May 27—In competition, all anyone — you, me or our rival — should ask for is a level playing field.

But football, the premier college sport, isn’t fair, and doubly so since 2021 when unregulated dollars were allowed to “buy” teams with fake name, image and likeness deals.

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Illini coach Bret Bielema takes pride in Illinois’ 10-3 season in 2024 while pointing out that he was “working off a $5 million pool” of player salaries, while Big Ten champion Oregon, national champion Ohio State and several others were “north of $20 million.”

So, while Illinois is currently paying several times more than last year’s salaries, Bielema says traditional elites are outrunning the July 1 deadline on capped NIL payments by entering the $35 to $40 million category.

Whatever Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and their mid-level partners do, they are forever outspent. And if they have a special season, everyone understands that it can’t be sustained under the present rules.

Relief on the way?

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Amazingly, we are simultaneously at an all-time competitive low with this insane avalanche of pay-for-play dollars pouring into the 2025 season and — hold your breath — perhaps only a year away from a setup that would establish long-overdue competitive balance.

How can that be? All-time unfairness in 2025! And just the reverse beginning in 2026?

Excuse me for hallucinating about the long-term future. Optimists in this business always hit unexpected snags. But, at least, college administrators are presenting a good idea for dissidents to shoot at.

Commissioners, administrators and leaders of the four major conferences — Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and ACC — have constructed a document that is circulating for acceptance. The document keeps football within the NCAA for academic and other reasons, but would transfer rules enforcement to a new College Sports Commission, and require strict adherence to market value of NIL payments over $600.

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Stepping in to help?

With compensation off the NCAA plate, legal liability on NIL debates would fall to the new commission.

And here’s the kicker: Any school unwilling to sign the document faces possible expulsion.

All this assumes the House v. NCAA anti-trust case is finally settled.

Then, if by some miracle the circulated document is signed by all, it means football players would receive (1) a portion of each school’s $20.5 million allowable all-sports distributions and (2) any permitted NIL income, with anything over $600 being carefully scrutinized by a non-NCAA agency.

Why, you might ask, would Oregon and Georgia and Alabama and other dominant programs be willing to give up their monetary edge? Would they willingly engage in reforms that would limit their advantages and benefit the whole? The questions abound.

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Shopping spree

Where does Tennessee stand? Just this month, the legislature there passed a law making it permissible for universities in that state to reject rules governing revenue sharing, and denying any punishment for inappropriate collective deals. They are determined to be, shall we say, above the rules, and others are certain to follow.

We are, as you might suspect, a long way from home on enforcement. And even more so with attorneys lined up with cases headed for the post-July 1 docket.

It seems to me that schools rejecting the document are announcing their desire to operate beyond the rules … and should be allowed to go their own independent way.

Bielema, growing as a spokesman in this massive disorder, said it best: “Whether we’re all shopping at Walmart or Louis Vuitton, as long as we’re all shopping in the same mall, I can live with that.”

The impending House vs. NCAA settlement approval is expected to shake up NIL and college football in some significant ways. Everything from NIL salary caps to roster limits will be implemented in some fashion or another starting on July 1.

While many view this new framework in a largely positive light, some have voiced concerns over the expedited nature of the implementation and how the rules are, in essence, being switched around on programs in the middle of the offseason.

One prominent figure who falls into this category is Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko, who recently discussed his frustrations with the uncertainty surrounding the settlement implementation at the annual SEC spring meetings.

According to Outkick’s Trey Wallace, Elko’s frustrations primarily centered on the proposed $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap.

He compared it to the NFL model, noting that they would never suddenly decide to change their cap rules in the middle of the offseason.

“I couldn’t imagine an NFL team getting halfway through the offseason and deciding to change their salary cap rules,” Elko said. “That’s what I guess we’re doing.”

Elko’s frustrations aren’t entirely without merit, as nobody truly knows just how much these new regulations will change the college football landscape until they are actually put into place.

The salary cap is just one of many groundbreaking changes that could be implemented.

The new rule is set to allow athletic departments to pay their student-athletes directly, with a cap of $20.5 million to be split among each sport. Athletes will still be allowed to receive outside NIL endorsements, but these will now require approval from an independent clearing house.

Roster limits are also expected to be added to the sport, with each school allowed to have up to 105 athletes on their football roster each season, which is 20 more than the 85 scholarship limit the NCAA had been allowing up to this point.

It’s clear that this new era of NIL is going to cause far more confusion than answers at the outset, but it’s something Elko and every other coach will have to deal with.

More NIL News

The NCAA created a big mess by opening up a can of worms with little to no advanced planning. The four-letter “non-profit” threw its constituents a bone by giving them the transfer portal and NIL. It turned into an avalanche of lawsuits that threaten the entity’s existence.

You cannot put the toothpaste back into the tube, but you can spread that toothpaste out more evenly over a couple of brushes. Right now, the sport of college football has an entire tube of toothpaste on the brush for the month of December.

After the Super Bowl, the NFL has free agency in March, followed by the draft in late April. College football ends its regular season. Less than a week later, it holds its draft (Early Signing Period), then begins its one-month free agency period (transfer portal), most of which is wrapped up before the postseason concludes.

It’s a damn mess.

