Amid one of the sport’s most trying postseasons in recent memories, a lot has been made of the untenable current state of college football. Between “blatant tampering” accusations, star quarterbacks breaking contracts to join conference rivals and multiple court cases challenging NCAA eligibility rules, coaches and fans alike are demanding regulation.
Fourth-year Colorado head coach Deion Sanders joined the chorus of collegiate coaches and administrators calling for change to the seemingly unregulated system, especially as it related to NIL and revenue-sharing, which has only further widened the gap between college football’s haves and have-nots.
“It’s tough, but I don’t think what NIL is presenting is not sustainable. And often time it seems you see the same consistent teams winning and winning because of the finances that some of the boosters and donors can give. (So) that needs to be fixed,” Sanders said Friday during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take. “And we need some kind of commissioner (or) somebody to step up and make sure we’re doing this thing in unison. So that you don’t have certain teams that are able to do well beyond what this team (can do), and you know this team is not going win because their lack of finances.
“I love it that the kids can be compensated, but there should be rules and guidelines for that compensation, to hold them accountable to that.”
In less than a year since the last Summer’s House settlement effectively ended the NCAA’s outdated “amateur” model and ushered in revenue-sharing with athletes, the NIL floodgates have only opened wider as well-financed programs like Indiana, Miami and Texas Tech have dominated the sport by annually overhauling their roster through the transfer portal. This offseason, after leaving Ole Miss ahead of the program’s first-ever College Football Playoff run, new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin lived up to his “Portal King” moniker by securing the nation’s No. 2-ranked 2026 transfer class with 40 new additions.
Last season, 2024 CFP champion Ohio State had a NIL budget around $35 million, the Hurricanes were in the $30 million range, following closely by Texas Tech at over $28 million, while the newly-crowned national champion Hoosiers were “just under $20 million” in NIL, per On3’s Pete Nakos.
It’s unclear where Colorado falls in that mix, though — just based on Sanders comments Friday — it’s safe to assume it wasn’t in the same ballpark as free-spending and defending Big 12 champion Red Raiders.