is, IMHO, the central point in the whole "what to do about NIL" debate. As college sports have become more professionalized, one of the glaring differences between the franchise-based pro leagues and the college-based pro leagues is the approach to dividing up the revenue pie. Pro players now receive infinitely more of that pie, proportionately, than they did a generation ago. And player salaries for the top pros dwarf coaching salaries. A pro team's spend on roster talent is way higher than its spend on coaching and front office talent. And as pro salaries increase, ticket prices usually follow, but that's about the extent of fan gouging that occurs. Salaries and caps go up because revenue continues to go up. College-based pro sports seems to follow entirely different logic. The structure of the past several decades, where schools, coaches, athletic directors, and assorted hangers-on reap enormous financial rewards, and players received no direct compensation, has now been upended. But the response has not been "now we have to divide the pie differently and share". Nor has it been "how can we grow the pie even faster". It's been "we want to continue to keep most of the money for ourselves, and it's up the fans to help pay the players". Player compensation is not going away. Schools, admins, and coaches are going to have to realize that (a) their own compensation will inevitably have to decline in relative terms and (b) asking fans to be a primary source of funding player salaries is not a sustainable long-term solution.