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Is College Football Officially on the Decline?

TemplarCane said:
This is the first year in many seasons I have not watched a single NFL game. I’m a Bucs fan, so it doesn’t help that the Brady era is over, and once again the Bucs are mediocre and will be for a number of seasons.

I am far more entertained by college football than the NFL, even though our Canes have been average at best for the last 20 years.
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That's because there's actually some life in it.
 
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Yes, most certainly.

Attendance has declined every single year since 2013 across the board. Last year, 2022 it rose 5 percent, but is still well below 2013 years average.

It will also continue to decline as these mega conferences will make more schools irrelevant. You maybe had a shot once a decade or twice, but forget about it now. Your good players that show out will get out and join a better football team.

Check what the next gen is doing as well. Kids don't care to watch sports on television. Not just football, any of them.

There will always be college sports but their prime has since passed.
 
There's no apparatus to enforce rules. It's as with all things in culture/society. They get more and more "liberal" until things reach a breaking point. They're are ruined forever or a hard reset occurs.

With the new 12 team playoff and 2 mega conferences, we will see new levels and forms of corruption and bias.

A hypothetical 1-loss Miami team will get snubbed for a 2-loss SEC team to get that 12th spot in the CFP.

Teams will get more brazen with tampering. I can realistically see teams paying a player at their current school under the table to transfer after the season is over. Building a sort of farm team.

Even if there a measures enacted to control the portal, the enforcement will be lacking by design.

Pre-portal, the bluebloods were paying players or their families. We've reached a higher level of parity now, but when caps and transfer limitations come into play, it gives the bluebloods the advantage again, because they can skirt the rules and not get in trouble.

We're definitely in for a wild ride and I don't think things will ever really "improve."
 
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One other thought, a lot of people thought the bowl system would be hurt with a playoff, but I don't think that happened at all. Schools and their players were excited by bowl games and wanted to get that extra victory. The wave of seniors and juniors who were leaving early for the NFL did dilute them, but not too badly. However, with the latest expansion of the portal, does ANYONE give a crap about any bowl games other than the playoff games? Bring your roster with you on December 28th to see what Canes are playing.
 
Someone on page one said that the NCAA basketball playoff is the best playoff and has 64 teams, but he did not make mention that those games are all played on a neutral site. The new football playoff format has the first two rounds being played at the home stadium of the higher seeded team.

That's always been part of the magic of the bowl games. The neutral site element.
 
kyle_schick said:
There's no apparatus to enforce rules. It's as with all things in culture/society. They get more and more "liberal" until things reach a breaking point. They're are ruined forever or a hard reset occurs.

With the new 12 team playoff and 2 mega conferences, we will see new levels and forms of corruption and bias.

A hypothetical 1-loss Miami team will get snubbed for a 2-loss SEC team to get that 12th spot in the CFP.

Teams will get more brazen with tampering. I can realistically see teams paying a player at their current school under the table to transfer after the season is over. Building a sort of farm team.

Even if there a measures enacted to control the portal, the enforcement will be lacking by design.

Pre-portal, the bluebloods were paying players or their families. We've reached a higher level of parity now, but when caps and transfer limitations come into play, it gives the bluebloods the advantage again, because they can skirt the rules and not get in trouble.

We're definitely in for a wild ride and I don't think things will ever really "improve."
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I wonder if a transfer cap would help. For example a team can only take on 5 transfers a season unless it’s a new head coach or something. It would hopefully incentive kids not to transfer.

I feel for schools in the middle to bottom of the P5 right now. Most of them are going to be de facto farm systems unless some type of caps are put into place
 
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SaiyaMan305 said:
12 team playoff is way too many teams. 8 team playoff would have sufficed.

