Since NIL has taken over college football, it’s been out of control. Some teams are spending millions on high school players and college transfers to get their team to the next level. So many people have talked about how bad it has became, and are claiming schools are now trying to buy a championship. Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders echoed what many of us has been screaming. College football needs a salary cap.
Coach Prime took the podium at Big XII media days, and spoke about the issue. He playfully teased his friend and Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire about the heavily publicized (and scrutinized) spending spree the Red Raiders has been on. Texas Tech currently has been using their deep pockets to rank first in transfer portal rankings. While Sanders joked about that, he also took a jab at the media who blasted him for doing it in his first two seasons in Boulder.
“Joey got some money. Spending that money. I love it. I love it. Once upon a time, you guys were talking junk about me going in that Portal. Now, when everybody going to the portal, it’s okay. It’s cool when they do it, but it’s a problem when I do it. Ain’t that a rap song?”
Sanders isn’t wrong on his take here either. There was so much hatred for him with Colorado that media and college football fans would reach for whatever they could to knock Coach Prime off the same pedestal the media put him on. That was only when they won though. When they lost, people would say he’s not a good coach. But that’s part of the problem now too. With the NIL, schools may opt to pass on a good coach on the field, for one that’s good at raising funds. That’s another factor in how the NIL has changed the college football landscape.
The House Settlement was designed to contain schools from getting way out of control with NIL money to players. It has it’s flaws also. While it allows schools to share up to $20.5 million in revenues with college athletes, it’s not mandated. That means schools would have to opt in to the program that is overseen by a third party. It’s a start, but there’s still a long ways to go to get this thing under control. That’s where Sanders talks about how there needs to be a salary cap in college football.
“There’s got to be a salary cap on this stuff because this stuff is going crazy and nobody know where it’s going to land, where it’s going to end. And you have so many different doors.”
Per rivals.com, there’s currently 933 players in the transfer portal hoping to either find a home for the college football season, or a nice payday.