Nick Saban Says College Football Is Moving in ‘Semi-Pro Direction,’ Playoff Stripping Bowl Games of Importance

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been around college football for 50 years, beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant for Kent State in 1973.

Throughout that half-a-century, he has noticed changes to the game with some of the most significant coming in the last few years in the form of Name, Image and Likeness, and the transfer portal.

“We’re moving in the sort of semi-pro direction in terms of, there’s pay-for-play now," Saban said Wednesday during his press conference ahead of Monday's College Football Playoff semifinal against Michigan. "We call it name, image and likeness, but that’s pay-for-play, basically — and I’m all for the players sharing in what’s happening."

“You’ve got guys transferring from one team to the next at will with very little guidelines as to how to control any of these things, and we’re gonna have a playoff very similar to the NFL.

“And I’m not saying any of those things are bad. I’m just saying they’re all completely changes from what we had five years ago, 10 years ago, whatever.”

Bowl games were announced on Dec. 3 and the transfer portal opened on Dec. 4, allowing players to enter the portal even if their still has at least one game left, potentially two for those competing in the College Football Playoffs.

A large motivating factor for players switching schools, aside from the typical personal reasons or fit, is heftier NIL packages on offer. A school like Alabama is able to compete at the highest level money wise, but some smaller programs struggle to keep up, leading to a lack of parity across conferences.

Another change, albeit not as recent, is the effect that the College Football Playoff has had on the other Bowl games.

“I made the statement way back when we started the playoffs, way back when we expanded the playoffs to four teams, that as soon as you have a playoff, it’s gonna minimize the importance of bowl games,” Saban said.

“And that’s exactly what has happened. The more we expand the playoffs, the more we will minimize the importance of bowl games and the significance of bowl games.

“So no longer will you have the tradition of anybody getting reinforced for having a positive season. It’s all gonna be about the playoffs.”

This trend is only going to grow stronger as the CFP expands to 12 teams, 11 bowl games, next season, making the other non-playoff bowls feel even less significant.

Saban has not been faced with the challenge of playing in meaningless bowl games too often since the CFP came into effect in 2014.

This year will be his Crimson Tide's eighth CFP appearance in its 10 editions. Alabama has reached six National Championships and has won three in that span.