Nick Saban further calls for stricter salary cap rules in college football

The 2025-26 academic year marked the second of the revenue-share era in college sports. Schools have a cap of $21.3 million this year, up from $20.5 million a year ago, as they directly share money with athletes. Currently, there isn’t a cap on third-party NIL earnings, though those deals are subject to the NIL Go clearinghouse. But if the Protect College Sports Act becomes law, there would be a stricter cap in place, and Nick Saban further voiced his support for those rules. $39.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage Saban said by putting more rules around roster spending, it could create even more parity in college football. He cited different spending disparities in the sport while also saying programs can further emphasize development in the age of player movement and compensation. “Let’s just say you put a $45 million cap on all this. Every school can decide whether they want to spend that or not,” Saban said on New Heights. “But nobody can spend more than that, so you can’t really buy a roster. SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter “I think that makes better parity, better competition. It goes back to focusing on more development because when a player leaves now, he only can do it once, so he’d better make sure he’s doing the right thing. I just think it’s so much better.” Under terms of the Protect College Sports Act, the spending cap would increase to $49 million and include third-party NIL deals with penalties for violators. That’s different from the rules of the House settlement, which set a rev-share cap based on the average athletics department spending and does not account for third-party deals. The Big Ten notably took a step toward implementing similar rules to prepare for the bill’s passage. However, the PCSA is facing an uncertain future in the House of Representatives after the midterm elections last week. Nick Saban has been a supporter of the bill, appearing in ads calling for its passage. While evaluating roster spending in college football, he broke down the different numbers across different programs and said a stricter cap would level the playing field even more. “We’re making parity greater because right now, you have some teams that are spending $60 million on a roster, other teams that are spending $40 [million], other teams that are spending $20 [million] and they’re all playing each other,” Saban said of the Protect College Sports Act cap rules.