Everything you thought you knew about the Saturday afternoon tradition is basically dead. If you haven't been paying attention for the last eighteen months, the version of division 1 college football you grew up with has been replaced by something that looks a lot more like the NFL, but with way more chaos and significantly more lawyers.
It’s a mess. Honestly, it’s a beautiful, lucrative, and deeply confusing mess.
Between the massive revenue-sharing settlements and the fact that "amateurism" is now a word people only use when they're joking, the sport is unrecognizable. Most fans think they understand Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) by now. They don't. They think they know why conferences are falling apart. They’re usually only half right.
The Revenue Sharing Reality Check
We’ve officially moved past the "bag man" era. Since July 2025, thanks to the landmark House v. NCAA settlement, schools are now allowed to cut checks directly to players. We aren't talking about a few bucks for tacos, either. We are talking about a cap that started around $20.5 million per school and is projected to hit $30 million within the next decade.
This isn't just "extra money." It's a fundamental shift in the business model of division 1 college football.
For the first time, athletes are essentially employees without the actual title. They get a piece of the media rights pie. In the 2025-2026 academic year alone, it’s estimated that D-I athletes will pull in over $2.3 billion in combined NIL and revenue-sharing payments. That’s an insane amount of capital moving from university coffers into dorm rooms.
But here is the catch that most people miss: not every school can afford this. While Alabama and Ohio State are maxing out that $20 million cap to keep their rosters stacked, smaller schools are scrambling. They're literally looking at cutting sports like gymnastics or wrestling just to keep their football programs competitive. It's a brutal "rob Peter to pay Paul" scenario that is widening the gap between the "Power 4" and everyone else.
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The Scholarship Myth
You probably think 85 is the magic number. It was. For decades, FBS teams were limited to 85 scholarships.
That's gone.
As of the current season, roster limits have jumped to 105. This sounds like a win for the kids, right? More spots, more opportunities. Well, sort of. While the limit is higher, schools aren't required to give everyone a full ride. We are seeing a move toward partial scholarships, much like college baseball. This means a backup linebacker might only be getting 40% of his tuition covered, while the star QB is getting the max plus a seven-figure NIL deal. It’s a tiered system that is changing the locker room dynamic in ways coaches are still trying to figure out.
Why the Playoffs Are Still Changing
If you liked the 12-team playoff, don't get too attached. It’s already under fire. Even as we sit in early 2026, the power players in the SEC and Big Ten are pushing for more. There is a very real, very loud conversation happening right now about expanding to 14 or even 16 teams as soon as the next cycle.
Why? Money. Obviously.
The 12-team format was a massive jump from the four-team era, but it created a new set of problems. Look at the 2025 season. Alabama was the most-watched team in the country, averaging nearly 8.5 million viewers per game. Yet, they were a "controversial" entrant with three losses. The networks want those brands in the bracket because that’s where the ad dollars live.
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- The Big Ten wants more automatic bids to protect its massive TV deal.
- The SEC wants more at-large spots because they believe their "middle-of-the-pack" teams are better than other leagues' champions.
- The Group of 5 is just trying to keep a seat at the table before the "Super Leagues" decide to break away entirely.
The current 12-team bracket uses a "5+7" model: the five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven best teams. But with the Pac-12 basically becoming a two-team ghost town (until their 2026 expansion kicks in with new members like Boise State and San Diego State), the math is getting weird.
The Viewing Habits Are Wild
People aren't just watching division 1 college football; they’re obsessed with it. In 2025, we saw record-breaking numbers. Ohio State vs. Michigan drew over 18 million viewers. That’s more than most NBA Finals games.
What’s interesting is how we’re watching. ABC has become the dominant force here, fueled by the SEC's move away from CBS. If you tuned in last year, you saw 67 games break the 4-million-viewer mark. That is a staggering level of consistency for a sport that many claimed was being "ruined" by the transfer portal.
It turns out, fans don't actually care if the rosters change every year. They care about the logo on the helmet. They care about the rivalry. They might complain on Twitter (or X, or whatever it's called this week) about the "loss of tradition," but they still sit on the couch for twelve hours every Saturday.
The Real Cost of Excellence
The "arms race" has moved from the Weight Room to the Ledger. Used to be, you won by having the best facilities. Now, you win by having the best "Collective." These third-party NIL groups are the ones actually doing the heavy lifting.
The College Sports Commission (CSC) now requires every NIL deal over $600 to be submitted for approval. This was supposed to clean up the "pay-for-play" wild west. In reality, it just created a new layer of bureaucracy. Collectives are getting smarter, dumping money before deadlines and finding loopholes that would make a corporate tax attorney blush.
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What This Means for You (The Actionable Part)
If you're a fan, a recruit, or just someone trying to win your office pool, the landscape of division 1 college football requires a new strategy. You can't rely on old "blue blood" logic anymore.
For the casual viewer: Start paying attention to the "second tier" of the Power 4. Teams like Indiana or Vanderbilt—schools that were historically doormats—are finding ways to use NIL and the portal to flip their rosters in a single off-season. The "rebuild" that used to take five years now takes five months.
For the bettors and bracket-makers: Home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs is everything. In the 12-team format, seeds 5 through 8 host on-campus. Imagine a December night in Columbus or a sweltering afternoon in Baton Rouge. That home-field energy is the biggest variable in the new postseason.
For the recruits and parents: The 105-roster limit is a trap if you don't read the fine print. Just because a coach offers you a spot doesn't mean it’s a full scholarship. You have to ask about the "roster cost" components—how much is coming from the school’s revenue share versus how much you have to "earn" through NIL deals.
The sport is bigger than ever, but it's also more fragile. The tradition is being held together by TV contracts and court orders. Enjoy the chaos while it's here, because by the time the 2026 season kicks off, the rules will probably have changed again.
To stay ahead of these shifts, your best bet is to follow the money rather than the rankings. Track the "revenue-sharing" utilization of your favorite program; those that aren't hitting the $20.5 million cap are the ones that will slowly fade from the national conversation. Watch the moves of the "Pac-12 2.0" as they rebuild toward their 2026 membership deadline, as this will dictate the next wave of conference realignment. Most importantly, keep an eye on the January 23rd deadline for the 2026 playoff format, which will determine if the regular season maintains its life-or-death stakes or becomes a mere seeding exercise for a bloated 16-team tournament.