I have a guilty pleasure- I go to Sooner Scoop and read the Sooner fans’ laments:
”NIL has ruined college football” (actually, it has only been bad for programs that used to spend under the table and can’t afford the price of poker now that it’s legal)
”This can’t go on! Something will have to be done e!” (It can go on, and something’ doesn’t have to be done)
It is all driven by a sense that the universe shares the Okies’ angst, that OU being a mid team is unbearable. (It doesn’t)
It gets pointed out, when they call for a salary cap, that collective bargaining would have to happen first. The Sooner advocates respond, “Great! Bring on collective bargaining!”
It occurs to me that it is more likely that new associations of like minded schools would form first, to voluntarily manage the system. An example would be the Ivy League. They do not provide athletic scholarships (I know they have a lot of work-arounds, but they do not adhere to NCAA rules and regulations on athletic scholarships), and it is voluntary. (Presumably, they could be NIL monsters, but they choose not to be).
Anyway, it seems more likely, to me, that new conference associations would form, based on NIL willingness (a top league with no cap, lower leagues with voluntary caps) than for the NCAA or CFA to institute caps.