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NCAA losses, realignment races and the 25 stories that changed college football since 2000

No sport has a longer offseason than college football, and it’s nearly inarguable that the sport has as much drama off the field during that eight-month layoff — and during the regular season itself — as it does on Saturdays in the fall. As The Athletic continues its look back at the last two-plus decades […]

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No sport has a longer offseason than college football, and it’s nearly inarguable that the sport has as much drama off the field during that eight-month layoff — and during the regular season itself — as it does on Saturdays in the fall.

As The Athletic continues its look back at the last two-plus decades of college football, we examined 25 college football stories whose influences extended beyond the gridiron over the last 25 years, from conference expansion, NCAA power struggles, coaching hires and postseason changes to players whose star power impacted the game in ways the box score did not always measure.

Editor’s note: For more of The Athletic’s look back at the first 25 years of the 2000s in college football, check out our rankings of the top 25 teams, top 25 players, top 25 coaches and top 25 games.

25. Johnny Football

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel captured the nation’s attention as a thrill-seeking redshirt freshman in 2012, but his celebrity status hit a level rarely seen even for Heisman Trophy winners, thanks in part to a brush with the NCAA. An investigation into allegations that he was paid to sign memorabilia sidetracked his celebratory post-Heisman offseason and led to a half-game suspension. Manziel still became a Heisman finalist in ‘13 but entered the NFL Draft the following spring. His professional fall is a story for a different list.

24. Food deregulation

The NCAA once micromanaged how much food its member institutions could serve on campus. Outside of competitions, schools were allowed to provide one meal per day to athletes. A cracker was considered a snack; a cracker with cream cheese was considered a meal. The rules were so rigid that Oklahoma self-reported violations when three football players ate too much pasta at a graduation buffet in early 2014. The school forced the players to pay $3.83 apiece for the extra food or face ineligibility.

Under increased scrutiny to loosen their grip on the benefits permitted for college athletes, the NCAA lifted all food restrictions on Aug. 1, 2014. The change added significant costs for schools — LSU spent $6.2 million on meals during the 2024 fiscal year — but it restored some common sense to the bottom line.

23. Rise of the recruiting websites

Fans had few one-stop outlets to share their joy, vent their frustration and find nuggets of information on their favorite teams until Rivals debuted in 1998. After Shannon Terry bought the site in 2001, its focus narrowed to recruiting and team message boards, which enabled fans to interact, argue and share content every day of the year.

Scout joined Rivals as a fan fixture in the mid-2000s, before Terry created 247Sports and then On3 that ultimately overtook the earlier fan site models. But the intent remains intact, which is to provide fans with an interactive experience far from the stadium.

22. Bowled over

The bowl system held a much different place in college football at the turn of the century. Outside of the BCS and its four bowls that rotated as title game hosts were 21 other bowl games that held immense power over the selection process. Teams were required to stay on location for a week or more, schools were often saddled with large ticket allotments, including many of the worst seats in the stadium, and programs bid against each other for bowl invitations.

Fast-forward 25 years, and conferences and schools have pushed back on unreasonable trip lengths and ticket requirements. With player opt-outs and the transfer portal lessening the importance of non-College Football Playoff postseason games, many bowls are reinventing themselves as preview exhibitions for next season. Sponsors like Pop-Tarts and Duke’s Mayo have established tongue-in-cheek entertainment products that show a less serious side of the game, which could prolong their relevance in college football’s new era.

21. A 12th game

The number of games in a Football Bowl Subdivision season once fluctuated based on the number of weeks between Labor Day and Thanksgiving weekend. In 2006, the NCAA and its institutions shifted to a consistent 12-game schedule each year, enabling FBS power-conference programs to rake in millions of dollars from an additional home game, leagues to squeeze more from media rights contracts and non-power programs to receive guarantee game payouts that currently range from $500,000 to $2 million or more. The extra game also coincided with leaps in coaching salaries.

It all prompted players to start questioning why they weren’t receiving anything extra despite putting their bodies on the line for another game. From this moment onward, the whispers about fairly compensating athletes ratcheted up in volume.

