NIL and the Transfer Portal are going to kill collegiate sports. The bidding wars are in full swing. There will be a day, in the not-very-distant future, when some college players will be getting paid more to play college sports than many in the professional leagues.
In football, many universities that have historically been included in the conversations as being in "first tier" conferences will find themselves only able to get the "table scraps" of recruits, and may find themselves getting replaced in those conferences. In NASCAR, the off season is called the "silly season," when drivers, owners, crew chiefs, etc., get shuffled, or shuffle themselves, around. We will see exactly the same thing in college sports. The day the regular season ends, the "silly season will begin," with front line players immediately putting themselves in the portal and waiting for the highest offer. Bowl games be damned (except for, perhaps, those in the playoffs, which may be opportunities to increase their 'stock' value). In many cases, not even the lure of the NFL will draw players into their draft. Why go compete for a job (in the NFL), when you can make a guarantee of a starting position part of your 'package' with another FBS team? Get enough 'guaranteed' NIL money, and, if a coach benches you, quit, and wait for the next transfer portal.
C-USA, the AAC, the MAC, the Sunbelt, and the Mountain West will not be able to compete with the SEC (especially with UT and OU joining them) and the Big 10. Even the ACC, the Big 12 and the Pac 12 will struggle to keep up with the SEC and the Big 10 - and they may not succeed. One independent team - Notre Dame - might be able to keep up, unless their governing body chooses the higher ground and refuses to get involved in the bidding wars. If they choose the higher ground, we'll be asking, "Remember when Notre Dame was good?" And, like I mentioned, even the historical second level teams in the SEC and Big 10 will be at risk of getting replaced.
It will be a mess. Sadly, it might take federal intervention to fix it. But, that might just create a different cesspool, rather than clean anything up.
All in the name of a college education - right? I recall sitting next to some scholarship athletes during some of my classes, and seeing them around campus. I'd bet that kids in junior high today that go on to SEC and Big 10 universities (not on athletic scholarship) will never see any of those people in class or around campus.
Yes, I know that, officially, the universities, themselves, are not providing direct NIL compensation. But, it is still the universities that control the scholarship offers, and determine which 'students' are allowed to represent them on/in the fields/courts/rinks/pitches/pools, etc. They have the ability to "just say no." But, will they?