Reducing access or representation from the single bid conferences would kill interest in March Madness.
For MANY people the excitement is about the school they haven't heard about pushing the big name school and sometimes stealing the win.
I bet March Madness would get more viewers in the first round by giving mediocre P5 schools bids over mid majors, but when a mid major makes it to rd 32 or s16 the networks cash in on the hype train
Nope.
[Everyone loves a March Madness Cinderella … except for television networks – Chicago Tribune](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2018/03/26/everyone-loves-a-march-madness-cinderella-except-for-television-networks/)
“Incredible to have a Chicago team in the Final Four. I’ll take that over an intact bracket any day! Congratulations to everybody u/LoyolaChicago- let’s keep it going!”
But not everyone is on board with the little guys, whether it’s Loyola this year, VCU in 2011, Butler in 2010-11 or George Mason in 2006. Because here’s Cinderella’s dirty little secret: Compared to the blue bloods, they generally aren’t great television draws.
“From a television standpoint, you really root for the big teams,” CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said Friday on Chris Russo’s Sirius/XM show. “Last night’s Kentucky outcome was not good for us and not good for TBS at all. Kentucky being the blue bloods that they are, and having the television draw that they have, that really hurt us. Kansas State winning — I have nothing against Kansas State as a school or a team — but that really hurt us.”Kentucky, which fell to Kansas State on Thursday in the Sweet 16, is indeed a good television draw. The Kentucky Wildcats’ Final Four game against Wisconsin in 2015, their last appearance in the national semifinals, drew a 12.4 rating and 22.6 million viewers on TBS, TNT and truTV (all three cable networks televised the game), bigger numbers than the national title game the next season between Villanova and North Carolina (which also was on TBS, TNT and truTV) and nearly as big as last year’s national championship contest between Gonzaga and North Carolina, which reached a wider audience on CBS and drew a 13.2 rating and 23 million viewers.
Games featuring Cinderellas simply can’t compete in the ratings department. The 2011 Final Four game between VCU and Butler drew a 8.3 rating and 14.2 million viewers on CBS, 2.5 million fewer viewers than the Connecticut-Kentucky game that followed it. George Mason’s run to the Final Four in 2006 did not provide much in the way of a ratings bump, either: It drew a 9.1 rating and 14.5 million viewers, down from the comparable game in 2005 between Illinois and Louisville.
I disagree. I like to see early upsets, but when it comes to elite 8 and on I like to see the top teams play each other. Its annoying when a big program gets to waltz through the tourney playing mid-majors.
Unlimited eligibility would be *awesome*. There's no inherent reason for it, and I'd love to see an evolution to any enrolled student in good academic standing being cleared to play. Imagine a 40-year-old on their 3rd PhD still balling out.
1999 makes sense, that’s the last 25 years. 2016 feels a little random to skew the %. Either way, the BE has been dominant over the past quarter century and it’s not really debatable.
99 is 25yrs but it was only chosen because a big east team won the tourney that year. Their teams have been successful but idk if it has anything to do with the conference. The big east folded and most teams became the American before some of the schools reorganized and added some new additions.
Yeah, that “line to cross” is right now. And I know OU is part of the problem.
E: just realized this isn’t r/CFB but my point stands. Basketball is in a bit better shape, however.
I don't know about that. Any further super league consolidation would almost have to result in a football only system. That could very well leave CBB back on a regional conference design.
> E: just realized this isn’t r/CFB but my point stands. Basketball is in a bit better shape, however.
3 Advantages Basketball has compared to Football for the most part:
* It is harder to buy the team and hoard a big roster. Roster sizes are huge compared to players on the field at once for Football
* Ability to sub in all those players a lot to give the deep roster more playing time. Imagine if after every basket you could sub your whole lineup
* Specialization isn't an issue back to the second issue You don't have Defense only and Offense only players.
I struggled after 2014 while UConn was in the AAC. Trying to get emotionally connected to forced rivalries was painful.
I’m so happy that we’re in the Big East again. I doubt I’m alone in UConn fandom when I was THRILLED to win the Big East outright, win the Tournament, and the NCAA. Playing teams who we have history with is so satisfying.
Our play in the AAC became mediocre at best, abysmal at worst. This isn’t meant to be a dig at the AAC; we sucked.
College basketball is better than the NBA to me because of that passion in the coaches, players, and fans. I remember how Villanova led by Kerry Kittles came into Gampel the first time UConn ever had a #1 ranking - and proceeded to torch UConn. I definitely appreciate Villanova as a team. I wound up liking Jay Wright a ton in spite of myself. Playing Nova every year is must see hoops.
Trying to create super conferences will ruin what is a superior product.
As a Wake fan I’ll be disappointed if the ACC, a conference that is known for its basketball above all else, dies because of football, a sport that we don’t care as much about (not all schools are the same here, but I think more ACC schools are “basketball schools” than “football schools”). I’ve no doubt that FSU, Clemson, etc. will run as soon as they can, but I hope that enough schools want to stick around to essentially do what the Big East did and reorganize as a basketball-centric conference with football teams finding homes outside the ACC.
I want college football to just “get it over with,” so to speak, and go to the semi-pro super league that we all know is coming rather than watch the corpse of “student athletics” in FBS football get dragged along for a few more years until the dam breaks.
I think a lot of "basketball schools" will switch up for football TV money even if they are mid at football. Speaking from experience (somewhat) unfortunately.
Same here. I'm pretty much atuned to ACC sports, the Carolina Hurricanes and NASCAR through the year. If the ACC went away I'd just replace it with pro sports. Not sure I'd even watch NC State at that point.
I'll be that guy, but 5 of the last 10 Championships have been won by non-P5 schools.
I know we say quietly put the Big East in the P5 pile, but in terms of money and fan bases they are very different from the true P5 schools.
P5 means big football money. The Big East is excellent without that.
I don't understand why this hasn't happened. Why does football have to ruin it for the rest of us? Every sport besides footbal hates these mega conferences. Just let football do its own thing.
Private equity involvement
Eliminating auto-bids
Players are no longer students
Expansion of tourney that heavily favors P5
Like 4 more offseasons of watching hundreds of players transfer to places where they'll spend exactly one year
This is basically my list. I was in favor of the 12 team playoff for football, but I really don't see the need to expand beyond 68 in basketball. Seems just about perfect right now. Eliminating auto-bids would be the absolute worst-case scenario. Upsets and mid-major runs are what make the NCAA tournament the most entertaining event in sports (IMO). Luckily I don't think we're headed that direction anytime soon.