20. QBs and NIL collide

In September 2024, quarterback Matthew Sluka left UNLV three games into the season while claiming his team’s collective failed to meet its financial obligations. Sluka preserved his redshirt and later signed with James Madison. In April 2025, Tennessee’s Spyre Sports Group rebuffed starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s attempt to renegotiate his name, image and likeness deal. Iamaleava sat out the end of spring football practice, entered the transfer portal and landed at UCLA.

Both cases lay the groundwork for future battles between players and management over NIL. Will in-season holdouts become a more regular occurrence? Will the industry move toward increased compensation transparency or binding contracts? Until then, it’s likely a quarterback will one day push even farther than Sluka and Iamaleava.

19. 2003 Big East-ACC war

The ACC and Big East were on equal footing in the early 2000s, but neither conference had the required 12 members to stage a championship game, setting the stage for one to poach from the other. The ACC struck first in 2003, landing Miami and Virginia Tech after about two months of courtship and later adding Boston College as its 12th member.

The Big East sued the ACC and the departing schools, accusing them of conspiracy to defraud the conference. The sides settled in 2005, with the ACC paying $5 million and agreeing to schedule games against Big East teams, and the conferences coexisted for about six years despite the Big East’s waning football influence. Then in 2011, the ACC invited Pittsburgh and Syracuse, which bolstered its ranks and killed the Big East as a football entity.

18. Northwestern’s unionization movement

In 2014, former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter spearheaded an effort to certify the Wildcats football team as a union and be declared employees, firing a warning shot to the NCAA that athletes were done with complicit silence. The Chicago branch of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that football players are employees, but Northwestern appealed and the full NLRB overturned the decision.

In response to Colter’s efforts, the Big Ten instituted multi-year scholarships and improved its medical insurance. But the NCAA and its membership stubbornly resisted issues raised by Colter regarding practice hours and pay, which led to bigger fights — and losses — for the organization down the road.

17. Rocky Mountain Prime

Deion Sanders commanded the spotlight during his Hall of Fame playing career, but nothing could prepare college football for his 2023 debut as an FBS head coach in Colorado. Sanders took over a 1-11 squad, flipped the roster and became the sport’s most compelling story as the Buffaloes upset defending national runner-up TCU, then beat rivals Nebraska and Colorado State to start 3-0. Each of Sanders’ first five games drew more than 7.2 million viewers.

With multiple football programs hiring former NFL superstars like Michael Vick (Norfolk State) and Desean Jackson (Delaware State) in the ensuing years, Sanders’ emergence has helped usher in a new level of celebrity to the coaching carousel. His past exploits, charisma and cultural status have helped him connect to potential recruits and fans in a way few coaches can attain. And the five-year contract extension he signed this spring implies he’s not going anywhere.

16. Tebowmania

With his fiery leadership, bruising playing style and public expressions of his Christian faith, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow became one of college football’s most popular and polarizing athletes on Gators teams that won national titles in 2006 and 2008. Between those championships, Tebow was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. His willingness to take his faith everywhere helped Tebow become one of the sport’s transcendent figures, and his popularity more than 15 years later as a media personality and speaker has extended far beyond his long list of accomplishments on the field.

15. College football’s video game, lost and resurrected

EA Sports’ NCAA Football franchise had players arguing over their ratings and fans leading their favorite teams to championships from the late 1990s through 2014, but NCAA rules prevented players from profiting off of video game characters with suspiciously similar physical attributes to their own. After former UCLA men’s basketball player Ed O’Bannon and other athletes sued the NCAA and EA Sports over the use of his likeness, the game was put on hiatus for a decade and left a void for both fans and athletes.

With players now receiving payment for NIL, NCAA Football returned in 2024 and resumed its role as a cultural phenomenon, bringing fans closer to the sport with realistic graphics and sounds. According to industry tracker Circana, College Football 25 has become the best-selling sports video game of all time in total dollars.

14. Cam Newton

No player was more electrifying over the last 25 years than Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, who lifted the Tigers to the 2010 BCS title without much NFL-bound help around him. But Newton’s lone season of stardom sparked a firestorm when reports surfaced that his father had sought payment for the quarterback’s services while Newton was in junior college.

Lingering questions led Auburn to declare Newton ineligible just days before the SEC Championship Game, then immediately request his reinstatement. The NCAA allowed him to compete during its investigation, which concluded Newton’s father did seek payment but could not find proof the quarterback knew about it. With financial negotiations now an unavoidable part of the player acquisition market, the matter seems trivial in today’s world. But this was the first time the obvious player of the year faced such strong allegations during a Heisman Trophy campaign.

