Deion Sanders Explains Why He Wants a College Football Salary Cap in NIL Era

Coach Prime says it’s time for college football to put a cap on team spending.

Deion Sanders didn’t hold back while speaking at Big 12 media days. / @espn / X

Colorado coach Deion Sanders was present at Big 12 media days on Wednesday, and made the case for a spending cap to be established across college football.

Asked by ESPN’s Matt Barrie about the current state of the NIL landscape, Sanders said that the playing field was simply too uneven, with different schools having the money to overspend on players who might not prove worth the money.

“I wish there was a cap,” Sanders said. “A 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. The problem is, you’ve got a guy that’s not that darn good, but he could go to another school and get half a million dollars. You can’t compete with that. It don’t make sense.

“All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent, and you’ll understand darn well why they were in the playoffs. It’s kind of hard to compete with someone who’s giving $25, $30 million to a darn freshman class.

“What’s going on right now don’t make sense.”

"All you gotta do is look at the [CFP] and see what those teams spent, and you'll understand darn well why they're in the playoffs."

Deion Sanders on NIL and the current state of college football. pic.twitter.com/y6A5C3dWUP

— ESPN (@espn) July 9, 2025

While a recent ruling on the House v. NCAA antitrust case has established a system where schools can directly pay athletes within a cap, there is not a cap on the larger NIL ecosystem, meaning programs with more active NIL collectives and deeper pockets are free to outspend their opposition.

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