In a new ESPN E60 special, Jeremy Schaap unpacks the seismic shift that has transformed college athletics from an amateur ideal into a high-stakes marketplace. Paid to Play: Understanding College Sports in 2025 debuts Sunday, Dec. 28, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, streaming on the ESPN App after the television debut.

For generations, the NCAA defended one sacred principle: college athletes were amateurs – students first, playing for school pride, tradition, and the love of the game. But now, in 2025, that world has all but disappeared. A series of federal rulings has ushered in an era of athlete sponsorships via Name Image Likeness (NIL), free agency through the transfer portal, and – after this year’s landmark House settlement – direct school payments to student athletes.

For even the most diehard fan, the pace of change has been hard to track. How’d we get here? Who’s benefiting – or not? And what does the future of college sports actually look like?

In the one-hour E60 special, Schaap explores and reveals the forces reshaping the billion-dollar industry. Through the biggest names in college sports, he breaks down how schools are now paying players, the explosive rise of the NIL industry, how the transfer portal really works and what the role of the NCAA is in a landscape it no longer fully controls.

The program takes viewers on a journey across the country with stops including SMU, which was once crushed by the NCAA’s harshest penalties; Texas Tech, home to a new powerhouse fueled by ambitious NIL collectives, with an interview with megadonor Cody Campbell; Ole Miss, where star guard and four-time transfer portal veteran AJ Storr is rewriting the rules of player mobility; and Indianapolis, inside NCAA Headquarters, where President Charlie Baker answers today’s most pressing questions.

Paid to Play: Understanding College Sports in 2025 was produced by Max Brodsky, Vincent Coladonato, Jon Fish, Jason Kostura, Steve Buckheit, Madeline Rundlett and David Seronick. ESPN staff writer Dan Murphy, who has covered the rise of NIL in college sports, was a consultant during the production and is one of many people interviewed in the special.

Do you have what it takes to be an AD?

Related to the subject of the new E60 special, ESPN.com has launched an original interactive game that puts fans in the role of a college athletic director, guiding them through decisions around NIL, the transfer portal and more, and offering a dynamic and engaging look at the ever-evolving landscape of college sports. The game is the latest of multiple gamifications regularly produced by ESPN as part of its editorial coverage and visual storytelling.

About E60:  

E60, founded in 2007, is ESPN’s highly decorated sports storytelling brand. E60 has received 112 Sports Emmy nominations with 21 wins, including “Outstanding Hosted Edited Series” for the fifth time in 2025. E60 has won accolades for its mix of revealing profiles, hard-hitting investigations and exclusive interviews delivered with innovative production techniques, top-notch journalism with unrivaled storytelling. E60 has taken numerous formats during its lifespan, including that of a magazine-style program, segments and its current format as a one-hour, single-story program for linear television and streaming.  Click HERE for the E60 media kit with links to past news releases, bios, etc.

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