Not saying what anyone does is corrupt. I’m making the point that schools playing players a big leveler even if you don’t have deep pocketed willing players.
Being in a conference that doles out 10s of millions more than others except the SEC helps in meeting that 13-15M budget many schools have for their football teams. You can still get and keep good players. You’re not going to keep or get everyone but you can get enough to make some noise if you can fit the pieces together right.
If you watch or read or listen to comments from all over CFB you see talent is spread out and not as concentrated as the past.
OK. So then where is our money going and is it being misspent? That's a whole different discussion.
Seems to me what's actually happening is that certain programs are making a lot more NIL money and that the conference payouts aren't relevant. KU may get less but then their schedule is much easier than ours.