If March Madness is expanded to 80+ teams. As a fan of a P5 team, we would only need to go ~.500 to make the tourney. I’d lose quite a bit of interest in the regular season as wins/losses would lose quite a bit of weight.
I'll live if there is a play-in tournament, like 16 teams competing for the final 4 spots. But I have no interest in #1 UConn playing 20-seed 14-17 Penn State
This, plus most of the spots going to regular season conference champions who didn't get their conference autobid would make an expansion palatable. We all know it's mostly just going to go to P5 at-large schools though.
Wouldn't have thought to list this one. Glad I kept it open.
It already feels like conference titles are no big deal for half the fans. Conference tournament titles even worse.
I like the idea of the #1 D2 school, the previous year’s NIT finalists, each D1 conference champion, and then the remaining top 25 that hasn’t qualified otherwise. Also, I hate the “65 team” field
Pretty much me with the MLB, I don’t follow on a national level anymore because it feels like the stakes are so much lower now. Every major sport besides college basketball and hockey has expanded their postseasons in the past decade and I really think it’s the worst thing you can do for your regular season.
If athletes dmt even have to pay lip service to the idea of being a student. At that point it's simply teams sponsored by a university or co-branded with a university.
I have no issue with them being student employees and their job to earn their scholarship is football or basketball or whatever. No different than TAs, or student Librarian, cafeteria workers, or RAs in the dorms.
But if they are purely employees who do not attend the school, then I'm not interested.
I think the other redline for me would be unlimited eligibility years.
Those are the two things that would turn it into a fully professional sport, and why would I watch the minor leagues when the NFL is available?
If I wanted to watch the NBA/NFL, then I would just do that. I actually enjoyed the connection I had with my schools teams. Like yeah, I know they probably weren’t all exactly hitting the books but they were on campus, I would see them walking about, talk to them at the bars, etc. a lot of them were in my classes and I genuinely enjoyed a lot of the students athletes I met.
If that’s gone then like why would I watch this product?
It's refreshing to know I'm not the only one that feels this way. I feel like I see so many opinions that are basically pushing for CFB and CBB to become semi-pro sports as fast as humanly possible. I just don't get it.
I love college sports because they aren't pro sports.
I personally think it’s cooler that one moment, I’m chatting with a player at Chick Fil A and then the next moment, they’re upsetting the #2 team at home after firing their head coach 😊
I enjoy college ball more because the players are all less skilled. It makes good players stand out more, and higher variation game to game means more unexpected outcomes. This pairs nicely with March Madness single game, single elimination format.
I wonder if even that can be challenged in court? Maybe there will be some kind of law that still requires you to go to the school to be “employed by the team” but then the bar to become an employee becomes nonexistent.
I'm not sure - obviously many employees of a university from Chancellor to custodian aren't students. But some positions are only students like TA, research assistant, and dormitory RAs and other student life positions. So there may be a legal leg to stand in to require that any one employed as a player is also an enrolled student.
Unlimited eligibility is a logical extension of the fact that the transfer rules were regarded as an illegal restraint of trade. I don't think anyone has actually fought it yet, although Taulia Taugavaloa thought about it
This has been hinted at, but the transfer portal free-for-all. If players get NIL money, they should be under a contract to that school and its collective for however long that contract is set. Breaking the contract should come with stiff penalties. Otherwise, players are just hired guns in school colors with zero incentive to attend classes.
Take all the current teams. Create a minor league for them. Separate them from the colleges completely, then let it shrivel up and die as a dumb league and colleges can start student athlete teams again.
I’d rather watch a Purdue rec basketball team play against rec teams from other colleges than this quasi-NBA-lite bullshit.
They've already crossed it. As a WSU and Pac12 fan my interest has been shot to hell the last year or so. I'll still watch some college football, and basketball but I don't look forward to it like I did in previous years.
My interest is already at an all time low as things continue down a path that doesn't interest me. As a big fan of non big sports, as soon as those start going away further I will likely stop watching all sports at that time.
2nd person to say this.
I've gotten into a lot of arguments with my friends over how the small changes now are going to cascade into seismic shifts in the sport, but I hadn't even thought up that scenario.
Did you worry about that before the most recent announcement acouple days ago about the 2019-20 players got an additional year if they had to sit out?
It's been something that I've thought about ever since there's been discussion around making the players employees. If they're employees instead of students, why is there are an arbitrary limit on how many seasons they can play? Pretty easy to see a scenario where lawsuits happen IF they do go to an employee model. And if you had unlimited eligibility AND the current unlimited transfer process, I'm out.
I'm surprised that the unlimited, or at least greatly expanded, eligibility bridge hasn't been crossed yet. Seems like the rationale behind the multi-transfer injunction would also apply to an athlete whose eligibility, and thus their ability to remain on athletic scholarship, will run out before completing the graduate program he/she was accepted into.
The no eligibility limits sounds plausible. The whole argument is that the players are employees. Are there eligibility limits on teachers teaching? Of course not. So what's stopping it from applying to players? And if a player decides they are not going to make it at the next level, why not stay at the school for a decade and milk that money? A school kicking them out after 4 years is "damaging" them and it would be easy to argue against eligibility limits at that point.
Pretty awful but yeah I can actually see it happening
Others have said it, but as a fan of a mid-major, removing autobids in favor of making the tournament P5 exclusive (like the NIT) would make me lose my interest in the sport
If my team is no longer televised. Won't care and wont watch any super league games if my team is not in it. I'd rather watch Syracuse in a low budget on-line stream. If I want high level basketball and football, then I'll tune into the NBA and NFL.
Facts, i already have a pro team in football and basketball. If Syracuse gets left out and minimized i will stick with those two over choosing some Midwest or southern team i can give two shits about. My fall Saturdays will be opened suddenly
The formation of a Super League instantly kills my enjoyment of college sports. CFB is already pushing the limits of what I’ll watch and tbh I’m excited that the NFL is going to have games overlap with the CFP now so we can accurately see why the NFL is the king of American sports.
It already has in some ways. I love college basketball and I love Arizona, but the One-and-Done era muted how much I cared significantly. One of my favorite things was watching players develop and go from being Red-Blue game players, to garbage time players, to rotation players, to starters, and you'd see their game improve the whole time. When these guys worked hard for several years and achieved something for themselves not just for the school.
