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Game On
Yesterday’s four-hour, OT, very enjoyable Rose Bowl game and the well-into-last evening’s Sugar Bowl thriller gave most NCAA College Football fans what they want and need. An escape.
But, make no mistake about it. The toothpaste is out of the tube and, as you know, it’s awfully hard to put it back in.
Conference realignments, opt-outs, transfer portal entries, expanded playoffs soon, TV money, coaching carousels, coaching buyouts, more opt-outs, and maybe most of all NIL money have transformed the game at a dizzying pace.
Three unnamed Athletic Directors in a sit-down round table interview offered some quick takes recently. One said, “Be careful what you wish for.” A second followed, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The third one uttered, ” The only thing constant in the game is change. Embrace it. Adapt to it. Or, die from not.”
Is it possible that they are all right at the same time? Is it probable?
Is the third one ahead of the others? Yes.
It’s likely the new normal will be like a fine wine- an acquired taste.
Unlimited transfers through the portal are the college’s equivalent to free agency. There’s one big difference though.
In the pros, you sign a binding contract for a specified period of years. You give, you get. In college you only get. And, if the grass(read as money) looks greener at the next U, you go get it.
There’s nothing wrong with capitalism, it just reminds us that there never has been and will never be an “I” in “team.” The reasons for that truism have multiplied.
So who’s on your team next year? There is no static answer to that question. It’s who’s on your team at this minute to buckle up a chin strap. Tomorrow is a ways off, we’ll have to see. It makes games like Army v Navy even more appealing to purists.
So, who wins? When it comes to money, seemingly everyone does. TV charges more to advertisers. Then it doles out more money for big conference alignments. Schools make more that are a part of the mega conferences. Coaches make more. And, with NIL the kids now get a legal bag, too.
But who consistently wins on the field? Perhaps it will be the programs that offer the best chance at future development and convince the kids and their entourage that a long-term plan beats a short-term dash for cash. A bunch of good 21-year-olds usually beat a bunch of good 18-year-olds.
Recruiting great players is still the path to success, but now the above-the-table cash has to be there as well.
Maybe the NCAA will strengthen the transfer rules a bit too. How? That’s the difficult part. Lawsuits will challenge any restrictions from where we are today.
it’s doubtful that TV ratings will suffer. It’s doubtful that in-person attendance will either.
But.
Fans are the one who pays for all of this(NIL indirectly as well) by watching at home or in person.
Doesn’t it feel like everyone involved wins, but the fan loses?
Comment section
Engage. Enrage. Enjoy.
College Basketball is one and done and does not get important until March — Name the top 3 college players as of today – Yeah Right,
College Football is great for the same 4-6 teams every year {except this year with Washington} – Maybe 2025 with a 12 Team play-off we will get people excited. Can’t wait to see the 2024 version of Give me LIBERTY or a blowout …
One difference is that one and done in basketball affects the top 15 players in the game.
The transfer portal puts new names on new jerseys in the thousands in both football and basketball.
Also, one and done is dumb.
Baseball does it right. Go straight out of HS or wait till you’re 21.
Liberty playing is like yellow ribbons for all at the five year old soccer field.
How soon do we get to a NIL/Team salary cap? Does the NCAA even retain enough power, at this point, to mandate such a thing? Without some limits or caps, the wealthiest donors buy the best players. Does that make the best TEAM? I doubt it. Ask Texas A&M.
The salary cap is worth getting to. IF everyone until a few years back was getting a schollie, now everyone gets a schollie and 50k a year. But, but the star QB is worth more. Yes, but let the neutered NCAA police monitor the under the table money as the poorly did before.
Rumor is athletic departments are being prepped on unlimited transfer rules for kids. Buckle in.
Isn’t it already here? It feels like it.
I agree in every respect but have a few more questions which I will get to in a moment. The four teams in the semi’s matched up about as well as you could imagine. All the back room lobbying that ESPN did to keep FSU out paid off. I don’t know what the viewership numbers were but nobody left those broadcasts until the clock struck zero.
But let’s face facts. Streaming is here and will dominate how games will be watched in the future. ESPN is already a loss for the house that Mickey built and Bob Iger wants investors or a spin off. It will be hard to do without a better rights package. Realignment will only make that more difficult on so many levels. But I ask:
How will other sports exist in these geographically challenged conferences? Can you imagine a 6 hour flight for the X-country team?
How will college football insure that the final four teams aren’t all from the same conference or even state for that matter?
If they are, a broadcast deal with the SEC seems like a better, more economic approach than any other. Thereby minimizing all the rest financially.
You see the money tree grows best when all are strengthened. Oh wait, the selfish university presidents and their high academic staff never considered this?
Pay day is coming(or not) for their lack of thought and strategic lapses in judgement.
Now that Xfinity has stopped doing to my infrastructure what the college presidents have done to the game, your comments are available and obviously now published.
The geographically challenged conferences are pure survival for relevance and/or a money grab. It’s no more inconvenient for a x-country team to cross the country than it is for the football team. They are equally dumb.
They can’t insure that the final four won’t be all from the same conference. But, the three major sports run that risk on the geographic part of it. Subway Series, Earthquake WS, I 70 series, and NE v The NY Giants SB all come to mind.
ESPN is a cancer to sports, the sports world just doesn’t know it.
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