Seems to be more focused on nutrition facilities, dining areas, meeting rooms, office space, etc.

ND isn't close to the top ten in facilities right now. Take a look at Clemson, LSU, Oregon, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ohio State, and more. Their setups make the Gug look antiquated.

I'm not saying it's a good thing- I hate this rat race and spending spree, but it's the sad reality of modern CFB.

I don't understand the capital waste spent on making sure the facilities are "top tier". It's an arms race that makes the cold war look tame.

Same with coach pay and athletic dept. staff/overhead.

I'm kind of shocked schools are moving forward with significant facility spends for sports, although I suppose donors prefer their names on tangible buildings.

It seems like everyone adjusts to sad realities pretty quickly

I would’ve thought NIL was the last straw

IF there is ever a plan that is collectively bargained and that shares revenues with college football players at the elite level, wouldn't that organically bring expenditures on facilities and coach salaries down to a "reasonable" level? It feels like the money in the sport is wasted now on a game of one-upping on facilities, coach salaries, staffing, and recruiting. And sadly not on the best and safest playing surfaces in stadiums.

There was a recent article that I think Dennis Dodd had a major school AD mentioning his departmental budget was like a crime scene due to player payroll/NIL taking a bite.

The bite is going to get a whole lot bigger with House vs NCAA, etc. coming up in 9 months.

directly paying players out of his athletic budget, presumably under the guise of "NIL"?

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it happens just like the $100 handshake used to happen, but I'm pretty surprised an AD would brazenly admit that he's doing it to a writer.

the House case ruling going against them and future anticipated player payroll expenses. My initial post was not an accurate recollection of the article - here's a snippet:

"One Power Five athletic director recently winced after taking a glimpse at his balance sheet. His financial outlook is not much different than his peers' with multiple high-speed bullet trains all coming into the station at the same time. The most unpredictable of all being expected revenue sharing with athletes through collective bargaining.

"It feels like my budget is about to look like a murder scene," that AD said.

Those projections -- typically called pro forma budgets -- are based on "what if?" hypotheticals. Like any good business person, an AD attempts to determine what expenditures are ahead and how much revenue will be coming in. Right now, they are struggling to project either."