Fans across the country learned Sunday which teams are making up the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff bracket.
The big picture: Beyond an updated playoff structure, a new era of collegiate and high school athletics is here. Name, image and likeness (NIL) deals have remolded the NCAA's competitive landscape in just a few short years.
Since 2021, the NIL market has almost doubled from $917 million in 2021-22 to a projected $1.67 billion in 2024-25, according to NIL platform Opendorse estimates.
Out of the top ten college football players with the highest NIL valuation and roster value (effectively, their perceived worth to the team), half play in the Southeastern Conference.
The latest: The College Football Playoff selection committee revealed the 12 teams set to jockey for the national championship Sunday, putting undefeated Oregon at the top of the list.
Notably, Alabama was edged out of the showdown by SMU, despite the Mustangs' narrow loss to Clemson Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship game.
But the teams at the top of the CFP heap are not necessarily the ones that boast the biggest NIL stars.
State of play: Shedeur Sanders, Colorado's quarterback and the son of Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders, leads the pack with a $6.2 million profile, per On3's NIL Valuation and Roster Value list. Sanders' deals include Nike, Beats by Dre and Google.
He's followed by teammate Travis Hunter, who is favored to win the prestigious Heisman Trophy.
Arch Manning, the Texas Longhorns' backup QB and nephew of NFL greats Peyton and Eli Manning, rounds out the top three with an estimated $5 million valuation.
Context: On3's valuation calculates the "optimized NIL opportunity" for student-athletes relative to the overall market. It doesn't necessarily equate to how much cash the players have — rather, it estimates their projected annual value.
Zoom out: It's not just college football players that have reaped dividends from NIL — currently, LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne ranks fourth on On3's NIL Top 100 list.
Flashback: NIL, which has become a driving factor for recruiting and retaining athletes in recent years, rocked the NCAA after a unanimous Supreme Court ruling catalyzed the unraveling of its amateurism model that forbade players from making money on their own success.
As states passed their own NIL laws, the NCAA adopted an interim policy in 2021.
While some have heralded the exposure and benefits NIL deals can bring, the burgeoning industry, the NCAA and some experts have criticized the current model for leaving open the door to exploitation of young elite athletes.
What's next: The upheaval could enter a new phase with a pending NIL settlement and the House vs. NCAA legal case, which could pave the way for universities to directly pay college athletes.
The NCAA, conferences, coaches and other stakeholders have lobbied Congress and state governments to create consistent guidelines to regulate the industry.
The incoming Republican-controlled Congress could move to preserve some elements of the NCAA's traditional amateur athlete model.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is set to chair the Senate Commerce Committee, has supported the NCAA and its power conferences and has said NIL reform would be a "very, very high priority for him."
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