Deion Sanders is concerned about the future of college football. The present state seems like the Wild West with the market growing rapidly. It’s not only college players cashing in on name, image and likeness, the elite high school talents are finding ways to rack up deals.

Sanders was a guest speaker for an event in Las Vegas and talked about why he rushed to sign his extension with Colorado. He also dropped a comment about NIL and how the players are treating the system.

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“I tried to hurry up and sign the deal,” Sanders said via Well Off Media. “First off, I wanted to get my coaches straight and NIL stuff straight because that stuff is crazy right now. Now it’s pay-per-view with these kids. Because I didn’t want it to affect my other kids. You know, like those pros thinking I want their jobs and would treat my kids unfairly. So I didn’t want that to happen. That’s kind of why I signed expeditiously.”

This isn’t the first time Sanders has commented about how NIL has gotten out of hand. In an interview with USA Today’s Jarrett Bell, He voiced support for a college football salary cap which mirrors the NFL’s structure.

“There should be some kind of cap. Our game should emulate the NFL game in every aspect,” Sanders said. “Rules. Regulations. Whatever the NFL rules, the college rules should be the same. There should be a cap, and every team gets this, and you should be able to spend that.”

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For Sanders, it’s a fight about five years old in this NIL era. While players scrap for millions, there is a pay-for-play system with very little regulations in place.

Related: NBA Legend had words for Shedeur Sanders after first workout

“The competitive advantage is the school that has hundreds of millions of dollars, and not us,” Sanders told Bell. “You look at who’s always in the playoffs, you can look at their budget and look at this budget. That’s the advantage—not who has the autonomy to do a spring game.”

Related: Dan Lanning sends blunt message to Oregon recruits regarding NIL

Beginning in a few months, schools will be allowed to share up to $20.5 million each year with their athletes directly. This isn’t a 100% cap for players, given the fact they could go out and get NIL deals on the open market. However, there will be more oversight from the school who can reject deals viewed as predatory. Nothing like how the NFL is set up with player endorsements.

Related: Jaguars announce Travis Hunter news during minicamp

A different game begs for different rules of engagement. For now, there will be a need for regulations.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic softball’s Autumn Courtney’s success during the 2025 campaign, in which she was named the unanimous American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year, has continued in the postseason with a spot on the AAC All-Tournament team. 
 
In the AAC Semifinals, Courtney tossed a complete game and allowed just one hit and no earned runs while striking out seven. 
 
While the top-seeded Owls (44-10) came up short in a 1-0 defeat to North Texas due to an unearned run, the junior pitcher’s record stands at 23-3 on a 1.80 ERA, the 23rd lowest nationally, and 163 strikeouts, ranked 32nd in Division I. She also leads the conference in opponent batting average, limiting offenses to a .156 average at the plate.
 
Florida Atlantic will learn its fate in the NCAA Regionals during Sunday’s selection show at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.  
 

For the Owls’ complete schedule, click HERE. To follow the team socially, visit @fausoftball, or for the most up-to-date information, go to www.fausports.com.
 
The Owls’ 2025 postseason is powered by Demand the Limits Injury Attorneys.
 
 

Tony’s takes: My three-step plan to save college football

Create a single transfer window 

Impose a roster-transaction window 

Allow binding NIL contracts 

Drink of the week — Old Fashioned 

Last week, the attorneys representing the NCAA and power conferences agreed to a revised plan to phase in roster limits as part of a revised House v. NCAA settlement before Judge Claudia Wilken in the U.S. Northern Districk Court of California. The proposal, which would effectively grandfather all current student-athletes and any that were preemptively cut before the settlement was finalized, would appear to satisfy Wilken’s request last month.

And while Wilken is currently considering the revised proposal, if approved, the House v. NCAA settlement would pave the way for revenue-sharing between NCAA schools and student-athletes, with some programs able to share between $20-22 million annually, or 22-percent of the average Power Five school’s annual revenue, along with approximately $2.75 billion in back damages to former college athletes over a 10-year span. It would also mean strict roster limits in football (105), men’s and women’s basketball (15), baseball (34), softball (25), men’s and women’s soccer (28) and volleyball (18).

But, at least for any coaches concerned about having to cut players three months before the start of the 2025-26 academic school year, the amended settlement would seem to be a welcomed relief. Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell, for one, explained the complicated balancing act football coaches have faced in recent months amid the ongoing uncertainty about the true impact of the settlement.

“I think the hardest thing about that is (that there are) some of the guys within your program that even in the winter we had some conversations with to say, ‘Hey, I don’t know what this thing is going to go to. If it goes to 105, we’re going to have to make some tough decisions.’ So there are some guys I think that could be looming in their head,” Fickell said last month during Spring practice. “If they do make this decision and it does come down and it is across the board, meaning everybody is going to have to conform to it, and there’s going to be obviously somebody paying attention and making sure everybody is on the same page. Then we’ll address that.

“(But) no, we can’t go about doing the things and building the things expecting to have to cut down, but I know that could be difficult on some guys that are curious what’s going to happen, and what their opportunities are going to be.”

Fickell admitted many of those conversations have already taken place at Wisconsin, though no definitive decisions will be made until the settlement has been approved and guidance is provided to programs.

“We have. And just trying to be forthright, … we care about all these kids, especially the guys that have been here for a while. If and when they do go to that, there’s going to have to be some tough decisions made. And it’s not going to be easy,” Fickell continued. “We don’t know the parameters to it all, we don’t know what that entails. Can guys be in waiting, can they still be apart of some things? We have no idea. So for us to jump too far ahead other than just being really honest and open with guys, and making sure they know what we feel and where we are with things, but not making any decisions.”

The devil is in the details, and until Wilken officially approves all parts of the revised House v. NCAA settlement, college football coaches like Fickell remain in wait-and-see mode.

— On3’s Pete Nakos and Nick Schultz contributed to this report.