13. Connor Stalions

Michigan staffer Connor Stalions conducted an advanced sign-stealing operation by buying tickets at more than 30 games of future Wolverines opponents over a three-year period and compiling videos of opposing coaches’ signs. Deciphering signals in-game, and modifying your own to avoid detection, had been a cat-and-mouse game common across college football, but the lengths Stalions went to and the fact that the scheme coincided with Michigan’s return to national contention — Stalions even received a game ball after one victory — sent fans and rivals into a frenzy and prompted an NCAA investigation.

The equal parts complex and juvenile scheme, which may have included sideline disguises, brought weekly controversies as Michigan was building a national championship resume. The Wolverines rallied around the scandal and its accompanying suspensions (including three games for coach Jim Harbaugh) on their way to the 2023-24 national championship.

With current coach Sherrone Moore serving a two-game suspension this fall for deleting texts with Stalions sought by investigators, the fallout remains incomplete. However, distrust for Michigan football remains high in Big Ten circles.

12. Reggie Bush’s lost trophy

Reggie Bush’s dazzling runs helped lead the Trojans to a share of the 2003 national title and the undisputed crown in 2004, then won him the Heisman Trophy in 2005. A year later, the NCAA opened an investigation into Bush, who was accused of receiving improper gifts and cash during his USC career. In 2010, the NCAA stripped the Trojans’ 2004 national title, and Bush became the first Heisman winner to forfeit his trophy.

What Bush and his family received was considered improper during his playing days. Today, it’s standard operating procedure. As the rules of college athlete compensation loosened, public pressure mounted on the Heisman Trust to resume honoring the running back. On April 24, 2024, Bush had his trophy returned.

11. The 12-team Playoff

College Football Playoff expansion was a subject of national fascination for years, but it still felt like a surprise in June 2021 when leaders announced the tournament would grow from four teams to 12. But as with most things in college football, even simple processes become complicated.

After the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma later that summer, other leagues put up CFP expansion roadblocks that took years to untangle. All parties eventually agreed to a plan of the six highest-ranked conference champions and the six highest-ranked at-large teams. That template needed to change when the Pac-12 broke apart after the 2023 season.

The full plan for a 12-team CFP was finally approved in February 2024, but the saga has not stopped there. The CFP Board of Managers voted to change the seeding format to a straight ranking after one year and are in ongoing discussions to expand from 12 teams to 14 or even 16 for the 2026 season.

10. Meyer vs. Harbaugh

The Ohio State-Michigan feud matters every day, and two hirings brought red meat to the rivalry and sizzle back to the Big Ten. Urban Meyer took over the Buckeyes in 2012 and promptly called out his fellow Big Ten coaches for their recruiting woes, which was not well received. But Ohio State’s instant success, including a 2014 College Football Playoff title, forced the league to improve quickly or fall further behind.

Tired of floundering against its rival, Michigan hired former quarterback Jim Harbaugh as head coach in 2015. Despite never beating Meyer, Harbaugh brought instant credibility and focus to college football’s winningest program. Like Meyer, Harbaugh won his own national title in 2023.

Their collective success turned the burners up on one of sports’ greatest rivalries, and it remains red hot well after their tenure, courtesy of how Meyer and Harbaugh elevated the Big Ten’s flagship programs.

9. Expansion chaos 2010-11

The zero-sum expansion spat between the ACC and Big East from 2003 to ’05 had little impact on the rest of college football. That was not the case in 2009 when Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany announced his league was exploring expansion on an 18-to-24-month timetable. That forced other leagues to expedite expansion plans, and the Pac-10 launched the first salvo when it pursued six Big 12 schools, including Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

Colorado became the first Big 12 school to jump to the Pac-10, and Nebraska left for the Big Ten a day later. The remaining schools waited on Texas, which opted to stay in the Big 12. The Pac-10 then added Utah to become a 12-team conference.

But the 10-member Big 12 was far from a happy family. The holdovers allowed Texas to form the Longhorn Network, but the financial and recruiting boost was too much for Texas A&M, so it bolted for the SEC in 2011. That earthquake started another round of aftershocks, and by the time it subsided, Missouri joined Texas A&M in the SEC and the Big 12 added TCU and West Virginia in their stead.

