What Alabama football coach Nick Saban thinks about paying college players

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. ― If college football players are to be paid, Alabama football coach Nick Saban said to look to the professional model.

He was asked at SEC spring meetings how he feels about schools sharing profits with athletes and making players employees.

"I have no problem with that," Saban said. "Unionize it. Make it like the NFL. If it’s going to be the same for everyone. I think that’s better than what we have now. What we have now is we have some states and some schools in some states that are investing a lot more money in terms of managing their roster than others. I think this is going to create a real competitive disadvantage for some in the future."

He made multiple references to the NFL while speaking to reporters ahead of the annual meetings, and he pointed out the NFL's emphasis on parity.

"If they can have everybody going into the 17^th week of the season at 8-8, that would be like a dream for the NFL," Saban said. "Every fan would be watching their team to see if they could get into the playoffs. You think there’s disparity in college football right now? There’s going to be a lot more in the future."

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Saban mentioned how the NFL has a salary cap and different things to level the playing field. He said guidelines could be put in place to accomplish the same for college athletics.

But he made sure to point out the difference that exists.

"The big mistake that people make is college athletics is not a business," Saban said. "People say it’s a business. It’s not a business. It’s revenue producing."

Saban brought up how when he was coach of the Miami Dolphins, Wayne Huizenga owned the team, took a profit, made money and an investment.

"That doesn’t happen in college athletics," Saban said. "We re-invest every cent that gets made into non-revenue sports. To scholarships, to a lot of things that create a lot of opportunities for a lot of people, which is really, really good. We’re not talking about the same thing. It’s not really a business. It’s revenue producing. Nobody takes a profit. All the money gets reinvested in other opportunities for other people, whether it’s facilities, whether it’s scholarships, whether it’s opportunities for people to play. If we continue down this road, are we going to be able to continue to have those opportunities? I think those are all good questions somebody probably ought to answer."