Ah, college football—the storied American pastime of tradition, loyalty, and heart. Or at least it was—back before the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreements and the death of the Letter of Intent (LOI) waltzed in and turned the sport into a never-ending soap opera where loyalty is for suckers and contracts are written in invisible ink. If you were a fan of pageantry and integrity in your Saturday football, too bad. Now it’s all about who’s got the fattest wallet and the slickest marketing campaign.

Let’s Start with NIL: Because Why Not Let Teenagers Handle Millions?
Once upon a time, college athletes played for scholarships and the glory of representing their school. Today, they’re playing for sports cars, endorsement deals, and their own clothing lines. The NIL rule change, which allows players to profit from their name, image, and likeness, has turned these 18-year-olds into walking billboards. You thought recruiting was shady before? Well, welcome to the era of booster-funded millionaires with barely a semester’s worth of credit hours.

Colleges Are Basically NFL Farm Teams Now

And of course, these players deserve to get paid—right? After all, college football generates billions, and these guys are the ones taking the hits. But how exactly do you maintain any semblance of balance when some backup quarterback at a random Power 5 school is raking in seven figures for some regional auto dealership commercials? Imagine how motivating that must be for his teammates, you know, the ones actually on the field. Football, at its core, is a team sport. NIL has gleefully driven a wedge right through that foundation.

NIL has also thrown recruiting into the Wild West of capitalism. Before, there were actual rules (wink, wink) to prevent the rich from getting richer. Now, the top programs have essentially turned into mini-NFL franchises, stacking their rosters with five-star recruits who are just there to pick up a paycheck while pretending to go to class. Alabama, Georgia, USC—sure, they were dominant before, but now they’ve got even more ammo to woo these recruits, and it’s all 100% “legal.” The gap between the haves and the have-nots has never been wider, and the entire sport feels like it’s teetering on the edge of a corporate abyss.

The LOI: Contracts Are for Suckers

Then, we have the demise of the sacred Letter of Intent, the paper that made a commitment more than just a social media post. For decades, the LOI was the last semblance of formality, ensuring that once you signed, you were locked into your choice. And sure, you could always transfer, but you knew it came with a price—like sitting out a season or working your way back up the depth chart at a new school. Not anymore.

Now, commitments mean less than a politician’s campaign promise. Signing Day? Who cares. Players can just up and leave whenever they want, entering the transfer portal as if it’s some magical get-out-of-jail-free card. Get beat out for the starting job? Transfer. Didn’t like the new coaching staff? Transfer. Not enough playing time? Transfer. Not enough likes on your TikTok video? Transfer! The transfer portal is essentially the free agency market now, except without any of the logic or contracts. And hey, you don’t even have to sit out a season. It’s the era of instant gratification, baby.

The Transfer Portal: College Football’s Revolving Door

Thanks to the transfer portal, entire rosters flip every year. We’ve reached a point where fans have to bring roster printouts to the games because there’s no way to keep up with who’s actually on the team. Why should they care about building a program when the starting lineup will be totally different next year anyway? Player development? That’s for the birds. Now, if you aren’t a starter as a freshman, you’re already scouting new schools.

What’s even worse is that these NIL deals are part of the transfer calculus. Players are weighing not just playing time and facilities but also how many social media followers they can get in a new market. Look, we’ve all seen how boosters can bend the rules, but this is just shameless now. The boosters, who once worked in the shadows, are now basically running entire recruiting operations. Schools like Texas A&M have boosters shelling out checks to “influence” recruits into “finding themselves” at College Station. Remember when it was about academics, tradition, or heaven forbid, team loyalty? Yeah, neither do I anymore.

Welcome to College Football, LLC

College football is now a business. Full stop. The schools, the players, the boosters—everyone is cashing in. And sure, capitalism is great, but let’s not pretend that any of this resembles the sport that once made us tune in for more than just the spectacle. NIL and the transfer portal have completely dismantled the college football ecosystem, making it less about tradition and more about transactions. It’s no longer “how can we build a winning program?” It’s “how can we assemble the best team money can buy this year?”

So pour one out for the sport you used to love, because college football is dead. Or at least, the version that had any semblance of authenticity. What’s left is a weekly parade of mercenaries—players chasing checks, schools chasing clout, and fans chasing some faint memory of what college football used to be.