A free market can still have protections and contracts that are negotiated. The NFL, MLB and NBA are all free markets but if you want to get paid by them, you have to sign a contract. The league as a wholes sets down rules that all the teams must follow, that's what is lacking in college sports.

Surely contracts be done for college sports to limit the portal movements. For now, it 's a free for all, I expect deals to have much better wording in the near future to protect the teams and donors monies better but we still lack leadership and governance by the NCAA where the Pro leagues have it.

To me, NCAA just quit when they lost the supreme court case. They may not can stop the NIL monies but they can help with it's regulation and certainly can with the portal. It appears to me that they have chosen not to do anything and blame it on the courts.