Throughout the 2024 football season, coaches and administrators often expressed apprehension when discussing the future of college athletics. Granted, many of the same people have expressed concern in recent years when discussing the potential effects Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal will have on college football.
But something was different this year. These coaches and administrators weren’t referencing something that could be solved by the NCAA changing a rule or regulating certain aspects of sports. They were talking about multiple financial concerns on top of the recent inflation the world has experienced since the pandemic and how declining enrollment and a predicted enrollment cliff due to declining birth rates could force more schools to discontinue their football programs or cause entire institutions to close.