...then somebody's going to have to do something. https://www.facebook.com/reel/972008808874558
If This Man is Nervous...
- Thread starter KingWard
- Start date
It's gotten out of hand . . . I agree that something is going to have to change.
I and others have said it since day one. These college athletes demanding to be paid will destroy the thing they need the most. It's happening right before our eyes.
I've been against NIL from the beginning. There was nothing good that could come from it, and here we are.
It isn't going to get fixed. It is going to have to implode or collapse or fail in whatever way it will fail before anything will change. The players, the coaches, the ADs and, especially, the lawyers are grabbing too much money to allow anything to change. The fans have clearly said they don't like what is happening but they are being completely ignored.
I read an interesting editorial by an Ohio State grad/fan. He said the games weren't worth going to anymore because of the cost to attend. The cheapest ticket to the worst cupcake game was $100. He said the additional cost for parking, travel, food, etc. made attending a game a no value proposition. A family of four going to the cheapest game of the season would spend over $500.
When Ohio State fans, some of the most rabid in the country, say going to the game isn't worth it anymore, change isn't far behind.
The proverbial toothpaste is out of the tube.
Same here, but the cool kids told us we just needed to step aside.
Yeah what a bunch of idiots telling us the kids should get paid like this. Most of them probably received some sort of unearned income as well while the rest of us work our butts off just to keep the kids happy.
I agree.
Free room and board.
Free education.
Free nutritionist.
Free gym.
Free medical staff and facility-use.
Free coaching.
Free TV exposure and NFL platform. . . I feel for them, these poor, poor kids who have to “work” so hard for all that meager preferential treatment. They deserve so much more. /s
But I agree also with the comment that once you start, you can’t pull back. We’ve seen it happen in everyday life beginning in the ‘60’s with LBJ’s doomed Great Society and companion Economic Opportunity Act: A growing portion of society living off the government and taxpayers instead of contributing.
Yeah but the fans continue to spend money at it. Until that stops nothing will change.
You are absolutely correct, but the numbers are indicating that the amount of money the fans are going to be required to spend to maintain the status quo may be reaching the tipping point where the fans stop spending as much. There will not be a rush for the exits across all of college football. The change will come incrementally. First, the teams that have basically no chance of making the CFP i.e. Wake Forest, West Virginia, Rutgers, Colorado State, etc. will see mostly empty stadiums as their fans refuse to pay the big money to attend when they can watch at home. Then, that pattern will spread to the next tier of teams, the teams that now delude themselves into thinking they are a contender (South Carolina falls into this group). These programs will demand more and more money from fans to attend and try to fund the NIL and facilities they think they need to make the CFP and the fans will realize they are paying a substantial amount of money to see a team that isn't going to make the playoff and they will decide to save the money and watch from home. The top 10-20 teams will still have full stadiums for their "big games" but will find themselves surrounded by and playing a schedule mostly made up of teams that can't compete with them. The games will not be interesting and the top team's fans will stop going to all the games and huge swaths of empty seats will be the norm.
I don't see this happening in the next two years, but I can see it within 5 years. The first tool TV and the CFP will use to avoid this will be playoff expansion. They will think that by letting 26 (or more) teams into the playoff, they will insure maintained interest by more fan bases. This might work for a year or two, but the "everybody gets a trophy" playoff idea will be pretty transparent and the fans will lose interest in that.
People have been saying this for a while now about various aspects of college football.
Nothing is going to change.
It kills me when coaches say there is change that needs to happen...then continue on doing all the things they say are killing college football.
Nothing is going to change.
It kills me when coaches say there is change that needs to happen...then continue on doing all the things they say are killing college football.
I think change will come, but it won't be brought about by the powers that be i.e. TV, ADs, NCAA, coaches or conference commissioners. The change is going to come from the fans. College football is going to price itself out of the market for the majority of the public. The blue bloods will hang on, their fans will be willing to come up with the money to fund their programs. The also rans (South Carolina is in this group) fans will decide the cost isn't worth the benefit and the programs will fall farther and farther behind. When 90% or more of teams fans realize they have no chance at a championship, they will walk away or at least stop throwing money at the teams. When the interest in attending goes down, the interest in watching will follow.
Then, there will be change.
When in the history of college football has there ever been more than a handful of teams with a legit chance to win a championship?
I don't think it's going to be the championship opportunity; if anything, now is the time when more teams than ever have a chance to compete for a title with the playoff and inevitable expansion. Just look at 2024. South Carolina was in the playoff discussion after going 9-3; even after our best years in program history in 2011-2013 there was no conversation whatsoever about a championship.
The problem is programs begging for more and more money from fans to directly finance player salaries without any player loyalty. The schools want more and more from fans while charging more and more for tickets. What's the return on investment? Why would fans continue to pour money down that rathole year after year?
I predicted the problems with NIL many years before NIL became a thing and was a discussion about players being paid for autographs, appearances, etc.. Everyone should have foreseen the problems with wealthy boosters paying players large sums for NIL. Think about a booster who owns several auto dealerships. He could easily pay a top recruit or player many thousands of dollars to be a "spokesman" or to come to a dealership once a year for autographs.
In 2024, the only people clamoring for SC to be in the CFP were SC fans. The rest of college football dismissed South Carolina out of hand.
Your point about the money and fans is exactly what I said. At some point, the fans of the 120 or so teams that don't have a realistic shot at a championship say, "enough", and stop sending in the checks.
Yeah, I think most people who saw NIL coming saw a freight train heading down the tracks.
My point being they haven't stopped sending the checks yet after 120+ years of college football and most have never had a realistic shot at a championship. I don't think that's the deal breaker here.
The one thing NIL wasn't supposed to be...pay for play...is exactly what it has been all along.
I can't think of (m)any true NIL deals, aside from Dr. Pepper's ill-fated deal with DJ Uiegalelee (I don't care to Google how to actually spell it).
Almost every NIL deal is the school...ahem...collective...paying an athlete directly.
Problem is, as you and Piscis noted, it was as obvious as can be what was going to happen once NIL was allowed. And there's absolutely no way to stop it.
I know the conventional wisdom is that, yes, payers should be paid something. Reality is, once you allow it, what you get is the mess we're in now. It seems there may have been some wisdom in players playing in exchange for a free education, room and board and that's it.
I think the size of the checks that are going to be demanded going forward is going to change that 120+ year old dynamic. I recall many years, some very recently, that billboards in the Columbia area advertised football tickets for sale. In the last couple years, Costco has had SC football tickets for sale at what amounts to a steep discount because no donation is required to buy them.
As the athletic association demands more and more money, I think you will see more and more tickets available through billboards and Costco.