Is it time for the NCAA to let college football go its own way?

It should be no secret that in college sports, football drives the bus. At most schools that participate, and virtually all Power Five conference institutions, it is the sport that uses the most resources but brings in the most revenue from gate receipts, media rights, merchandising and sponsorships. It is the highest-profile sport, the one that begins the academic year, the one that is used to keep alumni and donors on board.

It is also the sport that has become a fiercer recruiting battleground than ever, thanks to the new landscape of name, image and likeness payments and the gaping loophole filled by booster collectives, who create NIL deals to help lure recruits. Hypocrisy abounds, and the seeming market value of top prospects makes it even more clear that even in the less-restrictive current environment, most college football players – who are essentially serving apprenticeships for a chance at the NFL – are dramatically underpaid for the labor they are providing.

Maybe it’s time to go even further than changing the rules. Maybe it’s time to get big-time college football out of the grasp of the NCAA and make it a separate entity, with its own economic structure.