- Joined
- Jun 28, 2012
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- 4,367
I’m getting really tired of watching the NCAA stumble through its so-called “playoff selection process” while pretending it’s anything other than a thinly veiled professional league. The NCAA wants every benefit of a pro sports model without accepting any of the responsibility or structure that comes with it.
Here’s the core difference that exposes the whole charade:
The NFL (and the NBA) don’t beg fans to donate to pay their players. Player compensation is baked directly into the cost of doing business—tickets, parking, concessions, merchandise, broadcast deals. It’s transparent and professional. Meanwhile, the NCAA leans on its fanbases with the guilt-trip pitch for NIL funds like they’re passing around a church collection plate to subsidize their own multi-billion-dollar industry. They want market-value production from athletes but still market those athletes as “students first.” It’s a fake pro model wrapped in tired myths.
And the playoff selection process exposes this even more. The NCAA still relies on subjective narratives crafted decades ago—“gritty underdogs,” “tradition,” “feel-good stories,” the old Touchdown Johnny vibes—as if the sport hasn’t completely transformed. Those sentimental angles used to work, back when people bought into the illusion of amateurism. But that era is over. The money’s too big, the stakes are too high, and the athletes are far too valuable for the selection process to be based on vibes and résumé-storytelling from a committee in a conference room.
If the NCAA wants to operate like a professional league—and it already does in everything but name—then it’s time to objectify the system. Clear criteria. Transparent metrics. No more political favoritism. No more “eye test.” No more narrative snow-globe nonsense where teams are elevated because it makes a good segment on TV.
Either lean into being a professional enterprise or stop monetizing like one. But the middle-ground act is exhausted, exposed, and embarrassing. If the NCAA really wants legitimacy, it’s past time to stop pretending and start treating playoff selection like the business it actually is.
