Starting in 2027, college football will cross the point of no return on becoming a professional sport in all but name. The 24-team playoff is set to be introduced and it will set in motion irreversible events. No conference championship games, less competitive schedules and a near-guarantee for the biggest brands to succeed will be just a portion of the symptoms.
Central Michigan head coach Matt Drinkall, of all people, actually put things into excellent perspective with his honest assessment of the lightspeed changes the sport has undergone in just the last six to seven years.
"Everything since COVID has just 100 percent been reaction," he told reporters Wednesday. "No one has ever said, 'Okay, well if we do this, what does it look like 15 year from now? ... Is this in the best interest culturally of everyone? Or is it all just how do I save my ass and make the most money right this second right now?' ... They're not interested in what's good for the sport of football. They're not interested in what's good for young people coming up ... All [the] reactionary conference realignment, eligibility, paying players, transfer policies ... none of it's good .. It's like everybody went nuts at once."
He's absolutely right. The powers that be in this sport totally had knee-jerk reactions to a lot of problems that boiled up when normal competition returned post-pandemic. There was no serious contemplation or deliberation over the subjects Drinkall laid out and the decisions made set off a chain reaction that landed things where they are today.
Bowl games with historic legacies are now relegated to less-than championship level contests, entire conferences have exploded in size or been demolished entirely, and nobody knows the rules surrounding player eligibility and compensation. In fact, the term student-athlete has become practically obselete amongst college football programs.
Is it too late for college football to step back from the brink of destruction?
The structure of the sport is a shell of itself now compared to the era many yearn for again. Ironically, it's the same era that fans called for an end to and was considered unfair to most teams. Long ago, the Associated Press voters decided who should be crowned national champion, then a single championship game pitted the top two teams (decided on by the voters) against one another to play for that title. Now we have what feels like a bastardization of the multi-team playoff originally designed for one team to prove it was the undisputed champion by defeating two other contenders (also chosen by the voters).
The 12-team playoff fans have only had the chance to enjoy for two years felt like a good balance of inclusion. The top conference champions had to fend off challenges from wild card programs and it produced battle-tested winners -- even a surprise first-time title holder! Expansion felt inevitable but many thought (and hoped) it would only be to 14 or 16 teams maximum.
Including all but one of the Top 25 teams in a bracket just morphs the college football postseason into March Madness. A large bracket works for basketball but feels excessive for the gridiron. Of course, earnings will rise because there were just a handful of extra games added to the schedule. That's what this is all about, of course. Sooner or later the powers that be will justify another expansion or change that centers around cash flow not football.
"It's just been a downward spiral that is nonstop until it's going to be a smoldering dumpster fire left like the Truffula trees and the Lorax," Drinkall described beautifully. "Like they're going to wring this sport out for every cent they can as long as they can and prostitute the sport out for financial gain ... until people stop caring."
Fans feel powerless as they are all herded to their couches each weekend and continue to consume a product that's been conditioned into the American psyche as a necessity and not a luxury. It sure feels too late to break the cycle and that should make everyone fearful of the sport's future path.
Add us as a preferred source on Google