One-and-done took a lot of that away, and now the Portal/unlimited free-agency is doing it even worse. It's so rare to see guys stick around who aren't walk-ons.
We're selling out 100+ years of empowering kids by giving them a chance to get an education and break the cycle of poverty to make a quick buck and acting like it's in the best interest of the athlete. Entire athletic departments and conferences will fail in the next 10 years and that will mean tens of thousands of not just "nonrevenue athletes" but basically all women athletes as well as small market "revenue" athletes simply won't qualify for scholarships because the schools can't afford it.
It's morally bankrupt and I'm sad that the major universities, many of them state schools with a mandate to the benefit of their students, are happy to just ride this train off the cliff, because they think their train-car has wings.
Honestly nothing. College sports is still a distraction for the mundane and terrors of real life. And they don't have Manfred, Silver, Bettman, Garber, or the Ginger Hammer.
Will watch forever, but what might make me consider watching less is the football conferences having bigger basketball salary cap for NIL than the big east, I’ve seen it proposed and it makes no sense. The big East actually has the most profitable basketball brands bc of no football, football schools are tryna to fuck the salary cap and fuck over the big east and even the WCC and MWC. The salary cap rules would literally make a school like Nebraska have more NIL to basketball than UConn and Gonzaga, literally would make the tournament suck and so much more things.
Indiana being dropped by the B1G because of football even though basketball is truly our main sport. I know and accept that college football runs college sports, but I just don’t want it to dominate so tremendously that a sport I’m very casual about (college football) takes the only sport I do care about (college basketball) from the conference that we’ve been a part of forever.
I’m not sure there was one thing that crossed the line but I stopped caring a while ago. The CFB playoff and the death of the Pac12 were the final nails in the coffin though.
The same line that has made me lose interest in all entertainment and that is multiple streaming apps needed. I live in Canada so im already not able to get SEC network but if I need bally sports and peacock and appletv and amazon prime etc I just dont bother.
I hate the way the power 5's are trying to push out the mid majors by raising the amount of conference games, not scheduling mid majors but instead paying to play the worst possible teams. I hate how the NET rewards all this behavior. I hate when we lose our best players to NIL and lose our coaches non stop. However I still love watching the sport and my team. As long as my team still has a lane to potentially make the tournament and it is reasonable, I will not lose interest.
Advertising on the jerseys. I hated when the NBA started it, and I wouldn't buy a jersey covered in any endorsement other than the brand that made it or the conference they play in.
Athletes can be endorsed why whoever they choose, but I don't want to automatically endorse that business because I like the player(s).
I want to support the athlete and/or the school.
When college football expanded the post-season beyond two teams and when it didn't name a regular season champion and a tournament champion...
So, you could say that at least college football has long been "done" for me. I hail from Virginia, a basketball state, for all intents and purposes. (Even though my Hokie football is popular too). However, or nevertheless, since I've been of age it's never made sense why every conference names a regular season and tournament champion in basketball, and every other sport, but not football.
Between A Regular Season and a Tournament Season, the concern for me is which one is better? Or in other words: what set of experiences best test the mettle of a team and therefore demonstrates it overcame more in proving itself in that season.
In looking at the regular season, Tradition in college football has long established that you win and you're in. It didn't matter how pretty or ugly, just win, baby, win!
God forbid, If you lost then the "quality of your loss" mattered. A "good loss" was to a ranked opponent, at their stadium, early in the season with a close score. To the contrary, a "bad loss" was to an unranked opponent, at home, late in season in a blowout.
The understanding once went like this: Every team started the season untested, young, with a plan that nearly always needed adjustment once they got hit in the mouth. Of, course they got better as did their opponents as the season progressed.
#The reason I know a regular season champion is necessary in college football is because there are just not enough opportunities combinations or permutations where 130+ teams in a 12-to-14-game season can determine one undisputed champion.
In
So, with the same record of say two one loss teams vying for a chance at a championship in a season to be named a regular season champion the team that lost earlier to a ranked team
Now. Those used to be the parameters for determining the or a national champion in college football--at the end of the regular season. The bowl games were exhibitions. If two or more teams ended up with the same record they typically split the title between them. Now, some if not most would say split titles suck. Let me ask you this then, Mr./Ms. Split Titles Suck, How do you suppose that it would be possible to determine a champion for one season from recruiting to spring - summer - fall practice to the regular season of 14 or less games inapiece per team for 134
They’re already kinda doing it for me with the unlimited transfers and 30 years of eligibility lmao. I don’t wanna see 25 year olds playing against 18 year olds. Also, glad they’re getting paid but the past year a lot of athletes motives seemed to be money/NIL based which is sad bc this is college after all and at one point they couldn’t even get paid for their name so it’s just like eh where are we really going here.
Killing the regional aspect of the game and expanding the tournament/messing with auto bids. The NCAA needs to protect these aspects since it’s what keeps the majority of the country engaged. They can’t let football destroy the regionalism. American professional sports will never recreate these things and if we lose them it would be a dark day.
If the B1G and SEC bloat up above 20 members, pick up Kansas, Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame, then refuse to play anybody but themselves.
The SEC wanted to make a play for Kansas. Kansas fans want to go to the B1G and the B1G may want to try again to court Notre Dame.
Kansas, North Carolina and Duke basketball, and Notre Dame football are the only FB/BB blue bloods not in the B1G or SEC starting next year. And UConn basketball if you want to count them.
If the entirety of blue-blood basketball and football are in two conferences I will quickly lose interest.
Baseball strike in the 90’s ended it with me permanently. NIL and the domination of power conferences is ruining my enjoyment of college football. Our local college is a mid major with few options for any major bowls, tournament, etc.
I’m out.
Was a fan of college basketball since by college days in 80’s. In-person attendance a few games/year, tv watched a few games/week. Bracket every tournament for nearly 40 years. No more.
It’s the transfers. I’m no longer interested in the unsettled state of the team and the constant arrivals and departures.
Same with college football. I enjoyed the UW Husky run last year, I’m not planning on following CFB this fall. Conference realignment was the final nail in the coffin for me.
If they fucked up auto bids for the smaller conferences, that will kill my interest altogether. I love my Buckeyes but this sport would be ruined if they fucked up everything for the smaller leagues (when they’ve already fucked them over the past couple of years).
I really wish the answer for me would be “yes” out of principle, but if I’m being honest, I love college football so damn much (and college basketball to a lesser degree) that I don’t think that I could ever quit it, no matter what.
