How sustainable is the current financial landscape of CFB?

not very

but we should enjoy this transition period from once-great sport to minor leagues

Some of the schools, like Clemson and FSU as examples, are already in SUBSTANTIAL debt.

The current system of NIL and coach buyouts will ruin some schools.

the quality of play seemed higher when players werent making 6 and 7 figures. so many awful quarterbacks, receivers who cant catch. most coaches now seem like dogshit too and get rewarded with generational wealth for failing at their jobs.

The money itself isn't necessarily the problem. It's the complete lack of a sustainable business model.

College football has become a multibillion-dollar industry, but we're still pretending it's amateur athletics while coaches negotiate massive guaranteed contracts, players negotiate compensation, and universities spend millions trying to outbid each other.

I don't blame the players for getting paid. Schools, conferences, networks, and coaches have made fortunes off this sport for decades. Why shouldn't the people actually playing the game get a piece of it?

The problem is there's no meaningful financial discipline. No real competitive balance, no long-term roster stability, and no incentive to stop spending as long as somebody else might spend more.

And when the bills come due, who ultimately pays? Fans through higher ticket prices, donors through bigger NIL requests, and students through their universities' financial decisions.

College football doesn't have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem. Until someone figures out how to control the arms race, the only thing guaranteed to keep growing is the cost of competing.

Some programs have already shown they are willing to mortgage the future to win today.

quote:

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the quality of play seemed higher when players werent making 6 and 7 figures. so many awful quarterbacks

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Because players stayed in the same program for 4-5 years and were usually on the bench for at least a year learning and developing before they saw meaningful playing time. Now players are playing for 3-4 schools in their 5 year window and learning a new system every year. No stability, especially QBs having a new OC every year