THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Cougs need to cash in to compete

What’s the difference between $1 million and $2 million?

Besides the obvious arithmetic, I mean.

Well, among other things, it seems to be enough that Washington State quarterback John Mateer was happy to pack his gear and leave Pullman in a flash.

This is the world of name, image and likeness (NIL).

Money raining from the sky — and from well-heeled donors — can now be legally funneled to college athletes.

Big-time schools are coming up with astronomical amounts to snatch up promising high school kids and lure already successful players from other programs.

Mateer had one exciting year for the Cougs, earning them a berth in the Holiday Bowl (which he’ll pass, naturally), and there was a serious effort to convince him not to leave.

The Cougar Collective, which drums up NIL cash for Wazzu athletes, put together an offer for Mateer that everyone involved concedes would pay the QB roughly a million bucks.

The collective hoped the money and Mateer’s professed enjoyment of playing on the Palouse would keep him in Jake Dickert’s program for another year.

Nope.

Sorry.

Mateer visited his family in Texas to think things over, and then declined the offer.

He will enter the transfer portal, where a higher bid awaits.

A SOLID source suggests that Mateer has an offer in hand for “at least $2 million.”

It could be coming from Oklahoma of the cash-rich Southeastern Conference.

The Cougs’ offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, has already been swept off to OU, so the dots seem to add up.

This is the new reality in college sports.

At present, it makes life tough on schools like Washington State — not because Wazzu is playing in a second-tier conference these days, but because no sugar daddy has turned up to fund the program with staggering NIL deals.

So far, the amounts involved have been eye-watering.

That’s with the big programs just getting started, too.

Michigan, for instance, managed to convince super prep quarterback Bryce Underwood to flip his commitment from LSU to the Wolverines.

There was serious help from Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the third-richest man in the world ($236.4 billion: Forbes), who is handing over a reported $10-12 million to Michigan’s NIL collective, the Champions Circle.

The best part: Ellison has no direct connection to Michigan.

However, his sixth wife Jolin graduated from Ann Arbor in 2012, and apparently asked hubby to throw a few coins at her beloved football program.

Good grief!

What if she wants an entire team?

It’s not like Larry would feel the hit, and there is no limit (yet) on NIL money.

Meanwhile, some old memories of mine have turned up in this arena.

I was the sports editor in Provo, Utah, for four years, and naturally covered the programs at BYU.

What you learn while living there is that Mormons make great neighbors – they’ll always help out as part of their religious duty – and that the LDS Church itself has tons of money.

So do its members.

BYU has always had cash-rich help in various areas of its programs, and once NIL support was introduced in college sports, I told anyone who would listen that we would soon see deals turning up.

BINGO!

BYU basketball just announced the commitment of 5-star prep phenom AJ Dybantsa, a 6-9 forward who was the No. 1 recruit nationally in the class of 2025.

Dybantsa announced his decision on ESPN, citing the presence of coach Kevin Young, who has extensive NBA experience.

BYU won this recruiting battle over North Carolina, Kansas and Alabama.

If you’re surprised that Kevin Young has quite so much clout in the hoops world, Dybantsa also is getting an NIL deal that sources at BYU have pegged at $7 million.

If Dybantsa goes to the NBA after one year, which is his dream, that $7 million will be the largest annual NIL arrangement so far.

There’s surely more to come, though.

Nike king Phil Knight has already spent more than $1 billion aiding Oregon’s athletics programs, and he was right in the mix when star cornerback Na’eem Offord flipped his commitment from Ohio State to the Ducks.

Offord admitted Knight had a serious hand in his choice of a university.

The Nike boss “played a big role, like a huge, big role,”

Offord said.

Of course he did.

Look, surely there’s a Wazzu alum out there who’s made a billion or more.

They need to get in touch.

That’s the game these days.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”