Nick Saban Shares Ominous Warning For Future Of College Football
Nick Saban thinks college football in its current format will eventually hit a breaking point.
The sport we all love has been taken over by NIL and the transfer portal. Players have never had more freedom of movement or ability to earn money than they do right now.
That's not to say movement and money are bad things. This is America, after all, but it seems like the sports is becoming the wild west and unrecognizable.
Saban, who is on the hunt for his eighth ring, believes there will be a "thunderbolt" event that ultimately changes everything if some guardrails aren't developed.
Nick Saban issues warning about the future of college football. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Nick Saban predicts potential breaking point in college football.
The legendary Alabama coach said the following during his weekly Thursday appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show":
I think it’s going to continue in the same direction that it’s going until something happens. I call it a thunderbolt, where maybe people start dropping sports because the finance part of it can’t make sense in terms of what you can reinvest in non-revenue sports. Or, some players out there don’t get what they were promised and there’s lots of lawsuits and stuff, you know. There is going to be some kind of a thunderbolt because this is not a system that we have right now that has any guardrails, and in most competitive venues there are some that control what you can and can’t do...Right now, it's a game of whoever is willing to invest the most has the best chance of having the best team.
Will Saban's prediction come true? Only time will tell, but when someone with his history and success sounds the alarm, you at least have to pay attention.
The man has seven national titles and is the greatest coach in college football history. Clearly, he's not entirely comfortable with what's going on.
It's a bit ironic because a school like Alabama should love the NIL era. The Crimson Tide have very deep pockets. Yet, Nick Saban can seemingly see the writing on the wall.
Recruits are being handed bags of money before doing anything, conference realignment is unfolding in a fashion that will have the UCLA softball team flying across the country for games and you really do have to wonder how this all ends.
Nick Saban believes a "thunderbolt" event will eventually force changes. What will that event be? A massive lawsuit? A school no longer having the money to fund coaching contracts and team travel? It's hard to know, but when Saban is screaming out a warning, it might be time to listen.
Will Nick Saban's warning turn out to be accurate? (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
We're in an unprecedented era. That's not necessarily a bad thing at all, but more changes are certainly coming. Will Nick Saban turn out to be correct? Give me your predictions at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.