Missouri HC Complains About CFB NIL Disparity, Compares It to Dodgers vs. Marlins Payrolls

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz is worried college football will eventually end up like Major League Baseball, at least when it comes to payroll disparities.

"If you're going to have teams that have $45 million rosters competing against teams that have $15 million and $20 million rosters, you're going to run the risk of turning into Major League Baseball, where you have the L.A. Dodgers and the Florida Marlins," he told Chris Low of On 3. "And that's a professional league that's not growing, that's struggling in their TV deals."

It should be noted that Drinkwitz is wrong about baseball "not growing."

The league saw an increase in attendance in each of the last three seasons, as well as a significant increase in playoff viewership numbers in 2025 even before a thrilling seven-game World Series between the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

The World Baseball Classic also set television viewership records, which gives the sport plenty of momentum heading into a new season.

Still, there is a notable difference in payrolls. The Dodgers have the highest tax payroll in the league entering the 2026 campaign at $396.6 million, while the Marlins are last at $82.8 million. 

Of course, with no salary cap and every single team in the league worth more than $1 billion with 16 of them worth at least $2 billion, per Forbes' 2025 valuations, the argument can be made the teams on the bottom of the payroll rankings can and should be spending more even if they don't have the resources to completely keep pace with the Dodgers.

As for college football, it is fair to be concerned about disparities in rosters as name, image and likeness opportunities continue to grow across the sport, but that is also clashes with the reality of the results in recent years.

Full Miami (FL) Hurricanes - Indiana Hoosiers Highlights

03:55

After all, the first two years of the 12-team College Football Playoff has been an era of increased parity in the sport. Indiana had the most-ever losses in college football history entering the 2025 campaign and won the national title in a season that also saw Texas Tech with a first-round bye and Ole Miss in the semifinals.

Arizona State and Boise State had first-round byes the previous year.

With the transfer portal, NIL and recruiting, there are more ways than ever for coaches to quickly assemble competitive rosters even if they aren't at the Ohio States, Alabamas and Texases of the world.

And it's not as if the historically top programs weren't the ones continually adding the top recruiting classes in the country in the previous systems anyway.

Yet Drinkwitz is still concerned that the parity college football fans have seen of late will go away in the future.