NCAAF ‘Pay to Play’ is Here

The end of ‘amateur’ athletics as we knew it, and the 2024 college football season is the latest example. It’s the first time in NCAA history that schools are able to directly pay their players.

This is on the heels of the sport’s governing body and the Power 5 conferences agreeing to a revenue-sharing deal. As the NCAA was being sued by current and former players, settling was the best course of action. 

Over the next decade, more than $2.7 billion in damages goes to former and current athletes, paid by the NCAA. Schools will also have the ability to pay $20 million to its athletes. 

It’s pretty clear that football was the engine driving these changes, as it’s the leading money maker among all the collegiate sports.

The smaller conferences were not included in the discussion about dissemination of revenue, and those leagues are going to have even smaller voices in the future. Now, as the College Football Playoff expands to a dozen teams, just about all of those ‘qualifiers’ are going to come out of the behemoth leagues. 

While conference expansion is impacting the college football landscape next season and beyond, it’s also going to create some never-before-seen opportunities with wagering. 

Alphabetically, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern Conference are going to be in control, while the Pac-12 is going away. 

Congress to Intercede?

Leaders of the Power 5 Conferences worked quickly to make these changes, but this was viewed as only a stopgap measure. Everyone that’s associated with this issue agrees it needs federal legislation to smooth things out in the future.

With college football now a multi-billion-dollar industry, it will need some oversight from lawmakers. New NIL legislation has been enacted by some states, though it’s created a playing field that’s not equal. 

Assessing the Conferences

One of the more intriguing betting options ahead of the 2024 college football season is the market asking which leagues are best-represented in the College Football Playoffs (though the Pac-12 is dissolved, “holdovers’ Oregon St. and Washington St. are considered)

It’s the Southeastern Conference as the current betting favorite at 1-2 (-200), with the Big 12 next at 11-4 (+275), Big Ten at 7-2 (+350), Pac-12 at 4-1 (+400) and Atlantic Coast Conference at 9-2 (+450). Any other conference is at 12-1 (+1200), according to college football specials.

Making the Field

It’s death and taxes that the Georgia Bulldogs make the College Football Playoffs this season. UGA is priced at a puny -900, while the Ohio St. Buckeyes are next at -800.

Georgia (33-10 [+330]) and Ohio St. (17-4 [+425]) are also the top two choices to win the title, as per college football championship odds.

Back to the playoffs, where the Texas Longhorns and Oregon Ducks have odds set at 1-5 (-500), while eight other schools are also at minus money.