Nick Saban details how NIL spending resembles runaway vehicle

Nick Saban. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Former Alabama HC Nick Saban details how eye-popping NIL spending resembles runaway vehicle

By Clark Dalton | Last updated Jun 3, 2026 1:38 PM ET

College sports programs have gone all gas, no brakes regarding NIL (name, image and likeness) spending. Former Alabama Crimson Tide head football coach Nick Saban thinks schools should hit them before they crash.

Saban, now an ESPN analyst, testified before a Senate committee on Wednesday about the Protect College Sports Act (a bipartisan bill that aims to regulate NIL and the transfer portal). The former coach shared why he believes NIL expenditures now resemble a runaway vehicle.

Nick Saban comments on the state of NIL

"If you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari and it was going 100 mph toward the Grand Canyon, we need to tap the brakes," Saban said in his opening statement (h/t Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger). "I think that's what we all need to do here."

Saban, of course, knows about prancing horses. He's part-owner of a Ferrari dealership in Nashville. It takes money to help those cars perform, which schools may run out of if they don't get a handle on their spending.

As he begins his testimony, Nick Saban says, "If you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari and it was going 100 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon, we need to tap the breaks. I think that's what we all need to do here." https://t.co/oMjZOiWkr7
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 3, 2026

Saban then detailed Alabama's NIL collectives. The numbers he shared were staggering. The coach said Alabama had a $2.7M NIL collective shortly after it became legal for college players to profit from their likeness in 2021. That number has since ballooned to $24M; the coach added some schools now feature "$40M rosters."

"So, if we continue to do that, we're gonna continue to lose Olympic sports. We're gonna lose non-revenue sports," Saban said. "We're gonna lose scholarships, and basically what's gonna happen is you're gonna have football and basketball succeed, and we'll have club sports for everything else."

NEW: Nick Saban detailed how much Alabama’s NIL collective spent every year for the past five years in Wednesday’s hearing about the Protect College Sports Act.

(via CommerceRepublicans/TT h/t @whalexander_)https://t.co/n91REfdssH pic.twitter.com/QtxAnsBht8
— On3 NIL (@On3NIL) June 3, 2026

Saban's gloomy future may be construed as fear-mongering, but the futures of Olympic and non-revenue sports look grim. Chelsea Ale of the Sports Business Journal reported in June 2025 that big-time schools are expected to slash budgets or, in some cases, eliminate programs to fund as much as $20.5M annually in athlete payments.

We'll see if the Protect College Sports Act passes. It still faces a lengthy legislative process.

Regardless, Saban's point stands. Legislators and other leaders must write new rules to better adapt to the changes in college athletics. The spending resembles a runaway vehicle, and if someone doesn't hit the brakes soon, it may be totaled.

Clark Dalton

Clark Dalton is a 2022 journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He gained experience in sports media over the past seven years — from live broadcasting and creating short films to podcasting and producing. In college, he wrote for The Daily Texan. He loves sports and enjoys hiking, kayaking and camping.

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