This round of realignment allowed an unvarnished reality to override the platitudes of college athletics: Football is king without exceptions, and brand power trumps on-field excellence.

8. College football’s first playoff

Oklahoma State’s double-overtime loss at Iowa State in November 2011 opened the door for an all-SEC matchup in the BCS Championship Game, clinching a sixth consecutive title for the nation’s premier football conference and roiling the rest of college football.

The Big Ten and Pac-12, which historically had stood in the way of a playoff, finally relented in the face of the SEC’s title wave. Commissioners agreed to the four-team College Football Playoff to begin play in 2014 with a neutral-site national championship game.

Controversy swirled the very first year when Ohio State jumped TCU and Baylor for the final spot, then claimed the first CFP title by upsetting Alabama and Oregon. Eventually, bracket creep became too hot to ignore, and the four-team model was shelved 10 years later. But considering the decades of obstinance in the face of a playoff, it was the single biggest competitive change in college football history.

7. Big Ten Network

Frustrated after a low-ball offer from ESPN in 2004, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany sat on a Miami beach with Fox executive Larry Jones and sketched on a napkin plans for a new venture: a network dedicated solely to the conference’s sports. The Big Ten Network debuted on Aug. 30, 2007, and once it received full distribution, it became a reliable source of cash and exposure. The league initially owned 51 percent of the network but now owns just 39 percent after selling equity shares to Fox.

The joint venture led to Fox taking a larger stake in college athletics. The network began airing the Big Ten Championship Game in 2011 and picked up the Big Ten’s first-tier rights in 2017.

BTN’s success also spawned similar successful conference networks for the SEC and ACC — which are owned and operated by ESPN, ironically — as well as ill-fated channels like the Longhorn Network and Pac-12 Network.

6. 2020

The first American pandemic in a century had far more pressing consequences than disruption to the sports calendar, but COVID-19’s impact on college athletics was profound. With little guidance from public officials or the NCAA, the conferences were left to decide whether or not they’d play football as the 2020 season approached. After a heated debate, the Big Ten voted 11-3 to shut down football on Aug. 11, and the Pac-12 followed the same day. The SEC, ACC and Big 12 chose to play. After intense public pressure, the Big Ten changed course in mid-September and returned to action in late October, while the Pac-12 started play in November.

The result was an uneven season with no fans at Big Ten and Pac-12 stadiums and limited attendance elsewhere. Several bowl games were canceled, and the Rose Bowl moved to Arlington, Texas. Alabama dominated the season and claimed the national title over Ohio State, which played just eight games. Nearly every athletic department lost millions of dollars, and some are on multi-year repayment plans, are replenishing their reserves that were emptied that year or are still otherwise digging out of the hole those months without games created.

5. Alabama hires Nick Saban

Mal Moore would not take no for an answer. The former Alabama athletic director pestered Nick Saban repeatedly following the Miami Dolphins coach’s second season. Despite multiple denials, Saban relented and turned Alabama into the sport’s signature program.

Hired in 2007, Saban became the college football’s greatest coach of this generation and perhaps of all time. In 17 seasons, Saban won 206 games, nine SEC titles and six national championships. He propelled the SEC into the sport’s dominant conference and forced rivals to improve their staffs to catch up. But his impact stretches beyond his individual leadership qualities.

His coaching tree includes national champions (Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher), hall-of-famer Mark Dantonio, CFP semifinalist Steve Sarkisian and dozens of other SEC, FBS and NFL head coaches. Saban has become the authoritative voice for the sport, from his role on ESPN’s “College GameDay” to discussions with President Donald Trump on the future of college football.

4. Expansion and “The Alliance”

The most impactful expansion cycle in college sports history took place in 2021-22, just as the industry reemerged from the pandemic. After Oklahoma and Texas’ shocking plan to leave for the SEC went public, the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC formed “The Alliance,” which sought to protect their interests in the face of expansionist SEC aggression. But it was a short-lived, non-binding arrangement. On June 30, 2022, the Big Ten figuratively torched The Alliance and significantly wounded the Pac-12 by luring away USC and UCLA.

