For many fans, once college football gave the green light for players to earn money through their name, the gap between what separated college football from the NFL closed considerably.
While college football teams hold spring games over the next several months - or at least the ones that are opting to continue to do so - NFL teams are able to hold joint practices, which effectively turn into scrimmages come the fall.
To open his presser today, Deion Sanders noted that they will still hold a traditional spring game, and it will also air on ESPN2, just two years removed from his debut when they packed Folsom Field for their spring game and made headlines all over the country.
Prime admits he would like to keep spring games around, but with a bit of an NFL twist.
"Spring game will be televised on ESPN2, and will be broadcast on the 19th. We've got to sell this thing out and pack this thing because the way the trend is going is you never know if this is going to be the last spring game."
"Now, I don't believe in that, and I don't really want to condone that, but I would actually like to play the spring game against another team, in the spring. That's what I'm trying to do right now."
"To have it competitive, and to play against your own guys, it can get kind of monotonous, and you really can't tell the level of your guys.
"I would like to style it like the pros. I'd like to go against someone for a few days, and then you have the spring game. I think the public would be satisfied with that tremendously. I think it's a tremendous idea. I've told those personnel, who should understand that, that it's a tremendous idea."
While certainly a "tremendous idea," Prime isn't the first to pitch the adoption of an NFL model, and it certainly seems like it's something that could pick up some steam with traditional spring games beginning to die off.
Current NCAA and FBS rules do not currently allow for the NFL model, with joint practices or scrimmages against another team, but it's something that has been discussed for years among coaches, dating back to well before traditional spring games became a public audition for guys considering the transfer portal.
With a lot of FCS programs within a reasonable distance of FBS programs, maybe, instead of guarantee games to start the season in the fall, an FBS program pays for an FCS to come to campus, stay for a few days and practice together, with a spring scrimmage to cap off the experience and the fall is reserved for FBS-on-FBS games?
Hear more from Prime in the clip.
