re: Have we discussed how putrid NIL and the portal is for CFB yet?

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ome of us became college football fans FOR THE VERY FACT that it wasn’t the NFL. This is even worse than the NFL. Just a bunch of billionaires buying championships for their schools. High fives all around.

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That change was happening WELL before the last few years. You became a college football fan of a product that doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for a long time. A new product that you, me, every college football fan ironically helped create.

Decades ago it didn't cost all that much to attend a college football game. There were no TV contract (at least any significant TV contracts) and every game wasn't on TV. There were few, if any "luxury suites". There were no "fees" (like TAF) you had to pay just for the privilege to buy season tickets. You didn't have the demand for 8 million products with LSU, Texas, Georgia, logos plastered on them. It was simply the school team.

But as the demand by fans increased so did the revenues. Ticket prices went up. TV contracts became and thing and increasingly became bigger. There was millions upon millions of dollars to be made all because we, the fans, could not get enough college football. That demand also caused the expenses to rise too. Coaches' salaries skyrocketed because we all demanded championships. Stadiums expanded and constantly renovated. Practice facilities, amenities, etc all increase in a never ending arms race because we, the fans, demanded success and were willing to pay an ever increasing amount for it.

College football is now a multi-billion dollar industry that is barely affiliated with the schools. And the only reason it is still affiliated with the schools is because of the 100+ years of goodwill baked in. At the end of the day you are a fan of LSU, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State...not the individual players. Even before this era of the sport the players were constantly changing. The school remained the constant. If those players suddenly became a minor league team called the Baton Rouge Tigers, or Columbus Buckeyes, or College Station Aggies, the sellouts of Tiger Stadium, The Horseshoe or Kyle Field would plummet because there is no goodwill built into a minor league team that just happens to play in those big cities.

Our love of the sport turned it into the massive entertainment business it has become.

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First, people have to change there perception of college football.

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The simple fact of the matter is that people really don’t. If it’s nothing more than semi-pro football, without contracts, then quite honestly I do not see a value in it over the NFL besides perhaps familiarity, and since it’s all value driven, I and nobody else has to do anything. It’s if we find value in it or not, and I’d be less than honest if I said it wasn’t waning interest at this point.

Not better for players in long run if fan interest dwindles. I’ve been going to games since ‘86 and this may have been my last year. Happy I caught college football when I did.