Before this expansion, the Big Ten and SEC long were considered first among equals. By taking the major brands from the Pac-12 and Big 12, the leagues rocked an uneasy competitive balance among the five power conferences and set them apart as the sport’s undisputed heavyweights.

3. The Pac-12’s demise

Long known as “The Conference of Champions,” the Pac-12 (previously the Pac-10 and Pac-8) enjoyed a proud tradition as a model academic-athletic conference. But financially it had fallen well behind its long-time partner — the Big Ten — and other power conferences. The league failed to secure distribution of its Pac-12 Network, and inept leadership turned a problem into a crisis.

A cascading departure of members followed USC and UCLA’s jump to the Big Ten, including Washington and Oregon (Big Ten), Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado (Big 12) and Stanford and California (ACC). Oregon State and Washington State remained as the Pac-12’s only members during the 2024 football season. The duo have mostly reconstituted the Pac-12, grabbing Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Utah State from the Mountain West for 2026. But it is not the same, not even close.

2. Wide open transfers

A decade ago, if athletes wanted to transfer and compete for another institution, they had to sit out for a year. Schools often restricted where athletes could attend on scholarship, and conferences also had rigid rules within their leagues. As rules relaxed, the transfer portal’s arrival in 2018 compelled schools to enter transferring athletes into a database within two days, and players are now eligible to play right away without restriction.

Thousands of athletes hit the transfer portal each year, which has reshaped each sport and remade championship programs in immeasurable ways. Freedom of movement has double-edged pluses and minuses for both coaches and players. Teams get an offseason opportunity for instant improvement, but the fear of losing talent is equally pervasive. Likewise, players have more power to leverage their talent than ever before, but they run the risk of making a wrong move that torpedoes their career.

New coaches often face massive personnel exits, but they also can select players who fit their program more easily than at any time in history. Buoyed by 29 new players through the portal in 2024, Indiana set the program’s wins record (11). Cross-state rival Purdue, conversely, has lost 87 players in the portal the last two seasons.

1. ‘The NCAA is not above the law’

For generations, college athletes signed an annual student-athlete statement that forfeited their rights to earn money based on their name, image and likeness (NIL). No matter how much revenue the NCAA and its member institutions gained from television contracts, the entities stood firm on their bedrock principle of amateurism. It was the barrier the NCAA reinforced at all costs, and it ultimately cost the organization and its member schools billions of dollars.

Lawsuits and law changes punched holes in the NCAA’s definition of amateur athletics, but the status quo was shattered when the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Alston v. NCAA was delivered on June 21, 2021.

The court ruled 9-0 that the NCAA could not cap “education-related” financial benefits that athletes received from institutions. The landmark decision, though limited in scope, offered signals for how the Supreme Court would rule against the NCAA in other cases regarding players’ ability to make money.

“Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a scathing opinion. “And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different.

“The NCAA is not above the law.”

The House v. NCAA settlement, which received formal approval late last week, permits athletic departments to pay athletes directly while providing billions of dollars to former athletes who were prevented from earning revenue while in college. The ability for athletes to generate income at the height of their marketability is not only the most important development of college sports’ last 25 years, it’s the greatest reversal in American amateur sports history.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Kevin C. Cox, Carmen Mandato, Christian Petersen / Getty Images, iStock)



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Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith signs NIL deal with Adidas

by Stuart Osborne, WSYX Thu, July 3rd 2025 at 8:51 AM Updated Thu, July 3rd 2025 at 9:02 AM Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) celebrates his touchdown against Oregon during the first half in the quarterfinals of the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. […]

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Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith signs NIL deal with Adidas

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Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) celebrates his touchdown against Oregon during the first half in the quarterfinals of the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith signs somewhat surprising NIL shoe deal

Shoe allegiances can run almost as deep as a favorite college football program. When you can marry the two together, perhaps in charge of marketing may have something special. That appears to be the case with Ohio State star receiver Jeremiah Smith and Adidas, because according to a social media post on Tuesday, it appears […]

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Shoe allegiances can run almost as deep as a favorite college football program. When you can marry the two together, perhaps in charge of marketing may have something special.

That appears to be the case with Ohio State star receiver Jeremiah Smith and Adidas, because according to a social media post on Tuesday, it appears as though Smith has signed an NIL deal with the popular sports apparel company based in Germany. And if you are like many of us, the fact that it’s not with Nike (the apparel company that sponsors Ohio State) might be a little suprising.

