1 Mil for a starter on a Power 4 team.

13 QBs making over 3 Mil compared to 5 last year.

33K the average pay for play.

Dante Moore Holds Surprising Place Among College Football’s Highest-Paid Players

With that kind of wealth comes expectations. These are no longer just college kids. The amount of resources spent to turn the men into machines is crazy.

It changes the posture of the way I root for my favorite team. I have no delusions about the transformation of the collegiate athlete from amateur to professional.

The college game has changed so fast and it's not slowing down anytime soon. What are we watching 5 years from now?

1 hour ago, Log Haulin said:

With that kind of wealth comes expectations. These are no longer just college kids. The amount of resources spent to turn the men into machines is crazy.

It changes the posture of the way I root for my favorite team. I have no delusions about the transformation of the collegiate athlete from amateur to professional.

The college game has changed so fast and it's not slowing down anytime soon. What are we watching 5 years from now?

I. Further consolidation of teams financially able to compete into an NFL-Lite structure, including a draft, a salary cap, restrictions on free agency, enforced poaching penalties, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement with football players recognized as employees. (We could also see NBA-Lite for Men's basketball.)

To avoid Title IX issues, the Moneyball sports take no money from schools and operate as partnerships outside a school's athletic department.

Private equity, including investments by boosters, is the source of capital needed to cover startup operations free of public university money.

With NFL-Lite, there is a return to regional competition for the other sports.

II. Legislative help in response to judges not allowing the NCAA and now the Power 4 conferences to regulate college athletics, including determining eligibility.

AP News

College sports kicks off its season under the long shadow...

Threats and lawsuits have rocked college sports for weeks. The NCAA's new five-year eligibility rule has led to lawsuits, with all major conferences barring players from returning after turning pro.

III. Atlas shrugs? Without protection from litigation, the Power 4 announce that they will stop awarding athletic scholarships and directly paying athletes. If the arena disappears, there goes NIL.

These are my WAGs. The final format will follow the money.

55 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

I. Further consolidation of teams financially able to compete into an NFL-Lite structure, including a draft, a salary cap, restrictions on free agency, enforced poaching penalties, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement with football players recognized as employees. (We could also see NBA-Lite for Men's basketball.)

Thanks for listing your potential domino-effects of what may happen now that CFB has taken the first steps down the NFL’s version of the yellow brick road.

The only one I would question is a draft. The primary intent of the NFL draft is to shore-up smaller, financially fragile market franchises, both in terms of civic and commercial value, and to bolster the local pride that puts butts in the seats and eyes on the tube.

Universities that can field, “. . . team’s financially able to compete in an NFL-Lite structure” by and large, already have immensely loyal built-in followings, as well as very deep and long standing connections to “. . . private equity, including investments by boosters.”

Not much need to go down that part of the road?

On 8/30/2026 at 11:29 AM, Washington Waddler said:

Thanks for listing your potential domino-effects of what may happen now that CFB has taken the first steps down the NFL’s version of the yellow brick road.

The only one I would question is a draft. The primary intent of the NFL draft is to shore-up smaller, financially fragile market franchises, both in terms of civic and commercial value, and to bolster the local pride that puts butts in the seats and eyes on the tube.

Universities that can field, “. . . team’s financially able to compete in an NFL-Lite structure” by and large, already have immensely loyal built-in followings, as well as very deep and long standing connections to “. . . private equity, including investments by boosters.”

Not much need to go down that part of the road?

Yeah, if we are going that far, why do they even have work towards a degree and maintain a GPA? I actually think you have to dump that if you have a draft.

On 8/31/2026 at 5:30 PM, Solar said:

Yeah, if we are going that far, why do they even have work towards a degree and maintain a GPA? I actually think you have to dump that if you have a draft.

That’s a good question.

If universities/colleges do cross that line and cede control of football student-athletes to become paid employees, where does that eventually lead? What can of worms does that open, and what long term effect might it have on the role of these institutions as educators?

More immediately, what effect - by setting such a precedent - might that have on other student groups looking to the courts to open their way to the same relationship with those institutions?

By once replacing the educational model of open inquiry with the role of ‘Me First’, you may have introduced the potential for an unexpected and long lasting domino effect on our institutions of higher learning. Nothing and no one is not vulnerable to the effects of unfettered greed once that door is legally opened.