Urban Meyer gives brutally honest response to Deion Sanders asking for salary cap: 'I could care less'

During Big 12 Media Days earlier this month, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders called for there to be a salary cap placed on the new revenue sharing rules that passed as a part of the House v. NCAA settlement. Schools are now able to directly share up to $20.5 million with athletes, but athletes can make much more through third-party deals.

The goal is for college athletics to take on a more professional structure, similar to the NFL. However, Urban Meyer isn’t so sure that’s possible as concerns of parity among larger and smaller institutions continues heading into the 2025-26 athletics calendar year.

“I could care less. I mean, this is, I think, the 780th time we’ve talked about this, but it will never happen,” Meyer said on his podcast, the Triple Option. “It will never happen because Colorado is not the same as Ohio State and Alabama and big market cities that have alumni that are willing to do that.

“But in a perfect world, you’d like it to be like the NFL, but it’s not. It’s like Major League Baseball. And we said this over and over again, you’ve got the starting left side of the infield for the Dodgers making more than most major league teams. That’s going to happen.”

For reference, the average MLB payroll for the 2025 season is $173.1 million. The Dodgers have the highest payroll in the league at $341 million. It’s no surprise that they won the World Series in 2024 and are considered title contenders once again this year.

Sanders pointed out how Ohio State, who won the national championship in college football, reportedly spent north of $20 million on its roster last season. That was before revenue sharing was introduced, but the Buckeyes had the resources to piece together last year’s expensive yet elite roster. Not every program is able to do that.

“You talk about equality,” Sanders said at the time. “… All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent, and you understand darn near why they’re in the playoffs. It’s kind of hard to compete with somebody who’s giving $25, $30 million to a darn freshman class.”

Sanders has never been one to mince words, and it’s clear he’s not thrilled with how the current landscape of NIL in college athletics is going. Still, Sanders made it clear that he believes developing the right players could take a program just as far as those who you’d expect to be in the mix for a national championship.