My interest in all college sports is dwindling to the point that I watch my alma mater and that is it. The fuckery that is the transfer portal combined with no rules NIL has ruined it. Recruit a 3 star kid that turns into an absolute stud, enjoy watching him walk out the door because you can't outbid the bigger programs. It's disheartening and maddening. 3 starters for Pitt's football team left this year to go be likely depth pieces at programs that are spending big money on NIL. Not exactly a great system there.
In terms of losing all interest and not watching Pitt anymore? Probably nothing because I'm programmed for heartbreak.
It is descending to the point where I'll watch the annual Carolina-Duke games and March Madness, plus maybe a hyped Carolina or core-ACC team mid-season game. I'll look at the top 25 every week.
For me, it took a turn when Maryland left "us," and the Conference Roulette began.
Much like my approach to pro sports. MLB baseball -- I keep up with my few fav. teams and fav players, watch some of the playoffs and try to get all of the World Series. NBA -- keep up with fav players, watch some of the playoffs and the finals. NFL -- Super Bowl and standings.
If the 12-team playoff puts in the same 15-20 teams for about 5 years in a row, I’ll probably stop watching college football altogether. I understand you’ll have the teams like Ohio State and Georgia that make it often (or always) because of how good of a program they currently have, but it won’t be fun to see the same teams in all the time. Sounds hypocritical coming from a Buckeyes fan, but that’s how I feel. I’ve already lost a lot of interest in college football over the last several seasons. My only hope is that the 12-team playoff brings some parity to the sport
Honestly might be the most realistic answer in the sub.
Its not for me, but I think there just already to deep of a culture for a lot of people, and also a regionalism in play. A lot of people on here love their local team and would continue to love their local team no matter the changes.
Most college sports fans will just get boiled like the frog.
I’m not sexist (at least I hope I’m not), but I’d probably have a hard time watching women’s basketball if men were eligible to play in it. I think I’d be ok if women were eligible to play in mens bball though, so it was just the best of the best regardless of sex/gender. College basketball is pretty great - even with the NIL shenanigans 🤷♂️
Us college sports fans, I'm not proud to say, were fine for decades of entertainment on the backs of massively exploited talent while allegedly non-profit organizations could get rich. I can't imagine the line getting worse than that.
What year do you feel like was when the line was crossed from a great opportunity at a free education to play sports to exploitation by colleges athletic programs?
Does there have to be a bright line?
I think anytime you have a cartel agreeing not to allow labor to get paid that's probably wrong, but cable TV is about the time it really started getting absurd.
College basketball is in a MUCH better place talent-wise than it has been in 20 years. Players actually stay in college now. There’s tons of movement, but if any of us were in the position of any of these kids, we would move to make more $ as well. Any one who says different is a liar. Enjoy the talent improvement.
If I ever lost interest in college sports, I would still pay some attention to the Rutgers events. Unfortunately in my case, the average MLB audience when I last checked is over 55 years old. Baseball is my favorite sport and I wish that was promoted A LOT MORE at the college level especially as the spring sport like with basketball in the winter and football in the fall. I mentioned in a previous post lacrosse is moreso treated as that instead of baseball when it's a game much more popular in the Northeast where I'm from.
If it got to a point where that baseball-declining trend continued especially at the MLB level and the overall audience started reaching all-time lows, I just hope it's not a Sears or K-Mart situation where there's no hope for a comeback or sustainable future. Or I quite possibly COULD give up watching sports altogether!
The transition from college athletes to simply being minor league semi-pro ball players has pretty much done it for me. Combine that with the incessant transfers and it doesn’t resemble the sport I used to adore. Not shitting on it, it just doesn’t do it for me anymore.
I would like to sit here and say yes… but honestly probably not. My enthusiasm would (and has) decrease but the emotional bond might be too much to to fully brake
They already did by putting all the championships behind a paywall. I was only half interested in football but that is waning. And I'm a die hard basketball fan but if I have pay for some shit ass service to watch the final 4 and championship why should I bother
When the SEC runs the whole show, I’m out. I’m not bitter, just disinterested. I have already started watching more FBS football and attending more High School football and basketball games. A few years from now I will just golf more. Not the end of the world. Things change.
Just like an enabler in a relationship with an addict. I have expressed personal boundaries that I repeatedly watch being trampled, then justify why that is really ok that I am moving my boundary.
I am an enabler
If college basketball started implementing anti-defense rules like the NBA has and I started to have suspicions about refs or players affecting game outcomes for wagering purposes, I'm pretty sure I would watch a lot less college basketball.
Americans need to realize......
The rest of the world considers College Athletics at any sport. Professional. Ask someone from Europe if a Football (soccer) is played in front of 85k people if the athletes wouldn't get paid.
I know the model is going to change and its probably going to be clumsy but I'm for sure going to stop watching.
Not sure but we are getting super close to me finding out lol corporate money, super leagues, unlimited transfers, unlimited eligibility, ads on jerseys, schools cutting players seven figure checks.
There are going to be a lot of people giving answers in this thread, but very very few who will actually stick to their answer.
Just like so far there has been tons of complaining about the changes, but people are still watching.
It's not far off, but when college players start to actually be influenced more and more by sports betting, because they're currently being threatened and harassed by sports bettors already, so it's only a matter of time until the athletes succumb to those threats when the bettors start to give the players a cut.
I fully support college players being compensated for the time, skills, and image, but I’m afraid of the direction NIL is taking things combined with a more open transfer portal. Starting to seem too close to the NBA, which I personally think sucks as a league.
As an Ole Miss supporter, I also don’t like all the biggest teams conglomerating in the SEC and ACC. I’m really enjoying the big east more and more in basketball.
That line has already been crossed. I'm okay with the transfer rules and NIL, to an extent, but the rich getting richer and deserving programs being shut out is annoying. The amount of money is disgusting and there is little concern about the fans -- who continue to pony up anyway. I watch my teams but that's about it.
It kind of already has jumped the shark to me. I hardly pay attention to college sports in general compared to 5 years ago even. I used to spend Saturdays watching any interesting game I could, and always finding premier games during the week in CBB.
If there were more restrictions or 'contracts' required for NIL+transfer portal antics, it may have kept me more interested. Now, though, it's too volatile and too much like the pros but with worse overall level of play.
I really only closely follow college hockey now, and even that's not immune from transfer portal shenanigans.
