KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Four-hundred thousand dollars’ worth of elite point guard with a 40-inch vertical leap went up for a dunk Saturday afternoon in Miami’s Midwest Regional off-day shootaround at the T-Mobile Center. The physical act of Nijel Pack throwing down drew more raves from sideline observers than the fact he is earning $400K per year to do it.
Increasingly — across the tournament and across the nation — that is as it should be. The ability to get such NIL benefits has ushered in an era when such six-figure deals hardly make us blink anymore.
The fifth-seeded Canes are within 40 minutes of their first Final Four Sunday against Texas. But the subtext is rooted in what – at least on the surface – is one of the best teams money can buy.
Pack signed a two-year NIL deal worth $800,000 when he transferred from Kansas State in the offseason. Teammate Isaiah Wong has a deal worth at least $100,000 per year. It is a lot, legal and public. Billionaire Miami booster John Ruiz wanted it that way.
In the 21 months since the NCAA allowed athletes’ access to profit off their birthright name, image and likeness, Ruiz became one of the faces of NIL. Last fall when he not only released the list of Miami athletes he was paying to endorse LifeWallet – Ruiz’ company which recovers improper payments made by Medicare — he also released their salaries.
Ruiz said the maneuver was “totally strategic” to draw attention to his business.
“That’s what marketing is about, right?” Ruiz told CBS Sports. “Whether you like the deal, you don’t like the deal. You hate me, you hate Nijel. You love Nijel. Whatever the circumstances are you’re being talked about.”
“How much would it cost LifeWallet to be in all the articles that he’s been in?,” Ruiz added. “You’re probably looking at $25 million dollars.”
We can quibble about hyperbole, but there is no doubt Pack has been worth it. Miami is in its…
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