What is the future of college football? - ESPN Article

[Burgh15]

I saw this thread from David Hale and thought it was pretty interesting.



Here are some highlights from the Future of College Football article:

Nearly 80% of respondents believe schools will pay athletes directly within the next decade. Nearly 75% think the sport will eventually follow some sort of professional model, perhaps with schools forming conferences based on their willingness to pay players. And virtually everyone (98%) thinks more realignment is in store -- sooner than later.

Hard to argue against any of these points. I do believe there will eventually be a CBA between the players and whoever is running college football. Football programs and players are earning that money for schools and probably don't like watching it go to other areas of the athletic department when they could be the ones profiting. Specifically, "58% said players regularly discuss not getting their fair share of revenues from the school."

It was noted that 60% of the respondents though college football should break away from NCAA and govern itself. I don't see this working for all teams in FBS as there are way too many have nots. There may not be a P5 at the end of this, but most of those teams should find themselves included in the split, IMO. Only 29% believe there should be a break between P5 and the rest of FBS. I think teams could still schedule each other, but non-P5 don't even have a chance. Being on their own would open the door for a lot of programs to compete for titles.

While the NCAA does have a rule against using NIL as a recruiting inducement, most don't believe it matters. Nearly 80% of respondents said NIL represents a black-market pay-for-play system that is being used to secure recruits and transfers. Meanwhile, nearly 60% of respondents said the transfer portal has created what amounts to free agency in college football, and they believe that will ultimately hurt the sport with fans.

I would say the 20% that disagreed with the bolded statement are the ones who have created or have benefited from the pay-for-play black market. As expected, 70% of coaches and administrators think the transfer portal is bad for the sport while only 31% of the players agree.

Nearly 40% of respondents want to see a reduction in replay reviews, limiting them to touchdowns, turnovers and two coaching challenges per game.

I suppose they aren't worried about the viewers, but this should be 100%. Replay has added absolutely nothing to the enjoyment of watching a game. Only 29% support a running clock after first downs. Include me in that group, the games are way too long.

There were other interesting points in there as well as another article entirely on football in the Northeast. Definitely a lot to discuss and consider as college football moves into the future.

 

[csh2088]

I don't think there will be any more significant moves this year. The only schools left that are valuable Notre Dame (not going anywhere anytime soon) and the ACC schools (locked in the Grant of Rights). Washington and Oregon may leave for the B1G but that is a long way off.