TRENDING: Is College Football Getting Too Involved With Money – Will it Lead to it’s Own Fall?

Money drives college football and sports in general. There has never been so much money in the industry, but are we starting to reach a breaking point where fans and donors may begin to lose interest? Earlier today, an out of the Big 12 is looking into a private equity firm for a deal worth $1 billion for 15 to 20% of the Big 12. Additionally, the Big 12 Conference and the CUSA are now looking to change their conference name and sell the rights to a sponsor.

This may sound funny, but I am not joking at all when I say that there is a very real possibility that the Big 12 Conference Championship Game could be named something like the following:

The Dr. Pepper Allstate 12 Championship Game at AT&T Stadium Built by The Home Depot. 

While it is easy for SEC, Big 10, and ACC fans to laugh at this, if we’re being completely honest, if the Big 12 does break a deal like this, every single conference will follow suit. It will all be in the name of money and gaining an advantage over other teams and conferences.

Money Changes in the Last Year

All these points I’m about to lay out have happened in the last year, with many occurring in the last few weeks. Note that each of these will have a huge price tag, meaning that teams and conferences are looking for ways to make up money and find more corporate sponsorships.

• Big 12 announces they are considering a 15-20% investment deal with CVC for $800-$1 billion.
• Big 12 and CUSA announce interest in renaming the conferences to include corporate sponsors.
• NCAA announces that there will now be a 2-minute warning. While a commercial break isn’t guaranteed, ads will be run during this time.
• Teams enter new media agreements that add millions of dollars of revenue.
• ESPN and other networks run on-screen advertisements during basketball games that change throughout the game.
• NCAA announces schools can now put corporate sponsors on the field.
• House vs NCAA results in NCAA and universities now paying millions of dollars for athletes.
• NIL deals reach record highs
• Transfer portal entrees reach record highs
• Snoop Dogg Bowl announces it will be the first-ever NIL-funded bowl game to encourage more players to play.
• College Football season will extended two additional weeks to make time for the new 12-team College Football Playoff.
• Big 12 and other conferences enter into corporate sponsorships at an unseen level. WWE promoted during the Big 12 Championship game on merchandise and on-the-field equipment.

I’m not here to say that all the changes are bad; however, this is a lot of change, and most of it concerns generating more money.

Is There a Breaking Point for Fans?

One thing to remember is that we are in the middle of June; right now, it is very easy for people to complain and make a big deal out of something that maybe isn’t a big deal. For example, last year, when it was announced that there would be a running clock after the first down, fans were serious and up in arms to rain complaints about how it would speed up the game but not less in the commercials. However, once the season started, those complaints, for the most part, disappeared.

(As a side note, it is interesting that despite the “need to speed up the game,” call football is suddenly going to have time now to run for two minutes mornings, but that’s another issue in itself.)

The question is whether or not fans are going to lose interest eventually. It can be a turnoff for many fans to see a college asking them for their hard-earned money so they can pay millions of dollars to athletes who very well could transfer after the season is over. It’s not a great look if a middle-class fan who can barely afford nosebleeds play tickets suddenly sees their donations going to players who are driving a Lamborghini and wearing tens of thousands of dollars of accessories before the game.

If anything, I think that is what’s going to turn fans away from the game. However, some of these other issues could potentially, at least to some degree, negatively affect the image of college football. At some point, fans are going to lose interest if the SEC changes from the SEC to the AFLAC conference or the Big Ten changes to the Big Michelin Conference. Again, it’s easy to laugh at now, but that’s the direction the sport is going.

At some point, college players will make nearly as much as NFL players. When that happens, fans may ask themselves why they would be interested in a lower division of the NFL when they can just watch the NFL, which has the best players. Right now, we’re at a very thin line separating college football from essentially what is the NBA G League to the NBA. If it does cross that line, the sport as we know it may be over. Financial backing will plummet, and interest will be lost.

What Can Be Done?

Unfortunately, the NCAA has lost all control regarding college football and, if we’re being honest, college sports almost completely. What happens is that the conferences need to come together and elect a commissioner and have a board of directors that can vote on issues such as salary caps, schedule regulations, and transfer rules.

If that is done, the support can be saved and restored to what once was. Again, it’s the middle of June, and people are going to freak out over things, but at some point, just like we’re seeing the fall of the Star Wars industry actually happen, we could potentially say the same thing happened to college football if the complaints lead to less interest and lower viewership.

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