Eli Drinkwitz warns college football could turn into MLB with spending disparities
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Eli Drinkwitz has never been shy about voicing his opinions, whether it’s during the heart of the SEC season or the heart of the offseason, like right now.
On Wednesday, the outspoken Mizzou head coach took aim at the state of college football and a major concern he has with the sport as it heads toward the 2026 season. During an exclusive interview with On3’s Chris Low, Eli Drinkwitz showed he has his pulse on college football as well as Major League Baseball.
Drinkwitz told Low that he’s very concerned college football could turn into MLB, and he wasn’t pointing to one of the good aspects of Major League Baseball. Instead, Drinkwitz was talking about how spending disparities in MLB over the years have created a divide between the haves and the have-nots.
His baseball have? None other than the 2-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
And his have-not? The “Florida Marlins,” as Drinkwitz called them. He meant the former Florida Marlins, now the Miami Marlins, who struggle to draw crowds during the majority of the season and who tend to trade off players who become stars because they’re too expensive to sign to long-term deals.
Drinkwitz has watched what’s happened with baseball, and he’s fearful it could replicate itself in college football with those spending disparities.
He warned in his interview with Low:
If you’re going to have teams that have $45 (million-dollar) rosters competing against teams that have $15 (million-dollar) and $20 (million-dollar) rosters, you’re going to run the risk of turning into Major League Baseball, where you have the L.A. Dodgers and the (Miami) Marlins. And that’s a professional league that’s not growing, that’s struggling in their TV deals.
Here are Drinkwitz’s full thoughts on the matter that he shared with On3:
As Drinkwitz fears for the overall good of the sport he loves, he’ll be trying to steer Mizzou further toward contention for an SEC title in 2026. Here is what the Kalshi market currently sees as the top teams in the mix for that crown in December:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
