Steve Spurrier calls for NIL budget, points out three schools failing despite large spending

Just about everyone agrees that the rules and regulations around college athletics need to be tightened up right now, with the primary focus on getting some more standardized guidelines on NIL and the transfer portal.

The NIL space has become the Wild West in many ways, a loosely-governed arena where those with the deepest pockets often fare the best. Often.

But for the sake of the game itself, college football probably needs a little more strict rule set around what you can and can’t do.

“They’ve got to do something about it,” former Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said on WDAE in Tampa. “I think they’ve got to come up with a budget. The Power Five teams, you guys’ve got $30 million to spend on your team and that’s it. If you want to give it all to a quarterback, that’s your business. But put a limit and let them spread it out and go from there.”

With no limits, it’s been difficult for organizations to know just what they might have to do to get a player. They’ll feel in good shape on a guy, then another program comes in with an offer that’s way over the top.

The escalating NIL bidding wars can get maddening.

But if there was a cap to the spending that could take place in a given year, as Spurrier suggests, perhaps some of those issues would be alleviated.

“It’ll help even out things a little bit as far as getting recruiting back into the game,” Spurrier said. “Right now it’s just whoever’s going to pay the most money, and that’s not the way that it should be. And actually those teams that pay the most money don’t win all the time anyway. I think Texas A&M and Miami and Southern Cal have been three of the biggest spenders here in the last couple years or so, but they have not won big.”

Ultimately, there are still a few things money can’t buy, even in the NIL era, Spurrier said.

“You’ve still got to have good attitude, good teamwork and players are playing for each other out there,” he said.

In any case, his idea about spending cap on NIL is certainly an intriguing one. It’s one that’s hard to see players agreeing to without threat of litigation unless it can be collectively bargained on, though.

Regardless, one of the most prominent names in the game believes change is needed.