It is getting a bit soulless. What is anyone loyal and true to exactly? There aren’t any real consistencies to hang your hat on.
I would guess a large portion of sports fans aren’t really on board with how public schools are being run or what they’re teaching. Do you mean the football team? As you said, it’s a bunch of one-year mercenaries. So, if it’s not the coach whose been there for 20 years, then all you’re left with is a logo and a color scheme which is a weird thing to give your allegiance to. Best not to think about it too much.
Man you guys are definitely only looking at the College Football window from a micro level. The macro isnt quite the same. Everyone knows the landscape has changed due to the portal and NIL. But there are programs still managing to make it work. Arizona St and Iowa St are still managing to win. And there is a sentiment that you want to play in leagues against teams/programs with similar bankrolls…well thats where you are right now. The NIL toothpaste isnt getting put back into the tube, so rather than sulk while you wither away and die…you had better hope your administration figures it out. Again, the rest of this Conf is trying. OSU and Gundy so far seem more interested in complaining about it being too hot in the kitchen
Yes my comments are regarding the football team. As far as being an alum, graduate in 1978, I do subscribe loyal and true. My Daughter graduated from OSU in the mid 2000’s. She is a 4th generation poke. My Grandfather went there before WW1. Yea Orange is in my genes.
I actually think I’m at a much more macro level than you are just now, but it’s a level where it all deconstructs into nihilism, so probably better to just watch the flashing lights and enjoy the circus.
Yeah I completely disagree, which is fine. The numbers, popularity, viewership, wealth for college football is higher than its ever been. It obviously isnt like that everywhere, but the overall product is as good as its ever been. I think the parity at the top is also making it better. If they ever get a cap or guardrails, it will only increase it. The people that are saying college football is killing itself or dying due to the portal/NIL are the same ones that said Nike and the NFl would die when the Colin Kaepernick thing was going. It just isnt happening.
Well, that wasn’t my point, but I guess it’s related. College football isn’t going to “die” as in cease to exist (well, eventually, someday), though it arguably should. It is going to die like the MLB died and in the same way. It’ll still be around, but its prominence is going to fall off. It doesn’t go away over night. It’s generational. People who are already fans are invested. Some will get sick of it and leave, but most won’t. It will be their inability to capture the next generation that will kill it. By the time it dies, they’ll be looking for current reasons when it’s the seeds planted now that kill it.
College football is appealing for rivalry, regionality, school loyalty, pageantry, tradition. These are its distinctives that make it different from the NFL and any other sport really. Those things are either dead or on life support. As it becomes the Diet version of the NFL, people will choose the NFL which has interactive tie-ins like fantasy football on top of everything else. Sure, you don’t have to choose, but there are levels of sports fan. Some people only watch a game or two a weekend or they just watch their team. Not all fans are gorging football all day, all weekend long for three months, so what does modern college football offer to that person? I guess it has the ability to be higher scoring, but we just had two fantastic, high-scoring NFL games with big time comebacks.
College football is appealing for rivalry, regionality, school loyalty, pageantry, tradition…and all of those things still are alive and well. Youre the one of the good ones and I enjoy the convo/discussion. But to say those things are “either dead or on life support” is hyperbole. Again, youre looking at it thru the micro. You dont reel in casual fans by showing half-full stadiums of games between the have nots who doint matter. You dang sure dont keep the casual fans that way either. Golf ratings are the highest when Tiger Woods was in contention Sundays. NBA ratings are highest when you have the superstars on display. Football is king in these College Regions. It starts in HS and continues. You think thats going to go away?? Thats insanity. In order to kill college football, you ll have to kill the NFL. To some extent, youll have to kill HS football. Football is King. That isnt going anywhere.
People could’ve said the same thing about Hollywood, but it finds itself in an economic downturn for a lot of the same reasons. Acting like the middle of the country doesn’t matter, putting all of their eggs in a few high-profile baskets, dismissing complaints because their numbers looked good. They hit a couple of snags (writer’s strike and COVID) and people realize they don’t miss the theatre, people find other sources of entertainment, their cultural momentum dies, and now they can’t figure out how to turn the money-printing machines back on.
I’m saying 30 years and college football’s decline becomes apparent, but if there was some kind of player’s strike where they demand revenue-sharing or something (in the same way the MLB strike hastened their descent), it could be faster, but this is a long-term prediction. Cultural inertia is real.
Dude…comparing Hollywood to College Football is a massive, massive stretch. Comparing Apples to Quadriplegics. Movies didnt die. The manner in which you consume it did. The entertainment industry didnt die. The manner in which you consume it did. College Football isnt even showing a decline in any facet. I get your prediction. Hollywood wasnt effected by a movie theater closing in Stillwater. College football IS THRIVING overall. You cannot argue that. The numbers prove that. Will that change? You say yes. Thats ok. Colllege Football is KING in Middle America. If its not King, its the Prince next to the NFL being King. Killing College will require killing the game of football itself. You seem like a smart guy and I get your premise. But come on
I am one of those “casual” college football fans that you speak of. I very rarely watch other teams as I have zero interest. Now I do watch other teams when OSU is playing them so that is good for them as well as OSU. If some super “30’“ or “60” league is created and OSU is not part of it then that league isn’t getting my viewership for reasons already mentioned. So one of the questions that need to be asked when considering the trajectory of college football is how many of the total population of college football fans are like me? If it’s a significant number then I’m pretty sure the trajectory is going to trend in the wrong direction unless the sport gets fixed such that every team has a chance to be relevant and the things that we love about the sport are maintained at least to some degree.
I won’t watch either if OSU is excluded. I agree that everyone is hanging on with hope that college football does not destroy itself. Already avoid watching non-B12 games.
As to the future of college football, the only proposal I’ve seen that gives me hope is Project Rudy. If the Big 10/SEC raid the ACC big names to expand and then breaking away to form their own division of college football, then that would be final nail in the coffin of college football as we knew it.