How long?

[greengeezer]

I was siting here thinking not only about the Marshall bowl mess, but college football in general. I don’t believe this new big money, NIL, portal, athletes as employees system is sustainable. Not even for the bigger schools.

I went to my first Marshall game in a while this fall and was shocked at the costs. Adding up the gas and parking, food, Turnpike fees, program and ticket, I shelled out close to $300. Had a great time, but no way I would do that on a weekly basis. Much rather buy a new drill.

I just don’t see how much more individuals and corporations can be asked to give to college sports. When does the bubble burst?

 

[exHerdSID]

A big adjustment is coming. Or it is already here. TV money for football pays a lot of the bills. March Madness supplements it. Then you look to student fees, donors, then ticket money.
Several decisions will set the future of college football and athletics.
First, does Title IX apply to NIL money? If not, schools can make up losses by cutting back on non-revenue sports across the board.
Second, the Power conferences will benefit from the number of TV networks interested in their best schools. So they somewhat have the upper hand. The rest of the conferences cannot afford to compete at that level.
Third, conferences and schools will and are lobbying for some sort of protection. Good luck as the courts are against anything that hinders players from making the most money they can.
Fourth, there is a general undercurrent, or growing disrespect for the value of some colleges and their degrees.
Fifth, students are less interested in football and are complaining about high student fees.
Sixth, the charade of calling it NIL money is over. It is pay-for-play.
Seventh, there is some effort to create a players association that could help set the rules.
Eighth, the non-power teams face cutting back on support staffs, high wages, etc.
Ninth, while they want great game day experiences, the smaller schools cannot continue to offer the same poor facilities without more money.
Tenth, donors giving for NIL or pay-for-play may become less enthusiastic about giving when their investment rides the bench, leaves after a year, or doesn't lead them to a championship.

So what happens? No one knows the final outcome, so the plan is to be flexible, have options, and prepare for the worst.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

exHerdSID on the 10 factors that are leading to the coming college football apocalypse.
Excellent

 

[The Real SamC]

This is what the focus of evil in the sports world, ESPN, foolishly wanted.

- Yes, stop calling this "NIL". It is pay. Pure and simple. Now who owns a pro sports teams? Old white men with short d***s. There are thousands of rich people. 99% are happy to live a life of quiet luxury and idle. But the one guy wants to be both rich and FAMOUS. So, one way to do that is to buy a pro sports team But, they really own it. It belongs to them and they can sell it to some other Un endowed old man in the future. College sports teams belong to the college. A rich booster gets nothing of value from paying the players, other than the ability to rib the fans of the other team.

- Minor league baseball makes 10s of $$. Why does ESPN think minor league football will be much different?

- As I stated, years ago, you can have bowls or playoffs, not both. Bigger and bigger playoffs render bowls yet more meaningless, and eventually we will see them start to die out. Eventually the SEC/ACC/B10 monopoly will have a 24 team playoff, with maybe one, or eventually zero, slots for the "group of 5", which is actually seven with the new Pac 12 and the B12.

- Here is the list of things that can take on the NFL. End of list. ESPN is going to find that a regular season game between the Bengals and the Browns, for nothing at all, is still more popular than anything else on TV. Enjoy.

- ESPN doesn't need or want, say, Purdue at Minnesota, or such like. The eventual result is a uni-league of about 40 teams.

- Title IX is just the tip of the iceberg. All it says, at least IMHO, is that women (real women) must have an opportunity to play sports. Thus MU has a women's this and that and the third team, although no one really cares. But the NCAA says that MU must have a minimum number of both men and women sports to be D1. Eliminate the NCAA, which ESPN wants to do, and will soccer still exist? Tennis? Anything? Further, why should sports at D2 or below even exist at all? So, minor league football at about 40 "schools" and minor league basketball at about 100. Maybe minor league hockey at 20, minor league baseball at 20, and minor league WNBA at maybe 40. That is all the college sports there will be.

And that is sad.

Remember, when ESPN said "playoffs" and spewed its woke idiocy, you could have said no.