Ohio State’s $20 million championship list will only lead to more spending

The season began with a cautionary tale from Nick Saban about Ohio State’s $20 million roster.

“I just want to say, you guys are still talking about the $20 million roster,” Saban said on ESPN College GameDay. “If you don’t pay the right guys, you will be out of luck.”

The Buckeyes, despite an upset loss to Michigan, got lucky in the end. A $20 million investment made them national champions in 2024.

And that will have one obvious consequence. More programs will think the best way to win a title is to buy it.

Which will lead to more money for the players, which is good for the players. I will also create more chaos for the teams, which is not good for the sport.

And with the NCAA recently rejecting the transfer portalit seems like college football is embracing the chaos. And that could be a checkmate move in the ongoing game of NIL checkers.

If there’s enough chaos in college football, Congress may eventually have no choice but to impose a solution.

The easiest answer would be a broad antitrust exemption that allows the NCAA to impose rules that various member schools could follow without breaking the law. A better answer would be for Congress to create the rules.

However it goes, it might as well go. Extreme chaos leads to despair, which leads to law. Which is saving college football from the chaos that resulted from decades of a corrupt system that allowed everyone associated with the sport to get paid — except the players.