Has NIL Ruined March Madness?

Joseph Chalfant | March 22, 2026 5:00 PM

College sports are clearly still going through growing pains since the dawn of the NIL era. Dominant teams remain dominant, but mid-level teams seem to have reached a level of dominance not seen before. Look no further than how far the Texas Tech football program has climbed on the back of oil industry money, boosting its NIL capabilities. Do I even need to mention Indiana winning the National Championship?

The same seems to have taken hold in March Madness as well. The Cinderella stories of insignificant teams making huge waves seem to be over. Now, Texas, along with its $22 million in NIL funds, is the one we are considering the underdog.

Well, this is not an encouraging trend for Cinderellas. ...

The NCAA tournament went to 64 teams in 1985. Only 7 times have the 13-14-15 seeds all gone winless in the first round.

It's now happened two years in a row (for the first time).
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) March 21, 2026

Texas is an 11-seed.
Texas went 9-9 in the SEC.
Texas played in the First Four.

School size means nothing.
Texas is absolutely a real Cinderella.
— Sam Block (@theblockspot) March 22, 2026

EVERY SINGLE FAVORITE WON OUTRIGHT TODAY 🤯 pic.twitter.com/JJiUooBSzo
— br_betting (@br_betting) March 21, 2026

We have now seen two consecutive years of 13-plus seeds going winless in the first round. Some upsets occurred, sure, but none of the teams that have advanced should be considered outliers. They all boast good programs. Again, Texas, as an 11 seed, is being considered a Cinderella story. What happened to the madness part of March Madness?

Money has always controlled college sports, so let’s not act like this is completely uncharted territory, but it was never near the degree to which we have seen today. When we factor in the insane growth of sports betting, it seems that the commercialization of college sports has only just begun to explode.

I’m all in favor of these players being compensated for the work that they do. They provide their universities with millions upon millions in revenue while risking their health. What I don’t want to see is the destruction of the most interesting subset of sports. The relaxed transfer portal rules and the plague of conference realignment have contributed greatly to that already. NIL looks like it is just driving the knife even deeper.