"One school can’t spend $30M for players": Nick Saban calls out biggest bias in college football during championship eve

Legendary college football coach Nick Saban made his feelings clear on the competitive balance getting thrashed with NIL's arrival, as few teams get to spend more while others have to settle for lower budgets.

While the NIL topic is much debated, on The Pat McAfee Show before the final showdown between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Ohio State Buckeyes, Saban said that the current NIL model isn't sustainable.

“All I’m saying? The people out there need to know this model is unsustainable,” Saban said. “It’s not good for players.”

While Saban acknowledged that star athletes getting paid is good, the former Crimson Tide coach has his reservations about how it should be.

“Players need to get compensated, no doubt. But it has to be done in a way where, you know, in some kind of way, have competitive balance, you know, and that every school has the same thing,” Saban said.

“One school can’t spend $30 million for players while another schools spending $3 million.”

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Nick Saban gets endorsement to become college football commissioner

Since his retirement as Alabama football coach, Nick Saban has become vocal about the issues plaguing college football.

His take on important issues has convinced his former rivals and current friends like Penn State coach James Franklin, Georgia coach Kirby Smart and others to hail him as the next college football commissioner.

Franklin, alongside Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin and ESPN icon Dick Vitale, reckons Saban is an "obvious" choice.

“I think one of the most important things that we can do is let’s get a commissioner of college football that is waking up every single morning and going to bed every single night, making decisions that’s in the best interest of college football,” Franklin said last month.

Meanwhile, Smart has no doubts about Nick Saban's capabilities.

“And Nick would be great, I know he’s a huge advocate for college football, he wants to make it better. He’s always been a person that believed in leaving it better than you found it,” Smart said of Saban.

“And I have a lot of respect for the way he does it. But I’m probably not the guy that can tell you what a commissioner can and can’t do in terms of making it a better process for all of us.”

With many issues, like induction and seeding method in 12-team College Football Playoff field and off-field ones like maintaining competitive balance in the NIL era, Nick Saban will have his ends full if he takes over at the helm of college football.