The End of College Sports As We Know It

[tomknight]

I suspect there will be plenty of "brand" names in the new Div 1A or whatever they will call it. There are plenty of folks who are fans of FCS and G5 schools now. I would be happy being in that group.

The idea of college football is dead, and there is no reason to try to spend ourselves into oblivion being a pro team.

I also do no understand why there would be any affiliation with any colleges. They want pro team housed in college towns, have at it. Why make the players attend class? Seems unfair.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Well for that particular example, UGA wouldn’t be in the “academics” group. They would be in the pros or whatever that or super 30 team is.



I don’t think G5 is an accurate comparison though. Do you think the appetite for college football is just going to get worse? ESPN and other sports networks still need games and the super semipro league of 30 teams only offers 15 a week. There are two non-ranked P5 teams playing on national networks all the time. I don’t see how or why that can’t still happen. Yes TV deals will be smaller, but again using my example from earlier, there are still a lot of quality football brands that will not be in the super conference that can garner interest. Georgia Tech Virginia Tech used to be a Thursday night staple. I don’t see either of us going to the super conference realistically. Does the enjoyment/interest in that game on tv magically completely go away? I don’t buy it.

Maybe I was unclear. I was trying to distinguish between types of brands since “college football” means something different to different groups and most of the money, advertising and merchandise marketing will be in the one group.

 

[Randy Carson]

If GT drops down in football we should demolish BDS and build a nice High School Stadium.

Oh, goodie. And can we go back to the TO, too? Pleeeeeease?

Football will be fun again!

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Oh, goodie. And can we go back to the TO, too? Pleeeeeease?

Football will be fun again!

Troll

 

[orientalnc]

Would you remain a Falcons fan if they adopted uga as a "farm" team?

 

[Randy Carson]

Have I ever mentioned the English Football League System?

For the first year, the SEC and the B1G go into the premier league (as their memberships currently stand). The ACC and the Big 12 would go into the Championship League.

Another 32 schools go into in League One and another 32 in League Two. Etc, etc as many levels as required for the number of schools who want in on the fun. Harvard, too.

That's 128+ teams vying for four (or five) championships and trying to move up (or avoid being "sent down") based on...wait for it...won-loss records.

In year two, FSU and Clemson might move up, Vandy and Rutgers might move down.

Simple. And better.

 

[JacketOff]

If GT doesn’t opt in then that is the absolute DEATH of GT athletics

It’s “death” for GT athletics either way. You really think GT could compete with the likes of UGA, Ohio State, Alabama, USC, Texas, Michigan, etc. when there are no rules at all? Our entire coaching staff combined barely makes half of what the big dogs are paying just for their head coach.

I say let the morons at the big schools spend millions of dollars on 18 year olds. I’d be happy to support GT in a league filled with actual student athletes.

 

[TechPhi97]

Sorry, I don't agree. Skim the top-level off and college football will still be as interesting as it always has been.

Probably moreso. And our chances of winning would be better.

 

[GTJackets]

Would you remain a Falcons fan if they adopted uga as a "farm" team?

Of course not. But we all know that the Eagles would snatch up uga as quickly as they could. Just look at their recent draft history.

 

[orientalnc]

Another question for the board. Will schools make the decision to play big boy football or will conferences? If it's schools, what happens to conference affiliation and media money/GOR? Other sports?

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

I knew this would happen soon, but it's being discussed a little before even I thought it would. I just can't see GT attempting to stay in the upper echelon of this minor league pro sport.

I have said it before. If we can win a championship of the schools who choose to still attempt to have academic standards, I am good with that.

Now, let me sound like the old man yelling at the kids to get off his yard.

At no time in history have 18 year-olds (I know there are exceptions, so don't go there) been less equipped to become men and beneficial contributors to society, and this new version of college football is not about to make that situation any better. I just don't know how coaches are supposed to discipline kids and help them become better in this type of set up. But, we were already there with NIL anyway.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Understand. All it takes is one team to see the sponsorship opportunity to bring young, developing players into a "college" league with lots of fans who will drop tons of money on their program. After that, the ball is rolling.

No team is going to sponsor a club/academy that will train athletes for other teams to draft away from them. To do what you're saying, the Draft, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, etc. would all have to be changed. Pro teams would have to take on the liability of injuries, salaries, etc. Never going to happen.

 

[tmhunter52]

This is where J Batt earns his AD pay and where President Cabrera shows his stand on college athletics.

 

[UgaBlows]

How do you keep NIL and transfers out of the academic league? How long would it take before some private school with great academics and lots of money just became a new nerd version of Alabama?

 

[stingerman]

This is what happens when the Supreme Court meddles in an institution that has existed for a century. They give us NIL without any framework in place. The NCAA is unable or too gun-shy to promulgate rules. I'm afraid that Congress needs to step in here. Maybe that's what the NCAA wants

 

[stingerman]

The Institute needs to look at the big picture here, and it's much bigger than just who GT plays on a given Saturday in the fall. Look at the money machine that is the NFL. If college football enters that stratosphere, GT needs its seat at that table. Letting that opportunity--and the potential for $billions in future revenues that could flow to the school--go is not an option. We, as an institution, need to position ourselves to be a player in whatever the top league ends up being.

 

[stinger78]

Me too Pappa - and maintaining the academic status of the institute is the priority

Me too. I’d support that heartily

 

[MWBATL]

Me too Pappa - and maintaining the academic status of the institute is the priority

The Ivy League awaits your phone call…

 

[bigrabbit]

How do you keep NIL and transfers out of the academic league? How long would it take before some private school with great academics and lots of money just became a new nerd version of Alabama?

I assume there would be caps on NIL? Another answer would be values/prioritization…Stanford could have easily already bought the best football team in history but didn’t because it’s not that important to them. My guess is you could get our peers i.e. UVA, Duke, Stanford etc. to agree on NIL in some not-so-crazy range.

The more I think about it, the more I think we could be happier playing our peers, still functioning roughly in line with our values. Let the schools that want to maximize football spending can go do that and good luck. Counting on ESPN as a revenue partner driving all this is imo insane. Disney thinks about dumping ESPN every day, we have a family member who worked there and tells what a disaster ESPN was/is, layoffs, crap business.

 

[stinger78]

LOL. There are multiple strata of college football today. If that group splits off and totally forsakes academics in favor of a “pro” model, there will just be another strata. That is all. College football will continue to exist and GA Tech football will continue to exist. We will still have fun. We ought to try to not be so binary in our thinking.