College football media days begin amid NIL chaos and confusion

By the end of July, college football’s Power 4 conferences will all have held their media days. The Big 12 is up first, the SEC will hold theirs next week and the Big Ten and ACC will hold theirs the following week.

If the same comments and stories come from the other media days like what’s being said in Frisco, Texas this week (on top of the normal drama that comes from media days), we’re in for a fun month.

Well, that probably depends on your definition of fun. But either way, buckle up for a month of chaos.

After the first day of the Big 12’s two-day event, there have already been several stories with national interest and they’re related to the same topic: NIL.

Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger published a story Tuesday night with multiple quotes from people that makes it clear there is still a lot of chaos.

In the story, multiple coaches are quoted talking about the uncertainty of the current rules, including Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham.

“We don’t know the rules,” he said. “The settlement passed, but who knows what Deloitte is going to clear. Until there is clarity, you’re living in limbo.”

Dellenger also reports the NIL Clearinghouse run by Deloitte, roughly one third of the 1,200 submitted deals to the clearinghouse have been approved, 80 have been denied and the rest are still being reviewed. (The entire story is worth a read and isn’t behind a paywall.)

On3 Pete Nakos also has a similar story about the current Wild West of college sports and recruiting.

“With no oversight or cap on spending in recruiting, schools are offering more money than ever before. As two Power Four general managers previously speculated to On3, they believe the number of recruits receiving upfront payments sits between 50 to 100 prospects in the 2026 cycle. Recruiting staffers have said some top prospects are making anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000 monthly.”

Nakos added, “Aug. 1 marks the official offer date for when institutions can begin offering revenue-sharing contracts to recruits. But that has not stopped schools from making verbal offers or informally sending contract numbers.”

Basically, what the stories by Dellenger and Nakos prove is that while a lot has changed, nothing has truly changed.

Are we surprised schools are finding ways to circumvent caps? Front-loading deals so they don’t have to be cleared the NIL Clearinghouse? The clearinghouse being slow and bogged down by delays? Rich boosters finding ways to pay players?

Not one bit.

This type of thing, in one way or another, has been going for all of college football’s history and it likely will never go away.

Yes, I know, your favorite school is innocent and your rival is guilty as hell. Unless your favorite school is SMU, in which case, everyone is guilty.

The only thing that has really changed between the past and now is that now everything is a little more out in the open. A bunch of rules, caps, oversight and etc. will only send everything back into the dark.

So, yes, the Wild West is still here and the chaos will continue. And that’ll only make the next month of media days all the more entertaining.