My guess is if they do this, the statement in red above will no longer be operative. They are messing with a recipe of passion that is not immune to losing it's appeal if it's messed with too much. Alabama LSU matters less if you take all the rest out of the conference......etc. The notion that you can just shed all the other teams and the interest will stay the same for the "big games" is not a slam dunk.......
There is a serious tension between revenue maximization and the interest that generates that revenue. College football without the passion derived from student-athletes is just minor league football. Without some reasonable relationship between student and athlete the revenue gravy train will end the moment the NFL introduces a bunch of Saturday football.
I'm not so sure that interest and enthusiasm for college football is waning, or that its popularity is likely to decline and shift towards the NFL if the trend towards revenue maximization continues -- and I say this as a fan who warned repeatedly here that allowing players to be compensated would be a monumental mistake because it would inevitably spiral out of control and not only upset the already-teetering balance of power between the haves and have-nots, but create tensions among players on the same team. (Stay tuned for more of the latter to surface.)
I would suspect that many developed their collegiate loyalty due to a culture that promoted continuity and loyalty. The current NIL and transfer culture is relatively new and the long term results have yet to be seen. Personally, I have always took pride as a Duke fan in the elite academics of the school and its athletes. Each year that passes by that pride dissipates as it becomes obvious that players today show less interest in academics. It is still early in this current culture, but I do find myself being more interested in the NFL vs the college game than I have been in the past. I suppose time will tell if I end up completing losing interest in the college game and devote all my interest towards the NFL.
A number of long time fans are drifting away and losing their level of interest.....without a doubt....however, at this moment - it's not a NET wane. With the novelty of the roster turn over every year and the new conference alignments - there is a bit of a surge in interest....even as some fans are losing their level of interest. This includes those fans who now think they are part of the program by donating to NIL funds. And of course now we can gamble on every single facet of the game, including in real time....there is a whole new audience niche who care nothing about the teams per se. And yet, they are counted as eyeballs.
You may be right, I don't know. My thinking is that what separates college football and basketball from minor league baseball is their association with schools that people care about in ways they don't feel about various cities and towns. I have always assumed that this is because the participating athletes are also students at those schools and are perceived as sharing in those same passions. Once the athletes are understood to be simply guns hired by schools to wear their jerseys, with little or no sense of loyalty or relationship to the school's academic mission, I'm honestly at a loss to understand why students or alums should care all that much, but perhaps I'm just mistaken or in a small minority.
I mean, Palo Alto and Berkeley are not exactly on the Atlantic
Let's not quibble over small like oceans.
).well, tests indicate that a good number of HS students do not know the difference between Washington DC and Washington State.......and with AI getting more real by the hour..........who knows anymore?
Sadly, that can describe a decent percentage of college grads too.
I find zero to disagree with here........I mostly agree with this take (especially when not shouted at everyone
I also think similarly at 60-40 confidence level.
The main reason I could see this persisting for quite some time is the uncertainty and speed of the change almost demands constant attention / eyeballs. It almost feels like people want to watch because it's such a cluster. FSU on the outs last year was a cluster. Now Alabama on the outs is a cluster. They'll change the rules again. There will be another cluster. NIL will change...cluster. Team turnover pisses people off until it pleases the same people (read: Maalik to Darian; Elko to Manny, just in our own experience let alone everyone else's).
It's almost like reality TV. It's the dumbest thing on earth. But it's entertaining and has a large audience.
- Chillin
I am always stunned at the ignorance of geography that I see around me. I thank the Lord for Miss Carrie Babb who I had for 7th grade geography. She taught such that I still remember her teachings and she infused a lifelong interest in and desire to know more about geography and the greater world around me.
Always thought travel was maybe the best way to learn, simply by doing it. Geography is maybe the main context under which we all exist.....but without getting too "woo woo" - it's why it always amused me when people wrung their hands over athletes "missing class" by going to away games or bowl games or tournament games. I'm thinking....they're learning more simply by traveling about the real world than is possible in a classroom....in a number of ways. Not that classroom time is not important...it is....but "getting out there" is a whole new experience in real life context.......that cannot be duplicated in any other way. Now, back to FB and apologies for semi thread jack...
Well, I guess that proves for once and for all that 'camion' isn't Kyrie's DBR username.
This is the gorilla being ignored. So is it the 800 pound gorilla? Or an 8 pound gorilla?
when we have visited California from Vermont (a couple dozen times) we have come to accept, when making small talk with waitpersons "where you folks from?", they generally have not the foggiest notion of where Vermont is...some ask is it near Virginia under the theory of the V states hanging out together...it is a bit disturbing, I guess kids don't have to looks at the map of the U.S. every day in school, and recite capitals...