Now with the conferences all not having divisions its gonna water it down a bit as well. Michigan Ohio state week 13, Michigan Ohio state B10 Championship game, Michigan Ohio state could meet again in the playoffs too, seems like way too much.
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I haven't done the math but to win a natty you have play in 15 games. With an expanded playoff how many more game is it possible for the winner I know they don't want to get to 17 games that's too much
 
jrock2332 said:
I haven't done the math but to win a natty you have play in 15 games. With an expanded playoff how many more game is it possible for the winner I know they don't want to get to 17 games that's too much
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17 is the most possible in the 12 team playoff.
 
CaneinBroward said:
There has ALWAYS been big time money in broadcasting the game. It's part of the reason why the CFA was set up decades ago before it was pulled apart by ND and then each other conference splintering away.

However, this isn't a for-profit sports league. This is collegiate athletics, not the NFL. Part of my NFL season tickets is not a tax deduction like it is for my Canes tickets. The NFL doesn't get funding from the U.S. and state governments like these universities do. They are not the same animal by a long shot.

And by the way, the NFL isn't contracting teams yet or giving extra power to the AFC East and NFC West either.

A consolidation to the Power 5 would not have upended major rivalries, traditions, etc. that have made this sport great.
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You sure about “the NFL doesn’t get funding from US and state governments”? Maybe not direct funding like you’re implying, but many stadiums have been built with taxpayer monies. Our hallowed OB was replaced with one. Try again.
 
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BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati said:
You sure about “the NFL doesn’t get funding from US and state governments”? Maybe not direct funding like you’re implying, but many stadiums have been built with taxpayer monies. Our hallowed OB was replaced with one. Try again.
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Good point. Still doesn't change the fact that universities are in totality "non-profit" institutions who get both direct funding and tax breaks from the federal and state governments that for-profit businesses like the NFL do not. To compare the operating model of college football to the NFL is disingenuous.
 
It’s not in decline, but the playoff should be 8. With 12 you’re now looking at teams possibly being able to rest guys like G5 teams that are already in their conference championship games, late in the season. It would not surprise me if in a few years when the B10 and SEC add a few more teams and we see a true “power 2” that they either do away with rivalry weekend or move it to midseason for this very reason. Worst case is those games lose luster. Case in point, if Bama or UGA are 10-1 or 12-0 like this year and their QB is gimpy, why risk it to win against 6-5 GT or Auburn, with the playoffs coming up?

I do not trust the decision makers to preserve the meaning of those games.
 
CaneinBroward said:
Good point. Still doesn't change the fact that universities are in totality "non-profit" institutions who get both direct funding and tax breaks from the federal and state governments that for-profit businesses like the NFL do not. To compare the operating model of college football to the NFL is disingenuous.
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I’ll spare you the demerit since you put “non-profit” in quotation marks. However, you might want to google “NFL non-profit” and see what you find. Spoiler alert - have an extra pair of undies nearby cuz you’re gonna **** your pant$.
 
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SaiyaMan305 said:
12 team playoff is way too many teams. 8 team playoff would have sufficed.

Now with the conferences all not having divisions its gonna water it down a bit as well. Michigan Ohio state week 13, Michigan Ohio state B10 Championship game, Michigan Ohio state could meet again in the playoffs too, seems like way too much.
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I would watch a rematch of Bama/UGA and Ohio State/Michigan a thousand times before watching a beat down of Bama on Cincinnati in the playoff.
I get your point but at the end, all that matters are good football games IMO.
 
BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati said:
I’ll spare you the demerit since you put “non-profit” in quotation marks. However, you might want to google “NFL non-profit” and see what you find. Spoiler alert - have an extra pair of undies nearby cuz you’re gonna **** your pant$.
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Spoiler alert, all NFL teams have been taxable entities. The league office was tax exempt and voluntarily relinquished its status in 2015 due to negative publicity. So its $9 million in revenue was tax exempt in 2012 and the $11 billion the teams made was taxed.

https://time.com/3839164/nfl-tax-exempt-status/

Again, I'll spare you the demerit and disingenuity of comparing the tax statuses of NFL teams and universities.
 
“decline”? Not even close. Traditionalist will cry aboud the Changes but will be watching and participating still
 
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