The Bowl Game season has had quite a few highlights, but an overshadowing theme has affected too many games: bowl game opt-outs. Whether it is for the transfer portal or opting out to prepare for the NFL Draft, just too many guys are sitting out, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of college football fans everywhere.
Even NFL players are chiming in.
Bowl games suck. Used to mean something
— Garrett Wilson (@GarrettWilson_V) December 30, 2023
How did we get here? Why is it happening? How can it be fixed? All of that will be answered in this article.
How Did We Get Here With These Bowl Game Opt-Outs?
The root of the bowl game opt-outs and sitting out can be attributed to back in 2017 when running backs Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette opted out of their team’s bowl games. At the time, the fear was that they would affect their draft stock and be seen as bailing out their team. Those fears went away pretty quickly, however when both players were picked up in the top ten selections of the draft.
Over the next few years, more players started to follow this trend. But it was primarily only the top tier of future NFL players who felt they had nothing more to prove.
Then, the transfer portal happened.
Once the transfer portal became mainstream, the bowl game opt-outs rose dramatically. When that happened, the headlines stopped completely for guys opting out, NFL-bound or not. We are to the point now where fringe 2nd/3rd round NFL draft picks are opting out of bowl games.
Why is This Happening?
I hate to say this, but it is the truth; many players don’t value their team like they used to. Call it the current culture, NIL deals that are too valuable to turn down, or peer pressure from agents and other players, but there is not the same love and loyalty to a team that there once was. Of course, only some players are like this, but many are.
Another reason this is happening is money. And it isn’t just NIL, although that will also be discussed. Look at the TV networks. They advertise the College Football Playoff all year. It’s about getting into the top four and making the playoffs. After that, nothing else matters. That sounds harsh, but how often do you hear ESPN or Fox commentators talking about a chance to play in the Rose Bowl or Sugar Bowl? It’s all about the Playoff. When a team doesn’t make the Playoff, the season is over. Why would someone want to play and put their body in harm’s way for something nobody seems to care about, or at least that is what they are told?
Let’s look at the Orange Bowl. I’m currently watching this game as I am writing this article, and Georgia looks like they are playing Florida International, not Florida State. (Edit, it’s now the third quarter and Florida State looks like a junior high team). This is the Orange Bowl, a game once held on a pedestal representing a good season. But for 40+ players, they don’t care. It’s not the Playoff.
The same can be said about bowl games all over the country. The average team has more than twelve bowl game opt-outs, many of whom were regular starters.
Players are being told that they are worth ‘X’ amount of dollars if they transfer and play somewhere else. Again, why play for a team and risk injury if you’ve got $200K waiting for you elsewhere? Why play? Everyone else is opting out, so why not you as well?
I’m not blaming any one individual player. It’s a collective issue that is snowballing into an issue that is ruining not just the bowl season but the entire year. The next step is players opting out of games. Mark my words, you’ve seen it here first. We are only a year or two away from players opting out the last few games of the season when their team is no longer in running for the playoffs.
How to Fix the Issue
I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but I’ve got a few solutions I’m confident in.
1. Adjust NIL
NIL deals need to be connected to playing in the post-season. In what industry can you get paid to do a project until the final presentation, take your paycheck, and then let others do your presentation for you and deal with the consequences? It does in the world of NIL.
The fix is simple: players get 50% of an NIL deal for playing a season and the rest for playing in a bowl game. The fact that this isn’t a thing makes no sense. If I give someone money to represent my business, I’d expect them to play in the post-season when there are more eyes on the TV and something on the line.
2. Open the Transfer Portal AFTER Bowl Games
Why is the transfer portal open before bowl games end? Coaches and players should be focusing on high school recruiting and bowl game prep, not picking up players from other teams that won’t be playing for them for nine months.
The fix is super simple. Open the transfer portal on January 2nd after the NY6 games are finished and when almost every other bowl game is finished. Sure, there may still be a game or two left, but 125+ teams will have their season finished.
Could there still be bowl game opt-outs? Sure, but it will affect how their future team views them. Again, I’m not a coach, but I’m going to take a player who played in their bowl game over one who didn’t, because if they aren’t playing now, what will make them want to play for me?
3. Incentivize Bowl Game Victories
The current system doesn’t reward the winners vs the losers outside of a trophy and media recognition. There may have been a time when this was enough, but that isn’t today. Bowl games could create NIL deals, allowing the winning team to profit from sponsors for participating in post-game activities.
Bowl games could also create a 66/33 model where the winning team gets 66% of the bowl game money, and the loser only gets 33%. This would incentivize coaches to push their players to play and recruit guys who are more committed to playing and wouldn’t likely become a bowl game opt-out.
Conclusion
The system is very broken, but it is reparable. A culture of greed and looking after one-self before the team has already been established. However, if specific steps are taken and incentives are given for finishing out a season, everything can improve.
It needs to improve.
5 Comments
100% agree with all of your ideas on solutions to the pathetic opting out of bowl games. Such common sense, not sure it wasn’t set up like that to begin with.
Just do away with post season games that are not part of the playoff.
Allow all teams not participating in the playoff to optionally engage in one post season scrimmage with another team using players expected to return the next year.
That pretty much addresses the situation.
If they expand the Playoff, then yes. Otherwise, every single G5 will have essentially have their season end after one loss, and most P5’s will be out of the running after two losses.
Expand the Playoffs to 36 teams with 18 auto-bids (every conference’s top two) and 18 at-large spots, and we can have a discussion about getting rid of bowl game.s
Thank you for reading and commenting!
Just say that you don’t want players to have the ability to earn more/get paid, or have more control over how their services are provided.
As long as the players are being unfairly compensated compared to revenues earned by the schools, and the wealth/benefits being provided to everyone else attached to these games but them (bloated coaching staffs, school administrators, bloated athletic departments, and athletes of non-revenue generating sports), then these STUDENTS should be free to do as they please.
Coaches changing schools have left schools at the end of the season, prior to bowl games before, that broken part of the system should be addressed and “fixed” too.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
I agree 100% with coaches leaving before the season as well. I also agree with the issue of players not getting paid fairly.
However, I do believe that if a player signs up to play for a team, take a scholarship, get NIL money, and represent the university, they should finish out the season.