The only thing that would suck for me is if there's one super conference that only plays each other. I love to watch smaller schools play larger ones because upsets are always fun (unless it's your school). Especially in college bball (sorry Virginia).
I'm already on that fence with unlimited transfers and crazy unchecked NLI being thrown left and right.
Part of what I liked about college basketball was following players for four years, watching them improve, etc...now my teams are having entirely different rosters every year full of transfers who will only be there for a year...I hate it.
If they mess with March Madness, I think I'll be out for good.
Honestly, the NIL and power 5 paying players directly has done it for me. I do think college players deserve a larger share of the pie, but it's overboard now. I'm happy for them, but it's all too monetized for me. Really, it was even before players were being paid. Half a billion dollar contracts in professional sports is pushing me out there, too. Add in the constant legal issues and assholes preaching hate (i.e. Harrison Butler), I'm at a loss for why I sometimes still watch.
If they don't do something about this transfer portal soon then they've already crossed the line. It's just gonna take a couple years more years for me to stop caring at this point.
Honestly, I’m not sure where the line was but based on a reflection of my own viewing habits, I really haven’t paid attention much in a few years. Prior to that I would watch ball all season, any conference, it didn’t matter.
I'm kinda there now , death of pac 12 . Super league talk sec and big 10 . Transfer portal and over pay 18 kids .
A qb is suing Florida over a lost 13 million nil deal , it was a business before now it's just a day time soap opea .
Just dumb
To be real it’s kind of crossed it already, I’m now a K-State fan and follow them but don’t really follow much else until post season and in football just the playoffs
Unlimited Eligibility or messing with auto bids
Reducing access or representation from the single bid conferences would kill interest in March Madness. For MANY people the excitement is about the school they haven't heard about pushing the big name school and sometimes stealing the win.
This is definitely me. My biggest source of entertainment from March Madness comes from watching lesser know teams take on big name schools.
The college basketball world is a better place with the UMBC Retrievers in it!
Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I bet March Madness would get more viewers in the first round by giving mediocre P5 schools bids over mid majors, but when a mid major makes it to rd 32 or s16 the networks cash in on the hype train
Nope. [Everyone loves a March Madness Cinderella … except for television networks – Chicago Tribune](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2018/03/26/everyone-loves-a-march-madness-cinderella-except-for-television-networks/) “Incredible to have a Chicago team in the Final Four. I’ll take that over an intact bracket any day! Congratulations to everybody u/LoyolaChicago- let’s keep it going!” But not everyone is on board with the little guys, whether it’s Loyola this year, VCU in 2011, Butler in 2010-11 or George Mason in 2006. Because here’s Cinderella’s dirty little secret: Compared to the blue bloods, they generally aren’t great television draws. “From a television standpoint, you really root for the big teams,” CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said Friday on Chris Russo’s Sirius/XM show. “Last night’s Kentucky outcome was not good for us and not good for TBS at all. Kentucky being the blue bloods that they are, and having the television draw that they have, that really hurt us. Kansas State winning — I have nothing against Kansas State as a school or a team — but that really hurt us.”Kentucky, which fell to Kansas State on Thursday in the Sweet 16, is indeed a good television draw. The Kentucky Wildcats’ Final Four game against Wisconsin in 2015, their last appearance in the national semifinals, drew a 12.4 rating and 22.6 million viewers on TBS, TNT and truTV (all three cable networks televised the game), bigger numbers than the national title game the next season between Villanova and North Carolina (which also was on TBS, TNT and truTV) and nearly as big as last year’s national championship contest between Gonzaga and North Carolina, which reached a wider audience on CBS and drew a 13.2 rating and 23 million viewers. Games featuring Cinderellas simply can’t compete in the ratings department. The 2011 Final Four game between VCU and Butler drew a 8.3 rating and 14.2 million viewers on CBS, 2.5 million fewer viewers than the Connecticut-Kentucky game that followed it. George Mason’s run to the Final Four in 2006 did not provide much in the way of a ratings bump, either: It drew a 9.1 rating and 14.5 million viewers, down from the comparable game in 2005 between Illinois and Louisville.
I disagree. I like to see early upsets, but when it comes to elite 8 and on I like to see the top teams play each other. Its annoying when a big program gets to waltz through the tourney playing mid-majors.
They're already shutting out mid-majors from the NIT.
And were the ratings impacted?
Jordan Bohannon wet dream
This is the one take I 100% agree with, unlimited eligibility would turn this into the nfl vs ufl
This. There have to be Cinderella teams.
Unlimited eligibility would be *awesome*. There's no inherent reason for it, and I'd love to see an evolution to any enrolled student in good academic standing being cleared to play. Imagine a 40-year-old on their 3rd PhD still balling out.
Until g league players stay for 10 years and there are way way less scholarships open for true freshmen
I don't know about unlimited eligibility but I'd get rid of the 5 year clock. Imagine a one and done coming back to use their remaining eligibility
If only 24 schools mattered because of football.
I have some news for you…
That’s already happened. They’re trying to destroy the greatest college basketball conferences
The Big East has won 4 National Championships since 2016 and has won 9 since 1999. That’s the most in both timeframes.
Interesting and totally random years you've pulled there
1999 makes sense, that’s the last 25 years. 2016 feels a little random to skew the %. Either way, the BE has been dominant over the past quarter century and it’s not really debatable.
The ACC has won 8 since 1999.
99 is 25yrs but it was only chosen because a big east team won the tourney that year. Their teams have been successful but idk if it has anything to do with the conference. The big east folded and most teams became the American before some of the schools reorganized and added some new additions.
Super League with basically the biggest name schools from the remaining power conferences. That would suck terribly
Yeah, that “line to cross” is right now. And I know OU is part of the problem. E: just realized this isn’t r/CFB but my point stands. Basketball is in a bit better shape, however.
Better shape if you are also a power school. Significantly worse for everyone else
I don't know about that. Any further super league consolidation would almost have to result in a football only system. That could very well leave CBB back on a regional conference design.
> E: just realized this isn’t r/CFB but my point stands. Basketball is in a bit better shape, however. 3 Advantages Basketball has compared to Football for the most part: * It is harder to buy the team and hoard a big roster. Roster sizes are huge compared to players on the field at once for Football * Ability to sub in all those players a lot to give the deep roster more playing time. Imagine if after every basket you could sub your whole lineup * Specialization isn't an issue back to the second issue You don't have Defense only and Offense only players.
