At the recent Big 12 media day, Deion Sanders (good to see him moving around again!) was asked what he would change about college football. He listed three things: Salary Cap, Pro Rules, and Uniforms. I want to spend this ten focusing on and reflecting on these points, and then I’m gonna go play some NCAA 26. For starters, I am coming to this conversation as a former college walk-on who did not get paid and the father of a D1 player who is getting paid. I don’t think I’ll get to all three, but I’ll start at one.
Salary Cap
So, what is the point? If you believe the point of College Football is parity, then a cap is the thing. However, when has parity ever been the point? The facts of the situation are this: CFB is not about parity. It is about the status quo and about the idea of what it takes to be one of those teams. College Football is built around a dozen top programs and everyone else is just trying to get noticed. You can’t have Ohio State be Ohio State with parity. Ohio State had a rumored 20 million dollar NIL budget last year. My kid’s team, Northern Colorado, had under 40K. There are players on Ohio State getting paid more than the coach and all of the players at Northern Colorado combined. How can you have parity with a situation like that? Sure, you can say he is on an FCS team, but Sacramento State is FCS and was part of their conference this past year. Their NIL budget target is 75 million. This is not including the pay rates listed in the House settlement.
If parity is the purpose than a cap is the way. You have an upper budgetary limitation and coaches/staff must decide how to allocate those funds to best fit their team. Will everyone be able to reach the cap? No. You have to have the fans to get the funds, but at least here there is a chance.
More tomorrow.