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But hey, this is what NIL is for, right? Athletes are able to enter their own partnerships with companies to take advantage of their star power, and kudos to Adidas for recognizing what Smith can be for them as a public figure and spokesperson. Of course, we don’t know the terms of the deal and probably never will, but if you are a Smith and Ohio State fan, now you have conflicting priorities.

One has to wonder what kind of cleats Smith will be wearing when he runs out of the tunnel on Aug. 30. Somewhere, there has to be contract language that spells out how this whole thing is going to work. And maybe, just maybe, down the line we’ll get to see some Jeremiah Smith Adidas cleats we can all get our hands on.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith signs surprising NIL shoe deal



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Understanding the House settlement, revenue sharing and NIL | Football

ORLANDO, Fla. — A new era of college athletics has begun with the approval of the House settlement on June 6. Starting on July 1, institutions such as Florida, Florida State and UCF began the process of offering revenue sharing to their athletes. Here are some of the top questions about that process: How will […]

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ORLANDO, Fla. — A new era of college athletics has begun with the approval of the House settlement on June 6. Starting on July 1, institutions such as Florida, Florida State and UCF began the process of offering revenue sharing to their athletes. Here are some of the top questions about that process:

How will schools pay for it?

Any school that aims to remain competitive in football will fully commit to the settlement terms. But a $20.5 million obligation to athletes, both recurring and expected to increase, will strain even the richest athletic programs.

To meet any new expense requires a revenue increase, expense reduction or both. In 2026, SEC schools will receive more TV money from ESPN, which currently pays more than $800 million to televise the league’s sporting events. The SEC reportedly could make another $50-$80 million if it were to go from eight to nine conference games. Expanding the College Football Playoff from 12 to 16 games would produce another financial windfall.

Other schools, such as UCF, have also been fundraising, asking fans or boosters to donate to the Competitive Success Fund to help meet the goal of $20.5 million for its revenue pool.

On a smaller scale, athletic departments are reducing expenses on the margins. UF’s University Athletic Association required every department and sports program to cut its budget by 5%, saving a few million in the process.

Prices for tickets and other costs at events are sure coast to coast to rise, too. Student fees for athletics also could. Tennessee plans to charge football ticket holders a “talent fee” to go to athletes. Layoffs could sadly become part of the equation.

Who’ll get paid, and who’ll get stiffed?

SEC schools will commit $2.5 million to new scholarships, leaving $18 million in revenue sharing with athletes. Some schools are reluctant to share plans, but Georgia publicly offered a framework: 75% for football ($13.5 million); 15% for men’s basketball ($2.7 million); 5% for women’s basketball ($900,000) and the remaining 5% for other programs.

While the amount for football should be fairly standard, it could get tricky elsewhere. South Carolina finished last in the SEC in men’s basketball, but won two of the past four women’s titles (2022, 2024) and lost to UConn in the 2025 title game. LSU won the 2023 women’s title, while the men lost in the first round of the NIT. Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley and LSU’s Kim Mulkey should command, and could demand a bigger piece of the pie.

Examples are sure to abound at schools with traditions of success across the board. Lawsuits are likely to follow. With rev share disproportionately smaller for female athletes, some could claim violations of Title IX law instituted in 1972 to ensure equal opportunity at educational institutions. Conversely, football could argue it generates most of the revenue.

At UF, athletic director Scott Stricklin said athletes at each of the school’s 21 sports programs will benefit financially from either revenue sharing, increased scholarship money or Alston payments, based on a federal ruling awarding money to athletes to meet academic expenses.

How will NIL collectives operate?

The launch of name, image and likeness legislation spawned organizations to facilitate sponsorships or fund-raise to pay athletes. Pay-for-play quickly became the modus operandi. The fact that collectives operated independently of the athletic departments allowed tens of millions to flow to top athletes without oversight or accountability.

Even the Jaden Rashada fiasco at UF, involving a $13.8 million promise to a high school quarterback, did not stem the flow of cash, curtail aggressive dealmaking or stop athletes and their camps from going to the highest bidder.

