Nick Saban has always had a platform to share his thoughts on the state of college football, but his retirement from his time as Alabama football coach has allowed him to speak more freely.

That’s often the case when he joins Pat McAfee on ESPN each week. Such was the case Thursday when he talked about the state of NIL in college football.

“Each year, it’s gotten a little worse,” Saban said. “Like the first year, we had name, image and likeness four, five years ago, we had $3 million. And everybody was happy. The next year it was $7 (million). The next year it’s $10 (million). And then this year it’s $13 (million). Now we’re looking at $20 (million). Where does it end?”

Saban’s comments come a day after Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne sent out a call to action to fans to “fight back” as other schools try use “promises of million-dollar paydays to lure away our players.”

Saban doesn’t think the way many collectives are operating is sustainable.

“The people who are supporting this, they really get no benefit for it,” Saban said. “I’m sure there’s going to be some instances in the future where those people don’t want to continue to support players that aren’t there. How would you feel if you gave $500,000 to your program, and it was to pay certain players, and those players all left after one year? You would say, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to continue to do this.‘”

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.