Many wait for Notre Dame to make the move first for realignment. Next, anticipate existing conference members to make desperate (or greedy?) moves based on that. Which teams sell memberships to move for consolidating big money TV rights? Other programs consider pleading to jump on the big band wagons of the SEC and Big Ten. Stragglers that find themselves left out seek others absconded to form new partnerships as distant, varied, and uninteresting they be, just to continue to play football. Does anyone consider the loss of student athletes no longer able to participate in what was the great tradition of college football if some programs so fold up?
Let’s get college football priorities straight
This current focus on conference realignment needs to take a back seat to issues regarding the current lack of a fair NIL policy or the wild, disorganized system of the selfish, transfer portal. Until these are addressed, a few programs will continue to dominate. The chasm between the very few good football programs and the many mediocre grows wider and wider. College football will lose its primary objective not of revenue, but of equitable competition on the playing field for all to possibly win a national championship.
Clearly, the quality of competition already favors a few half-dozen or so Power Five Programs. Until someone in charge (that doesn’t seem to be the NCAA… maybe ESPN and Fox Sports?…maybe the NFL?… either, regretfully?) formulates a plan to make NIL fair to all members and rein in the false statement that the portal transfer limits every player to only “one transfer”, competitive decline will decimate the quality of college football. Yes, it’s all about the money, but someone has to realize “it” gets bigger and better for everybody when there’s more competition.
Compare models
Consider the college football way like the MLB way compared to the NFL way. What do fans across the country prefer? The New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and LA Dodgers dominate baseball annually. Primarily, because they have the most money by commanding the largest TV market shares? Or, do fans prefer the revenue sharing strategy of the NFL? There, 32 teams share earnings equitably, spread talent fairly, and to some extent, level out schedules to play equivalent competitors annually. These level parameters allow small TV market teams like Buffalo, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh to excel against New York, LA, and Chicago.
Questions and answer
College football recently approved three new programs to enter the Football Bowl Subdivision to total 133. How many years until James Madison, Eastern Kentucky, and/or Jacksonville State qualify for the CFP? Even if under the current playoff format? Even if it expands to 12 teams? Why bother? Already, these three newbies are on upcoming schedules of teams recruiting higher levels of talent than many players on their rosters right now. Ole Miss, South Carolina, and North Carolina have contracted them for games already. Surely like FCS Austin Peay, lowly New Mexico State, or ULM, these programs will end up on an Alabama or Georgia non-conference slate eventually.
No doubt, The Tide and the Bulldogs already draw the best talent. Their large stadiums, superior television contracts, and merchandizing revenues bolster the budgets of their brands. So do other schools like Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, Clemson, and Oklahoma. So why should they tout their recruiting prowess and then schedule teams without similar clout? Answer: to run up scores and impress pollsters with big victories to offset any close losses. This assures top rankings. Why else?
The best get better because they can easily afford to
If top programs continue to follow these practices, unbalanced competition becomes the biggest threat to college football. Ask Nick Saban. He conceded that he envisions this in a press conference this week. Click here. Of course, we don’t see him scheduling nonconference games against Notre Dame, Penn State, and Clemson in home and home series every year. However, if you’re getting the best players, put them to the test against comparable competition when you have a choice. Prove it!
Let’s end this charade in college football. Both NIL policy and transfer portals will now allow the best programs to always remain on top. The best players will want to play for these schools who don’t have to recruit. They can just “reload”. They not only continue to dominate, they get even better. In similar fashion, look at the FCS and D-3. North Dakota State and Mount Union/UW Whitewater dominate these subdivisions respectively. Of course, recent coaching changes have started to change the dominance at D-3. Is that what we have to wait for in the FBS? Coaches there make too much money to leave, however.