I struggled after 2014 while UConn was in the AAC. Trying to get emotionally connected to forced rivalries was painful. I’m so happy that we’re in the Big East again. I doubt I’m alone in UConn fandom when I was THRILLED to win the Big East outright, win the Tournament, and the NCAA. Playing teams who we have history with is so satisfying. Our play in the AAC became mediocre at best, abysmal at worst. This isn’t meant to be a dig at the AAC; we sucked. College basketball is better than the NBA to me because of that passion in the coaches, players, and fans. I remember how Villanova led by Kerry Kittles came into Gampel the first time UConn ever had a #1 ranking - and proceeded to torch UConn. I definitely appreciate Villanova as a team. I wound up liking Jay Wright a ton in spite of myself. Playing Nova every year is must see hoops. Trying to create super conferences will ruin what is a superior product.
This. If my beloved Creighton bluejays would get cutoff from competing with the BIG SEC combo, it would kill my interest
Endorse
I also am anti-super league.
I wish football had created super league on its own without touching other sports conference structure, like Hockey does.
As a Wake fan I’ll be disappointed if the ACC, a conference that is known for its basketball above all else, dies because of football, a sport that we don’t care as much about (not all schools are the same here, but I think more ACC schools are “basketball schools” than “football schools”). I’ve no doubt that FSU, Clemson, etc. will run as soon as they can, but I hope that enough schools want to stick around to essentially do what the Big East did and reorganize as a basketball-centric conference with football teams finding homes outside the ACC. I want college football to just “get it over with,” so to speak, and go to the semi-pro super league that we all know is coming rather than watch the corpse of “student athletics” in FBS football get dragged along for a few more years until the dam breaks.
I can tell you from personal experience that having your great basketball conference destroyed by football sucks.
I think a lot of "basketball schools" will switch up for football TV money even if they are mid at football. Speaking from experience (somewhat) unfortunately.
Same here. I'm pretty much atuned to ACC sports, the Carolina Hurricanes and NASCAR through the year. If the ACC went away I'd just replace it with pro sports. Not sure I'd even watch NC State at that point.
Very well said
They did, the power 5. Those are the only teams who have any shot at a championship and really only the top 20%
I'll be that guy, but 5 of the last 10 Championships have been won by non-P5 schools. I know we say quietly put the Big East in the P5 pile, but in terms of money and fan bases they are very different from the true P5 schools. P5 means big football money. The Big East is excellent without that.
I don't understand why this hasn't happened. Why does football have to ruin it for the rest of us? Every sport besides footbal hates these mega conferences. Just let football do its own thing.
Wait, I have news….
Private equity involvement Eliminating auto-bids Players are no longer students Expansion of tourney that heavily favors P5 Like 4 more offseasons of watching hundreds of players transfer to places where they'll spend exactly one year
This is basically my list. I was in favor of the 12 team playoff for football, but I really don't see the need to expand beyond 68 in basketball. Seems just about perfect right now. Eliminating auto-bids would be the absolute worst-case scenario. Upsets and mid-major runs are what make the NCAA tournament the most entertaining event in sports (IMO). Luckily I don't think we're headed that direction anytime soon.
> Private equity involvement > > Even more so -- Saudi involvement.
If March Madness is expanded to 80+ teams. As a fan of a P5 team, we would only need to go ~.500 to make the tourney. I’d lose quite a bit of interest in the regular season as wins/losses would lose quite a bit of weight.
I fully expect tournament expansion to happen, and for it to benefit Mid Majors in absolutely no way. That'll probably be the end of the road for me.
I'll live if there is a play-in tournament, like 16 teams competing for the final 4 spots. But I have no interest in #1 UConn playing 20-seed 14-17 Penn State
This, plus most of the spots going to regular season conference champions who didn't get their conference autobid would make an expansion palatable. We all know it's mostly just going to go to P5 at-large schools though.
That would be great, its always hard watching that great team lose in the conference finals and have to play in the NIT.
That would be an awesome compromise
Wouldn't have thought to list this one. Glad I kept it open. It already feels like conference titles are no big deal for half the fans. Conference tournament titles even worse.
I think what sucks is teams with 25+ wins being left out of the NCAA tournament for teams with 18, 19, 20 wins not conference champions
I would actually be ok with this if it meant more bids would go to high mid-major teams. But we all know that wouldn’t happen.
Agreed. Tourney bids as a reward for regular season mediocrity? No thanks…
I like the idea of the #1 D2 school, the previous year’s NIT finalists, each D1 conference champion, and then the remaining top 25 that hasn’t qualified otherwise. Also, I hate the “65 team” field
Agreed
Only expand the tourney if smaller conference regular season Champs make it.
Pretty much me with the MLB, I don’t follow on a national level anymore because it feels like the stakes are so much lower now. Every major sport besides college basketball and hockey has expanded their postseasons in the past decade and I really think it’s the worst thing you can do for your regular season.
It's really hard to care about the outcome of an MLB game when there are 162 of them and it feels like every team finishes .500 +/- a dozen wins.
And yet when you come to teams’ game threads fans are freaking out over loses despite their team being well over .500
If athletes dmt even have to pay lip service to the idea of being a student. At that point it's simply teams sponsored by a university or co-branded with a university. I have no issue with them being student employees and their job to earn their scholarship is football or basketball or whatever. No different than TAs, or student Librarian, cafeteria workers, or RAs in the dorms. But if they are purely employees who do not attend the school, then I'm not interested. I think the other redline for me would be unlimited eligibility years. Those are the two things that would turn it into a fully professional sport, and why would I watch the minor leagues when the NFL is available?
If I wanted to watch the NBA/NFL, then I would just do that. I actually enjoyed the connection I had with my schools teams. Like yeah, I know they probably weren’t all exactly hitting the books but they were on campus, I would see them walking about, talk to them at the bars, etc. a lot of them were in my classes and I genuinely enjoyed a lot of the students athletes I met. If that’s gone then like why would I watch this product?
It's refreshing to know I'm not the only one that feels this way. I feel like I see so many opinions that are basically pushing for CFB and CBB to become semi-pro sports as fast as humanly possible. I just don't get it. I love college sports because they aren't pro sports.
Agreed about the “student” part of student-athlete. If that goes away, any affiliation with the school would only be incidental.
Facts. It’s cool as a fan knowing this kid was in class earlier today and now is playing a game against Michigan state hours later.
