What ties people to college football isn't football. It's become minor league football, but unlike every other minor league sport, CFB is actually profitable because of the tie to the university. You pull that affiliation, then it just becomes like the USFL or the NFL. The affiliation that drives NIL isn't any different than LIV golf. There isn't a return but the affiliation of being a part of something you love. The $$ isn't drying up because you'll always have people that love the school. The NFL is a better product, but people who love their schools have something the NFL can't give them. It's something that they've been a part of. Even if you keep the top 10-20 brands, and say it captures 40-50% of the market, people stop watching when it's not something people talk about at the water cooler. People not in market(s) stop caring. Then it becomes the NHL best case, but more likely the USFL or minor league baseball. The only people that care are die hards(people who went to that school) and will watch it on some random cable station, but everything dries up. Your top markets in college football are not big cities outside of LA with USC.

Second thing is the NFL likes a big product. If you only have 15-20 teams, you only have 1500 kids out there playing ball rather than 30000. The NFL wants 300 teams playing because it means the most people out there developing toward their product as possible. It makes the draft better, it makes for a combine, it makes more product. People love the D3 kid getting drafted in the 6th round. It's good TV. They don't have to fund it and there is a silent agreement between the 2 that they don't infringe on each other's TV rights.