'A lot' of people in college football could be headed to bankruptcy
Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko has proven a lot of doubters wrong following two very strong seasons at the helm and the Aggies’ first-ever trip to the College Football Playoff. So fans might take him more seriously when he warns that bankruptcy could be on the horizon for the college football powers if they don’t start reining in the spending.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Elko joked that he’d be in favor of a 40-team playoff because it guarantees that he’d never be fired. His greater fear is that the sport of college football needs more regulation to avoid some programs going bankrupt. He warned that colleges may be just a couple of years away from the NIL budget exceeding the TV revenue for the entire school.
“I don’t know why you ask us. It doesn’t matter what we think. I don’t know why we’re trying to become a trophy sport. What does Mike Elko want? 40. Then I won’t get fired...” Elko joked. “We don’t have to find a number that allows everyone to get in. It’s OK for it to be hard to get into the Playoff. None of us are answering for the good of the sport. We are answering for the good of ourselves.”
“If we don’t find a way to create some level of regulation in the market, a lot of people are going to go bankrupt pretty quick,” Elko said, via On3’s Pete Nakos. “We’re two and a half years away from having an NIL budget that’s greater than the TV revenue for our entire university.”
An Unheeded Warning
College football fans praised Elko for having the courage to say the part they’ve all been feeling out loud. But many feel that his warning will go unheeded by the powers that be in college football.
“Props to Elko for saying the quiet part out loud. Most CFB & CBB coaches want expanded postseason fields in because it makes it easier for them to keep their jobs. It’s refreshing to see one that doesn’t,” one user remarked.
“First good answer from a coach so far,” another said.
“It should be hard to make it into the playoffs. Post season play should be a reward, not a guarantee,” a third wrote.
“24 is fine but if you don’t win the whole thing you will still be held accountable,” another pointed out.
“At least Mike Elko kept it real... Most coaches probably think the same thing, but very few would actually say it out loud. ‘We’re answering for the good of ourselves’ is brutally honest.”
Elko went 11-1 in the regular season last year, rising as high as No. 3 in the country before losing to arch-rival Texas in the final weeks of the regular season and then falling to Miami in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
With the way his teams are playing and the expansion on the horizon, we’re going to see his teams in far more postseason games moving forward.
Whether it lasts in the current paradigm remains to be seen.
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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 10:05 AM.