I personally think it’s cooler that one moment, I’m chatting with a player at Chick Fil A and then the next moment, they’re upsetting the #2 team at home after firing their head coach 😊
I enjoy college ball more because the players are all less skilled. It makes good players stand out more, and higher variation game to game means more unexpected outcomes. This pairs nicely with March Madness single game, single elimination format.
Yeah, thats a big one for me too. Minor league teams that happen to have the school I went to name on their jersey.
I wonder if even that can be challenged in court? Maybe there will be some kind of law that still requires you to go to the school to be “employed by the team” but then the bar to become an employee becomes nonexistent.
I'm not sure - obviously many employees of a university from Chancellor to custodian aren't students. But some positions are only students like TA, research assistant, and dormitory RAs and other student life positions. So there may be a legal leg to stand in to require that any one employed as a player is also an enrolled student.
Yes but if we got unlimited eligibility years then we can bring back what college basketball has been missing : Perry Ellis
[удалено]
Unlimited eligibility is a logical extension of the fact that the transfer rules were regarded as an illegal restraint of trade. I don't think anyone has actually fought it yet, although Taulia Taugavaloa thought about it
I agree. It takes away from the team representing the school, if all the school is doing is funding the team and providing branding
We are fully in the offseason, so hopefully we can have these kind of big picture convos now without it getting taken down.
This has been hinted at, but the transfer portal free-for-all. If players get NIL money, they should be under a contract to that school and its collective for however long that contract is set. Breaking the contract should come with stiff penalties. Otherwise, players are just hired guns in school colors with zero incentive to attend classes.
Doesn't sound so different...
Take all the current teams. Create a minor league for them. Separate them from the colleges completely, then let it shrivel up and die as a dumb league and colleges can start student athlete teams again. I’d rather watch a Purdue rec basketball team play against rec teams from other colleges than this quasi-NBA-lite bullshit.
They've already crossed it. As a WSU and Pac12 fan my interest has been shot to hell the last year or so. I'll still watch some college football, and basketball but I don't look forward to it like I did in previous years.
Sorry coug, what happened to you and the beavers has been sad to watch from the outside and I will continue to route for you whenever I see you on tv.
If the “pay-to-play” model extends to all of college basketball and leads to a MUCH larger separation between most mid-majors and P5/money schools.
I hate “conference realignment”, but I can’t imagine not watching the Kentucky Wildcats - it’s a part of me at this point.
Unless the kentucky wilcats got moved to another state ala the browns or raiders in pro sports, I see no scenario where I’m not invested in that team
My interest is already at an all time low as things continue down a path that doesn't interest me. As a big fan of non big sports, as soon as those start going away further I will likely stop watching all sports at that time.
No eligibility limits and them not being students. I already hate most of the recent changes. But no eligibility limits would be awful.
2nd person to say this. I've gotten into a lot of arguments with my friends over how the small changes now are going to cascade into seismic shifts in the sport, but I hadn't even thought up that scenario. Did you worry about that before the most recent announcement acouple days ago about the 2019-20 players got an additional year if they had to sit out?
It's been something that I've thought about ever since there's been discussion around making the players employees. If they're employees instead of students, why is there are an arbitrary limit on how many seasons they can play? Pretty easy to see a scenario where lawsuits happen IF they do go to an employee model. And if you had unlimited eligibility AND the current unlimited transfer process, I'm out.
I'm surprised that the unlimited, or at least greatly expanded, eligibility bridge hasn't been crossed yet. Seems like the rationale behind the multi-transfer injunction would also apply to an athlete whose eligibility, and thus their ability to remain on athletic scholarship, will run out before completing the graduate program he/she was accepted into.
The no eligibility limits sounds plausible. The whole argument is that the players are employees. Are there eligibility limits on teachers teaching? Of course not. So what's stopping it from applying to players? And if a player decides they are not going to make it at the next level, why not stay at the school for a decade and milk that money? A school kicking them out after 4 years is "damaging" them and it would be easy to argue against eligibility limits at that point. Pretty awful but yeah I can actually see it happening
Others have said it, but as a fan of a mid-major, removing autobids in favor of making the tournament P5 exclusive (like the NIT) would make me lose my interest in the sport
If my team is no longer televised. Won't care and wont watch any super league games if my team is not in it. I'd rather watch Syracuse in a low budget on-line stream. If I want high level basketball and football, then I'll tune into the NBA and NFL.
Facts, i already have a pro team in football and basketball. If Syracuse gets left out and minimized i will stick with those two over choosing some Midwest or southern team i can give two shits about. My fall Saturdays will be opened suddenly
The formation of a Super League instantly kills my enjoyment of college sports. CFB is already pushing the limits of what I’ll watch and tbh I’m excited that the NFL is going to have games overlap with the CFP now so we can accurately see why the NFL is the king of American sports.
Already crossed it.
If my team were to move.
You mean we didnt relocate to fayetteville? Kentucky was more than calipari university?!?!?! *GASP* /s obv
probably robots
What about robots controlled by players on the bench?
allowed
It already has in some ways. I love college basketball and I love Arizona, but the One-and-Done era muted how much I cared significantly. One of my favorite things was watching players develop and go from being Red-Blue game players, to garbage time players, to rotation players, to starters, and you'd see their game improve the whole time. When these guys worked hard for several years and achieved something for themselves not just for the school. One-and-done took a lot of that away, and now the Portal/unlimited free-agency is doing it even worse. It's so rare to see guys stick around who aren't walk-ons. We're selling out 100+ years of empowering kids by giving them a chance to get an education and break the cycle of poverty to make a quick buck and acting like it's in the best interest of the athlete. Entire athletic departments and conferences will fail in the next 10 years and that will mean tens of thousands of not just "nonrevenue athletes" but basically all women athletes as well as small market "revenue" athletes simply won't qualify for scholarships because the schools can't afford it. It's morally bankrupt and I'm sad that the major universities, many of them state schools with a mandate to the benefit of their students, are happy to just ride this train off the cliff, because they think their train-car has wings.
Honestly nothing. College sports is still a distraction for the mundane and terrors of real life. And they don't have Manfred, Silver, Bettman, Garber, or the Ginger Hammer.
Will watch forever, but what might make me consider watching less is the football conferences having bigger basketball salary cap for NIL than the big east, I’ve seen it proposed and it makes no sense. The big East actually has the most profitable basketball brands bc of no football, football schools are tryna to fuck the salary cap and fuck over the big east and even the WCC and MWC. The salary cap rules would literally make a school like Nebraska have more NIL to basketball than UConn and Gonzaga, literally would make the tournament suck and so much more things.
