Mike Elko: College football leaders acting selfishly in CFP debate, will go bankrupt without NIL regulation

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

The future of College Football Playoff expansion remains a bit of a third-rail topic during this week’s SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Fla., and at least one SEC head coach believes the ongoing debate will only serve to create a greater divide within the sport.

“I don’t know why you ask us. It doesn’t matter what we think. I don’t know why we’re trying to become a trophy sport. What does Mike Elko want? 40. Then I won’t get fired,” Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko told reporters Tuesday inside the Sandestin Hilton in Miramar Beach, Fla. “… We don’t have to find a number that allows everyone to get in. It’s OK for it to be hard to get into the Playoff. None of us are answering for the good of the sport. We are answering for the good of ourselves.”

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

In fact, Elko argued the main topic at this week’s SEC Spring Meetings should center around greater regulation and rule enforcement when it comes to excessive NIL and revenue-sharing spending.

“If we don’t find a way to create some level of regulation in the market, a lot of people are going to go bankrupt pretty quick,” Elko told On3’s Pete Nakos. “We’re two and a half years away from having an NIL budget that’s greater than the TV revenue for our entire university.”

Given the lack of forward progress toward any national legislation coming out of Congress, SEC leaders are expected to discuss the potential development of a conference-wide governance model to help the league establish rules around NIL and revenue-sharing. And Elko, for one, would be behind such a move.

“We certainly have great leadership, (SEC commissioner) Greg Sankey does a phenomenal job of looking out for the best interests of the SEC,” Elko added, via TexAgs. “So Greg can get in with the presidents and the ADs and the coaches, and we can come up with some type of decision about what’s best for the SEC, go out there and enforce that.

“And if that provides some level of regulation or legislation, I think that’s within the SEC, I think that’s why (the idea) is becoming more of a talking point. Because that seems more attainable than anything else.”

And while any conference-specific regulation could ultimately put the SEC at a potential disadvantage, especially if none of the other Power Four leagues adopt similar rules, Elko believes it’s a necessary move if college athletics is going to maintain its scholastic roots and avoid further professionalization.

“College football has become very profitable, and certainly the players deserve a big piece of that,” Elko said, via TexAgs. “Unlike professional sports, though, it’s not profitable without the university. I don’t think Texas A&M football is as profitable as it is without the alumni base of Texas A&M University that shows up at games, that supports it, that buys merchandise.

“So it’s a little bit of a unique give-and-take in that regard, because we cant’ go a-in to the business side of college football at the expense of the university, because if the university isn’t there, college football isn’t there.”

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos