Deion Sanders, Colorado football deemed losers once NIL evolves
Mile High Sports' Mark Knudson sees Deion Sanders and Colorado football as some of the biggest losers of the NCAA's court settlement aimed at regulating pay-to-play NIL and giving every school a chance to pay players directly.
"The 25 per year and 85 total scholarship limits for football will be gone, replaced by roster size restrictions. (Sorry, SEC schools.) Every school will be allowed to pay players the exact same amount of money," Knudson wrote. "Certainly superstars are still going to get big endorsement deals, but the allure of bigger paydays if a player transfers will be greatly mitigated.
"This means the roster building methods that several coaches, including Deion Sanders, have used to remake the Colorado roster for example – transfer to CU for a bigger payday – will be greatly diminished. Perhaps Deion will be able to continue to acquire sponsor dollars for certain individual players (and himself) but by and large, it will be up to the CU administration how athletes salaries will be distributed and how much of the $20 million will go to the football roster."
Colorado football already not 'an ATM' as Deion Sanders said, will still offer what other programs can't
Remember, Coach Prime said that Colorado wasn't an ATM. While maybe he was giving lip-service with that comment, it's not incorrect to label CU as a lesser spender than the Texas's, Ohio State's, and Alabama's of the world.
Money isn't what's bringing players to Boulder. The SEC has always been the place where you can get a massive payday under the table, so that shouldn't be different with things being more transparent and the money sitting on the table now.
Signing up for "Prime Time" means you're chasing something greater: basking in an unmatchable spotlight and trying to get to the NFL via the various connections Coach Prime can set one up with.
Recruiting shouldn't be as adversely affected as has been advertised. CU still has a chance to land a few top players each year from the high school ranks while poaching talent from the portal; talent that shouldn't be as expensive as the best of the best that those bigger conference schools will continue to court.