"AI hiring will look like Champions League free agency: few teams, sky-high caps, and everyone else playing Moneyball."— Isar Meitis, Leveraging AI podcast, Episode 203 (5 July 2025) The headlines read like transfer season gossip from football's biggest clubs. Meta reportedly dangling $300 million over four years to poach OpenAI's top talent. Google matching with nine-figure packages. Junior engineers seeing $200,000 "AI premiums" added to their offers like signing bonuses. But here's the uncomfortable truth: when only the richest clubs can field a team, the entire league eventually collapses. The Numbers That Broke Reality Let's look at what's actually happening…