Now that NIL payments will be vetted, collectives will have to market athletes, help big-money donors get creative and generate many three- and four-figure deals, not focus on five-, six- and seven-figure ones. In short, collectives will be asked to do what was intended, but ultimately ignored due to a lack of rules amid a high-stakes competition to attract talent.

Who comprises the College Sports Commission?

The College Sports Commission was created to oversee the implementation of the House settlement. Its membership consists of representatives from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12. The CEO of the organization is Bryan Seeley, a former Major League Baseball executive.

The CSC answers to a board of directors, which consists of conference commissioners from the Power 4 leagues: ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.

“There will be a separate governing body, the College Sports Commission, which will oversee this,” said UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir. “It’s going to have its own CEO that will basically oversee the enforcement, and there’ll be a chief investigator officer. We need a level playing field.”

How would buyout clauses work in revenue-sharing?

Buyout clauses are a standard feature in many NIL deals, as companies and collectives aim to address potential complications that may arise when an athlete decides to transfer to another team or organization. This same idea will also be integrated into revenue-sharing agreements. If an athlete transfers, they could risk losing a portion of their earnings. The new school they move to would then be responsible for covering the buyout amount, which would also count against their revenue-sharing cap.

“That’s going to be messy the first year or two as everybody figures out the math behind all of this,” said Kristi Dosh, author of “The Athlete’s NIL Playbook.” “You can’t give all your revenue sharing pool to your athletes who are coming in the fall because if you do that, you’re not going to have any money left over for the [transfer] portal. Your money doesn’t replenish until July 1, 2026. From a budgeting perspective, everybody’s just making educated guesses.”

According to an FAQ released during the approval of the House settlement, if an athlete receives $100,000 from a school (A) and receives $50,000 at the beginning of the academic year, but chooses to transfer to school (B), that institution would have to reimburse school (A) $50,000. It would be deducted from school B’s revenue-share pool.

© 2025 The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.). Visit www.cumberlink.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.



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Hugh Freeze Makes Concerning Admission on Auburn’s NIL Budget

Hugh Freeze Makes Concerning Admission on Auburn’s NIL Budget originally appeared on Athlon Sports. It has not been a good week to be an Auburn Tigers fan. On Wednesday, five-star recruits Earnest Rankins and Cederian Morgan committed to the Florida State Seminoles and the Alabama Crimson Tide, respectively, with each prospect having Auburn on their shortlist […]

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Hugh Freeze Makes Concerning Admission on Auburn’s NIL Budget originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

It has not been a good week to be an Auburn Tigers fan.

On Wednesday, five-star recruits Earnest Rankins and Cederian Morgan committed to the Florida State Seminoles and the Alabama Crimson Tide, respectively, with each prospect having Auburn on their shortlist heading into the week.

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Auburn is not only struggling to land commitments, but they are also failing to keep those who had previously pledged their allegiance to The Plains. With 2026 four-stars Denarius Gray and Shadarius Toodle denouncing their commitments from Auburn in the past week, the Tigers are now ranked 89th regarding the 2026 recruiting class, per 247Sports.

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze.© Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze.© Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Auburn houses just six hard commits, highlighted by four-star edge rusher Hezekiah Harris and four-star quarterback and former Penn State Nittany Lions commit Peyton Falzone.

For head coach Hugh Freeze, who finds himself in the crosshairs of fans after the program’s latest setbacks, he believes the NIL era is to blame. According to Justin Hokanson of On3, Freeze says Auburn is “really low” on NIL funds compared to other top programs that are in play for their recruits.

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Freeze also emphasized that his staff continues to operate under the rules and guidelines presented by the NCAA and Congress, which he feels other teams may not be as law-abiding. Nevertheless, Freeze has a belief in the program’s direction, with a top-ten recruiting class in 2026 not out of the picture.

Auburn AD John Cohen hints that August 1 — the first day players can sign NIL deals — as a chance for the Tigers to flip recruits.

Related: Auburn Lands Former 5-Star Recruit Out of Transfer Portal

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 3, 2025, where it first appeared.



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Jeremiah Smith signs lucrative new NIL deal with Adidas

The post Jeremiah Smith signs lucrative new NIL deal with Adidas appeared first on ClutchPoints. Ohio State football wide receiver Jeremiah Smith came into his freshman season with the Buckeyes with a lot of hype, and he more than delivered. Smith was not only one of the best freshman receivers in the country, but he […]

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The post Jeremiah Smith signs lucrative new NIL deal with Adidas appeared first on ClutchPoints.

