concerns, Stoops knows that if they don’t get it figured out then everything, he has built the last decade will be gone.

“However, if we don’t do it, then all this work I’ve done for nine years and going on 10 is out the window,” he said. “We’ll be blown by.”

Stoops believes so strongly that players should be able to benefit financially from NIL that he would be willing to sacrifice part of his salary.

“I’d give up a major portion of my own salary if I could give it directly to the kids and do away with some of this,” Stoops said.

So far, there has been zero leadership from the NCAA. Now, most administrators are hoping Congress puts national guidelines in place to help ease the concerns and provide a model for all programs to follow.

Until that is all sorted out, the new world of NIL is going to be wild, and Stoops knows that Kentucky needs to step up in order to continue building this program.

You can check out everything Stoops had to say here.