Unfairness of NIL policy
The NIL now allows, whether legally or underhandedly, a program to approach a recruit or a transfer with a “package”. Whether provided by a corporate sponsor, anonymous donor, or rich alum to offer some kind of financial benefit, they can now provide their best bid possible to entice a player to matriculate at their institution of higher learning. Do all 133 programs have equal opportunities regarding this? Will all of them, some day? The Los Angeles Dodgers revenue will always be higher than that of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Who most likely goes to the World Series more often now? And why? Have you checked out the salary scales of these two teams lately? Is that ever going to change? How can it in college football?
A “pipedream” is all I got
The only way to envision a change, and all fans know this will never happen, is if somehow all NIL funds are deposited into a centralized college football budget. From that, every recruited player on an FBS roster receives a “salary”. Maybe, base salaries by positions. Every program requires an equal budget to be distributed to a recruiting class upon entry into the program under contract. Should players leave before graduation, their salary goes back into the pool for the team’s next recruiting class to replace that position. My pipedream is neither foolproof nor steam-lined by any means. This is only my desperate attempt to “level the playing field“ to enable playing football at the FBS level to be “more competitive” for all 133 programs.
Transfer portal – a matter of enforcement
As for the transfer portal, the current rule in place needs to be enforced with one slight change. They say every player only gets once chance during his career to do this, but other opportunities for that same player can be reviewed. Strike the second part of that sentence. Already, we know it’s been too liberal. The rule reads “if all of the schools are four-year institutions and your sport was offered at the previous two, then the 4-4-4 transfer rules NCAA come into play. Generally, you will need to lose a year of eligibility, but some exceptions exist.” Wide-open opportunities exist for individual athletes to play for more than two teams here! Of course, players all look for a better situation. Again, the portal becomes a free “grab-bag” for the top schools to attract the best talent – another mean to continue domination!
OK, so I’m “old-school”, and here’s why
To be honest, there’s jealousy here. This comes from yours truly. At the Naval Academy in the 70’s, I made the 150-lb team my plebe (freshman) year. The sport is now called “sprint football.” I never cut to the required weight of 158 lbs. for game day while hovering around 163. The following year, I played for our company, flag-football team. The next year, I transferred to D-3 Juniata in Huntingdon, PA. Despite never having been part of the USNA varsity program, I was ineligible to play. However, that entire season, I practiced as a member of the scout team offense to run against the first team defense. That spring, I played club lacrosse for the first time to get in shape for football.
As team captain in my first lacrosse game ever, I hyper-extended my knee over my own stick and further damaged it in a pickup basketball game a few weeks later tearing my ACL and menial meniscus. I required major surgery and a hard cast for over a month before rehabbing. Not fully recovered in time for the next season, my knee gave out in practice. However, right away I continued to work-out to get back into shape for football. I went out for track to throw the javelin that spring to get more running in.
The writing was on the wall in the following fall. Coaches shoved thoughts of me to the side despite my efforts. I had great practices. However, I only got in for the last seven plays in our first scrimmage against Millersville State. Biggest regret of my life…I left realizing all my hard work wouldn’t pay off. I’ll only say this, I may have quit for the wrong reason, but I never quit on myself. I can still hold my head up for what I had done. I can say I was never a college football player, but I was definitely a football “practicer”! And at age 65, I still envision myself having a year of eligibility left somewhere. I think I can still hold for extra points and possibly make a run or pass into the end zone for a fake if the defense promises not to tackle me! I can only dream.
Bottom line
The point is that the transfer portal is all for the sake of “individuals”. To me, Football is the epitome of “team” sports. One time to transfer may make sense for a legitimate reason. However, more than once over four years of college indicates a lack of commitment to the team, any team for that matter. In life, individuals are always going to be part of teams – in a family, at a job or in the military, as a member of a church or of any charitable organization, and society as a whole. This is a lesson learned outside the classroom and a great place to learn for these players early in life to be part of one team with a common goal. Two for a good reason, ok, but more, no! Individualism needs to be set aside more often than not throughout life for the good of many. For that reason, one transfer makes sense enough for each college football player no matter what, but primarily if for nothing more than a most valuable lesson for life.
Ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all! Please click on the title to consider buying. Then review the book for me on Amazon.com. Thanks.
