"The revenue sharing era is coming": Josh Pate predicts new chaos in college football heading into 2025

The 2025 college football season is going to be wild for many reasons. The overall pay structure of student-athletes, revenue sharing, roster movements, spring drama and schedule strength will contribute to this chaos.

While making predictions for the upcoming season, analyst Josh Pate mentioned that college football is getting more exciting than ever. At this point in 2024, it was easier to pick top programs in the country, but now, it's almost unpredictable since top teams will undergo a major revamp.

Pate believes the NIL era is ending, and due to the House vs. NCAA settlement, the programs will have to adapt to the revenue sharing model.

The schools will receive almost $20.5 million to distribute among their programs, and managers can use the funds for roster expenses and program upgrades.

“I just want to put this out there so that we're on the record as having said it long before it happens, think about all of the variables in the landscape this year. So first off, it's the last year of NIL being what it is right now, which is pay for play. The revenue sharing era is coming,” Pate said on his show on Sunday.

“Well, that's just a lot of words to you, but what that means to you is a lot of people are emptying the dump truck of their NIL money right now because they don't really think they're going to have to spend like that anymore. They're probably right.

"I know of many instances where programs looked and they front loaded a guy's deal, because last time they're really going to have to pay him like that after well, including this year, revenue sharing kicks in,” he added.

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College football spring transfer portal opens in April

One of the other key factors that will contribute to the chaos is transfer portal movements. Pate mentions that the top programs like Oregon, Texas, Ohio State and Georgia have less than 50 percent of the retention rate. This means new players will join the program and fans will see new faces in the QB room.

To aid this movement, the spring window officially opens on Apr. 16 and continues for 10 more days until Apr. 25.

Coaches and managers will be able to contact the players who enter the portal. The NIL movement will also be at its peak since the revenue sharing model officially kicks in on July 1.