The calendar is unsustainable. The powers that be tried to alleviate strain on college football coaches by moving up the Early Signing Period to the first Wednesday in December. It removed in-home visits from the recruiting process, but gave coaches more time to specifically focus on securing visits and landing players from the transfer portal.

This year’s transfer portal opened on Monday, Dec. 9. There was also a second window following spring practice. Both are subject to change and there is growing momentum around the sport to make it happen.

Transfer Portal Potential Changes

Earlier this year at the AFCA Convention, coaches lobbied to eliminate the spring transfer portal window. I think most would agree that the sport can still operate successfully with just one transfer portal window. The biggest question is when will the transfer portal open and who will make that decision? Kirby Smart has some thoughts.

“I think it’d be a great question to ask some people, but my opinion is the implementation committee, which comes from the settlement,” Smart said from the SEC spring meetings in Destin. “Appointed [10] ADs, two from each Power conference, who hear the conference’s perspective. And ultimately, those [10] ADs – which are appointed coming off the settlement – will have to make a lot of implementation decisions that are not part of the settlement. The ‘nuggets,’ let’s call it. Here’s the settlement, and then the nuggets are going to come from these [10] ADs.”

Kentucky’s Mitch Barnhart would be among the ten who would make that decision. Smart made a case for opening up the transfer portal in January.

January makes sense on the football calendar, only interfering with a few teams still playing in the CFP, but it interferes with the academic calendar. Unless schools make changes, there isn’t enough time to transfer schools before spring semesters begin.

Greg Sankey made it clear that SEC coaches want the transfer portal in January. Big Ten coaches are lobbying for March or April, and there’s one more proposal.

A May transfer portal date has been kicked around by some administrators. It makes the most logical sense in this humble blogger’s opinion. It’s the only vacant month on the calendar, and it would give the sport a nice kick in the news cycle during an otherwise dull time, right before the start of the official college football new year at spring meetings. However, coaches don’t want their future players working out at other schools in the spring. They want them on campus ASAP.

Changes are coming to the transfer portal, and like so many changes in college football, there are no easy answers.

The world of college sports is scheduled to change drastically on July 1 when schools can start directly paying student-athletes for the first time in NCAA history. Except there is just one big problem — the settlement has not been passed.

Everyone in the college sports space is still awaiting word on from Judge Claudia Wilken if the settlement will be passed after the NCAA and its lawyers were asked to make adjustments to the roster limit rules. The expectation is that this will go through but you just never know until it’s final.

“We’re waiting as patiently as we can,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told the media on Monday at the league’s annual spring meetings.

The SEC and all of the other power conferences are all-in on this revenue-sharing plan that will hopefully provide them with structure and a governing body system that can enforce rules and help limit the pay-for-play era with third parties heavily involved in sports. However, things can change quickly if Judge Wilken turns down the settlement. Sankey was asked about alternate options if that denial occurred. The most powerful man in college athletics would not get into details but billable hours almost always find a way.

“I think there are likely several. And I’ll let my lawyers speak to that within my room rather than publish it,” Sankey explained. “I think we’re still waiting and focused on preparing for a settlement as has been presented at this point.”

“I think we’ve prepared as well as we are able. Now anytime something is new, I’ve said this, there’s going to be turbulence. There’s going to be questions to be answered.”

Greg Sankey says that the SEC has multiple alternative courses of action to take if the settlement is turned down. For now, the league plays the waiting game while the clock ticks. Revenue-sharing is just 34 days away.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Five Illinois softball players earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors, the organization announced on Tuesday. Page Berkmeyer, Adisyn Caryl, Eileen Donahue, Stevie Meade and Lauren Wiles took home the academic honors.

This is the third time Meade has been awarded the accolade while Berkmeyer earned the distinction for a second-straight year. Caryl, Donahue and Wiles were given the distinction for the first time in their careers.

Berkmeyer closed out her senior campaign slashing .272/.384/.361. The catcher continued to shine behind the dish, ranking third all-time in the Illini record books with 41 runners caught stealing. Berkmeyer received her undergraduate degree in 2024 and is pursuing her masters in Animal Science.

Caryl finished second on the team with a .321 batting average during her sophomore campaign. The third baseman was the only Fighting Illini player to start every game this season. The 11 doubles Caryl amassed tied for first on the team while the seven homers ranked second. Caryl is majoring in Elementary Education and Spanish.

Donahue paced the Fighting Illini with a .331 batting average, .574 slugging percentage, 10 home runs and 35 RBI this season. The sophomore appeared in 46 games, starting 44 primarily playing at first base. The Chicago native is majoring in Elementary Education.

Meade concluding her time donning the orange and blue slashing .273/.489/.340. The outfielder’s 11 doubles and two triples were tied for first on the team this season. Meade leaves her legacy on the Illini program, becoming the all-time leader in sacrifice hits. Meade graduated with her degree in Interdisciplinary Health.

Wiles posted a 4.24 ERA with 36 strikeouts during her senior campaign. The pitcher tossed four complete games and recorded one complete game shutout this season. Her 67.2 innings pitched ranked third among the Illini pitching staff. Wiles received her master’s in Management this spring.

To be eligible for the award, a nominee must have a 3.50 GPA and is at least a sophomore academically and athletically. Nominees must also be a starter or important reserve to the team and participated in at least 90 percent of the games during the 2025 campaign.