The college football landscape has dramatically changed in recent years with realignment, NIL and the transfer portal, and Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy opened up on what he sees for the future of the sport during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

“When football has success, wins 10 games, wins championships, goes to big bowl games, our enrollment goes up every year,” Mike Gundy said on The Pat McAfee Show. “So it drives the market, and in my opinion football is essentially the face to the university in most cases. The money that's generated into the revenue we're making now for the players is being shared as we move forward. We can't get to the details on how to handle this in the right manner without contracts in my opinion. Your wife talks you into buying a vacation house, you're not going to go down and buy a vacation house without a contract, it's not going to happen. So the point being, you have to have contracts to move forward. There's marketing, there's branding, there's so many things. And I really believe that college football teams are going to eventually break away and become their own company.”

It is not surprising to hear Gundy say that contracts will or need to happen, as coaches often want some certainty from the players that commit to play at their school. This is something that Gundy and Oklahoma State football has to deal with, along with everyone else in the country.

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Mike Gundy confident in Oklahoma State football's NIL situation

The good news for Oklahoma State football fans is that Gundy said the program is in good shape when it comes to NIL resources to remain competitive.

“We pay our players very well here, they have certain functions they have to take care of to be able to get their money through the NIL concepts,” Gundy said. “But the biggest challenge is getting players who are not used to making money say look the negotiations are over. When the portal opens back up, whether we like it or not, I think you're going to see more players going in the portal to negotiate, not necessarily try and leave, that will be the big change.

Oklahoma State is competing in a new-look Big 12 conference that welcomes back Colorado, along with Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. It will be more competitive, but Gundy believes Oklahoma State has what it takes.