Football is the ultimate team sport. Football, more than any other popular sport, requires a team effort. Unlike sports like basketball, one guy still needs his team to perform.
For success in football, 11 people must be in unison. 11 people must not only execute a play, they also need to execute it as a group while modifying how they execute it depending on what the other 11 men on the field are trying to do. Success only comes if all men on the field are a team, trust each other and spend countless hours building chemistry and bonds.
“Family”. This word is used more in football than any other sport for a reason. A good team needs to be like a family.
THIS, takes time. Takes kids being at the same place, working on the same goals, and building bonds for several years.
THIS, is what makes CFB so different than even the NFL. In CFB, kids are turning into men while working together to reach a common goal. When this comes together, it is special.
NIL and the Transfer Portal are ripping at the fabric of what CFB is. Individualism, narcissism, and the “gotta think about #1 above all” mentality, may make CFB unrecognizable in the near future. There are correlations between society as a whole and what is happening to CFB, as we see a massive turn towards individualism in every aspect of our lives.
It’s everywhere.
The common good is no longer fore front. We have less and less people playing CFB to accomplish a team goal. They are on the field with their own goals. Their own agendas.
The first victim…. Bowls. With the rash of transfers and holdouts, bowls are getting less interesting and are starting to produce less money.
The next victim… High School athletes. Less scholarships are being offered at the D1 level than ever before because teams are using those spots for transfers.
Another victim: The players. NIL is unregulated. What happens when a kid is paid and leaves? Do you think a kid is going to sue a collective? What if he doesn’t get what was promised? Do you think kids have the $ to vet these contracts?
It will continue to go down this path..
Although D1 CFB remains massively popular, if this unregulated era of the transfer portal and NIL continues as-is, it will change CFB for the worse. College presidents and ADs are drunk on the money that is coming in. They cannot see straight therefore they won’t change it.
The players are trying to figure out ways to cash in and find the greener grass like never before. I heard Marc Daniels’ show last week and two stats stayed with me
-70% of players that entered the portal last year did not find a new place to play.
-55% of players in the portal last year did not play college football at the D1 level at all.
Let that sink in. 55% of kids LOST their scholarship. Lost the opportunity for a free college education.
**The only difference between the two numbers is that some kids were taken back by their old school.**
It’s an ugly path we are going down and I don’t know how it ends up not changing CFB for the worse…