Ohio State football wide receiver Jeremiah Smith came into his freshman season with the Buckeyes with a lot of hype, and he more than delivered. Smith was not only one of the best freshman receivers in the country, but he was one of the best players in college football in general. He is a star who will be playing football for a long time, and he will be repping Adidas for the foreseeable future. Smith recently inked an NIL deal with the iconic brand.

A lot of people are seeing this and thinking about the fact that the Ohio State football team is a Nike school. When Smith is playing for the Buckeyes, he will still be wearing all the team Nike gear. He is an Adidas athlete now, however.

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Many people expected Smith to sign a deal with Nike at some point, but he went with Adidas. He is excited to be partnering with a brand that he has admired for a long time.

“I’ve been wearing Adidas since I was a young kid, 11, 10 years old,” Smith said, according to an article from The Athletic. “To be a part of the brand is something special.”

At Ohio State, there is a tradition for new players where they begin practice with a black stripe on their helmet. Losing that stripe officially makes them a Buckeye. Losing the black stripe was a special moment for Smith, and now he has gained three more.

“One of the most memorable moments from last season was losing my black stripe and officially becoming a Buckeye,” Smith said in a statement. “Fast forward a year and I’m blessed to be adding three, joining the fastest brand in football. It’s crazy to be partnering with a brand that has such a talented roster of players and that I’ve been wearing since I was a young kid. We’re not done yet.”

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Jeremiah Smith came into college and was immediately one of the most electric players in college football. If he was eligible, he would’ve been a first-round NFL Draft pick this year. The scary thing is, Smith won’t be eligible after this season either. The college football world still has two years to go before teams can finally stop worrying abouut him. Smith put up absurd numbers for the Ohio State football team during his freshman season, and he helped the Buckeyes win a national championship. Big things are in store for the next two years.

Related: LSU football way-to-early bold predictions for 2025 season

Related: Florida State’s Antonio Cromartie Jr. boldly states goal to surpass his dad



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Chris Beard: College basketball uses neutral sites to ‘stay away from’ Quad 2, 3 games

Ole Miss coach Chris Beard explained the value of neutral site games in building a solid NCAA Tournament resume recently. He noted that scheduling a neutral site contest is often only a one-year commitment compared to agreeing to a home-and-home with another team in the nonconference. The coach also pointed out that neutral site games […]

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Ole Miss coach Chris Beard explained the value of neutral site games in building a solid NCAA Tournament resume recently. He noted that scheduling a neutral site contest is often only a one-year commitment compared to agreeing to a home-and-home with another team in the nonconference.

The coach also pointed out that neutral site games also get more weight to determine whether the game is a Quad 1 game or lower. Facing a team with a top 50 RPI at a neutral location is considered a Quad 1 game, compared to only a top 30 RPI team for home games.

“One reason is that instead of starting a two-year series, you can play somebody like that in one-time pop,” Beard explained. “Obviously, there’s some money generating ways through those games as well. I think one of the equations now is we’re all looking for Quad 1 games. We’re trying to stay away from the Quad 3s and even the Quad 2s.

“In some cases, the game is more valued. So for us last year, I think I’m accurate in saying this, the Colorado State game ended up being a Quad 1 game for us because of the season they had.”

The Rebels played Colorado State in November of this past season in Southaven, Mississippi. They came away with an 84-69 victory that ended up being one of their 10 Quad 1 wins on the year. It helped them to earn a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

In the SEC for the 2025-26 season, Arkansas has already announced a neutral site game against Duke for Thanksgiving Day. The nonconference schedule for Ole Miss has still yet to be finalized, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rebels add another neutral site game to their slate.

Chris Beard is getting ready to enter his third season in Oxford and has led the team to at least 20 wins in each of his first two years. He’s had success at his previous stops at Texas Tech and Texas as well, leading the Red Raiders to a national championship appearance in 2019.

He knows part of putting his team in a position to do so is creating a challenging schedule that can help prepare them for their path through March Madness. A big part of doing that is being willing to go out on a limb and play away from home, which Beard has shown a willingness to do.



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