I don't blame the kids for wanting to be paid, but combined with the transfer protocol, it's changed the nature of the game. I'm not suggesting that it needs to go back to the way it was, but as
@Herdfan suggested - let's break off the Power 5 schools and let them have their pro league. The situation isn't just hurting other schools in college football, it's hurting college athletics in general.
CFB is in the middle of a transitional period (some would call chaos) that has yet to settle, and the broader issues of how to classify college players legally in general is still piecemeal. Ideally, Congress should step in and provide some sort of consistent framework, but we all know Congress is pretty much just a mostly worthless snakepit for politicians to wrangle in and achieve little.
The NCAA has been neutered by the lawsuits it has faced, and still faces, and can't meet the challenge to get a handle on the transfer portal, which has effectively turned into unrestricted free agency and taken one of the main sources of leverage coaches have with the players. Saban said as much that's he's too old for that crap and a big reason why he quit.
Financially, it has no direct involvement in the running of Div. I football; the schools/conferences and the networks run that show on their own and have for a long time. The bowl system has never been under the purvey of the NCAA, except for the basic rules, and that continued under the playoff system. The reason why bowl slots used to be so coveted was that it was bonus money that could come about if the team performed well enough to be invited, and receive a payout to show up
after the formal regular season had ended.
The bulk of the NCAA's revenues come from the media contracts and marketing rights it holds for the Div. I men's hoops tournament. More than half of which goes back to the schools.
Utlimately, it is the schools which get the spoils, and
they are beholden to the broadcasters who provide the big bucks TV contracts, and hold the power. Some university presidents are all in on the money sports to help them balance their budgets (though they often fail), and some aren't, but can't ignore the bottom line effects. It's not hard to tell something is out of whack when the coaches are the highest paid employees at the schools, or even the highest paid public workers, for state schools.
The players have won the right to NIL, but only the top tier of stars will get the big bucks.
For the vast majority, it was recently revealed that EA will only pay a minimum of $600, plus a copy of the game, for players that opt in to their CFB game; take it or leave it, because those that decline will be completely shut out. 10,000 have opted in, which will cost the company…all of a whopping $6 million (for a company that has ~$7B in annual revnues). Don't spend it all in one place, kids!
I don't expect sanity to prevail any time soon, and even if the discussions on things most can generally agree on would result in a separate semi-pro league, there will still be those who consider themselves "more equal" than the others, like the SEC and Big Ten.
www.espn.com
www.si.com
