Ole Miss Athletic Director Says NIL Deals Paused Stadium Renovations

Keith Carter speaks on NIL deals pausing Vaught Hemingway Stadium renovations

With the changes in college sports, universities are starting to see the effects of handing out NIL money.

If athletic programs want to compete with some of the other top programs in the nation, they need NIL funds. The days of a school's name carrying them to a recruit are long gone as athletes are now looking for as much money as they can make.

With that comes issues to other parts of the school.

Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter had plans for Vaught Hemingway Stadium to be renovated. 

However, due to the NIL landscape, renovations to Vaught Hemingway will have to wait. Carter had the following to say, according to Bro Bible.

“We still have it. We know right where it is on the shelf. We’re gonna come back to it someday. It’s a project that we feel like is important, but we’re just not in a place to do that right now until we find out where this college athletics landscape is going to land.”

Carter's guess on where NIL will end up is as good as anyone's. While the decision to pay student-athletes was ultimately the right one, it's certainly fair to say that it's a bit confusing.

Ole Miss landed one of the top transfer portal classes in the country, so the renovations to Vaught Hemingway, or lack thereof, don't seem to be a big deal for recruits. 

As long as they're being paid the amount that they believe they're worth, most won't ask questions.

Whether schools, athletic directors, coaches, or fans like it, this is the new way of college sports.