FRISCO, Texas — Colorado coach Deion Sanders is advocating for a salary cap in college football, noting that it would help even out the competitive landscape in a sport that is already becoming more like the NFL.
Speaking Wednesday at Big 12 media days, Sanders, the Pro Football Hall of Famer entering his third season as Colorado’s coach, said the sport is hurt by an unregulated system with player movement and finances.
“I wish there was a cap,” Sanders said during a Big 12 coaches’ roundtable. “Like, the top-of-the-line player makes this, and if you’re not that type of guy, you know you’re not going to make that. That’s what the NFL does.
“So the problem is, you got a guy that’s not that darn good, but he could go to another school and they give him a half million dollars. You can’t compete with that. And it don’t make sense.”
Sanders pointed to the College Football Playoff, nothing that the same teams will make the field because of their stronger financial profiles.
“You understand darn near why they’re in the playoffs,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to compete with somebody who’s giving $25-30 million to a freshman class. It’s crazy.”
Sanders added that college football needs an “upright and upstanding” system where player salaries are transparent and regulated, like in the NFL. He mentioned that salary offers are often reported before players even enter the transfer portal.
Even recent developments such as the House settlement and revenue sharing directly from athletic programs don’t give Sanders confidence that the sport will balance out.
“I wish it was truly equality,” he said. “Now they go back to doing stuff under the table. They go back to the agents. Now you’ve got parents trying to be agents, you’ve got the homeboys trying to be agents, you’ve got the friends trying to be agents. You got a lot of bull junk going on. And quite frankly, we’re sick of it. I’ll say it for everybody: We’re sick of it.”
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