re: Is there any turning back now that the cat is finally out of the bag?

I don't think that there is. College football will go down the path of the larger schools forming their own league with boosters paying out the arse for unproven 17 year-olds.

The pageantry of college football, the thing that made the sport great, regional, and special to kids growing up is a relic and will not be seen again. The universities have themselves to blame with how they "evolved" themselves to be diploma factories with overpriced woke faculty.

The passion, by and large, is reserved for one or two games a year at most for the overwhelming majority of schools. Universities have continued to price out fanatics to make way for corporate elites and TV contracts.