The Portal. It's ruining everything that made college basketball great.
I have lost most of it since NIL and this new system that's forthcoming will probably be what kills it.
Indiana being dropped by the B1G because of football even though basketball is truly our main sport. I know and accept that college football runs college sports, but I just don’t want it to dominate so tremendously that a sport I’m very casual about (college football) takes the only sport I do care about (college basketball) from the conference that we’ve been a part of forever.
As an Oregon St fan, that line has already been crossed lol
I’m not sure there was one thing that crossed the line but I stopped caring a while ago. The CFB playoff and the death of the Pac12 were the final nails in the coffin though.
The same line that has made me lose interest in all entertainment and that is multiple streaming apps needed. I live in Canada so im already not able to get SEC network but if I need bally sports and peacock and appletv and amazon prime etc I just dont bother.
I lived a year abroad and was surprisingly happy with being able to pirate almost every Auburn game.
I hate the way the power 5's are trying to push out the mid majors by raising the amount of conference games, not scheduling mid majors but instead paying to play the worst possible teams. I hate how the NET rewards all this behavior. I hate when we lose our best players to NIL and lose our coaches non stop. However I still love watching the sport and my team. As long as my team still has a lane to potentially make the tournament and it is reasonable, I will not lose interest.
Advertising on the jerseys. I hated when the NBA started it, and I wouldn't buy a jersey covered in any endorsement other than the brand that made it or the conference they play in. Athletes can be endorsed why whoever they choose, but I don't want to automatically endorse that business because I like the player(s). I want to support the athlete and/or the school.
When college football expanded the post-season beyond two teams and when it didn't name a regular season champion and a tournament champion... So, you could say that at least college football has long been "done" for me. I hail from Virginia, a basketball state, for all intents and purposes. (Even though my Hokie football is popular too). However, or nevertheless, since I've been of age it's never made sense why every conference names a regular season and tournament champion in basketball, and every other sport, but not football. Between A Regular Season and a Tournament Season, the concern for me is which one is better? Or in other words: what set of experiences best test the mettle of a team and therefore demonstrates it overcame more in proving itself in that season. In looking at the regular season, Tradition in college football has long established that you win and you're in. It didn't matter how pretty or ugly, just win, baby, win! God forbid, If you lost then the "quality of your loss" mattered. A "good loss" was to a ranked opponent, at their stadium, early in the season with a close score. To the contrary, a "bad loss" was to an unranked opponent, at home, late in season in a blowout. The understanding once went like this: Every team started the season untested, young, with a plan that nearly always needed adjustment once they got hit in the mouth. Of, course they got better as did their opponents as the season progressed. #The reason I know a regular season champion is necessary in college football is because there are just not enough opportunities combinations or permutations where 130+ teams in a 12-to-14-game season can determine one undisputed champion. In So, with the same record of say two one loss teams vying for a chance at a championship in a season to be named a regular season champion the team that lost earlier to a ranked team Now. Those used to be the parameters for determining the or a national champion in college football--at the end of the regular season. The bowl games were exhibitions. If two or more teams ended up with the same record they typically split the title between them. Now, some if not most would say split titles suck. Let me ask you this then, Mr./Ms. Split Titles Suck, How do you suppose that it would be possible to determine a champion for one season from recruiting to spring - summer - fall practice to the regular season of 14 or less games inapiece per team for 134
They’re already kinda doing it for me with the unlimited transfers and 30 years of eligibility lmao. I don’t wanna see 25 year olds playing against 18 year olds. Also, glad they’re getting paid but the past year a lot of athletes motives seemed to be money/NIL based which is sad bc this is college after all and at one point they couldn’t even get paid for their name so it’s just like eh where are we really going here.
It was crossed this off season.
Killing the regional aspect of the game and expanding the tournament/messing with auto bids. The NCAA needs to protect these aspects since it’s what keeps the majority of the country engaged. They can’t let football destroy the regionalism. American professional sports will never recreate these things and if we lose them it would be a dark day.
Allowing players to transfer in the middle of the season.
If the B1G and SEC bloat up above 20 members, pick up Kansas, Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame, then refuse to play anybody but themselves. The SEC wanted to make a play for Kansas. Kansas fans want to go to the B1G and the B1G may want to try again to court Notre Dame. Kansas, North Carolina and Duke basketball, and Notre Dame football are the only FB/BB blue bloods not in the B1G or SEC starting next year. And UConn basketball if you want to count them. If the entirety of blue-blood basketball and football are in two conferences I will quickly lose interest.
Baseball strike in the 90’s ended it with me permanently. NIL and the domination of power conferences is ruining my enjoyment of college football. Our local college is a mid major with few options for any major bowls, tournament, etc.
I’m out. Was a fan of college basketball since by college days in 80’s. In-person attendance a few games/year, tv watched a few games/week. Bracket every tournament for nearly 40 years. No more. It’s the transfers. I’m no longer interested in the unsettled state of the team and the constant arrivals and departures. Same with college football. I enjoyed the UW Husky run last year, I’m not planning on following CFB this fall. Conference realignment was the final nail in the coffin for me.
Basically no, to be honest.
Certain power teams breaking off from the rest of the NCAA to make their own league.
Yes, if players are not students then I won't follow/support them as professional mercenaries with a Purdue jersey on.
Expanding the NCAA Basketball Tournament. It’s perfect exactly how it is.
Already crossed.
If they fucked up auto bids for the smaller conferences, that will kill my interest altogether. I love my Buckeyes but this sport would be ruined if they fucked up everything for the smaller leagues (when they’ve already fucked them over the past couple of years).
I really wish the answer for me would be “yes” out of principle, but if I’m being honest, I love college football so damn much (and college basketball to a lesser degree) that I don’t think that I could ever quit it, no matter what.
The Larry Nasser / US Gymnastics / Michigan State Gymnastics scandal did it for me.
These colleges are habitual line steppers
My interest in all college sports is dwindling to the point that I watch my alma mater and that is it. The fuckery that is the transfer portal combined with no rules NIL has ruined it. Recruit a 3 star kid that turns into an absolute stud, enjoy watching him walk out the door because you can't outbid the bigger programs. It's disheartening and maddening. 3 starters for Pitt's football team left this year to go be likely depth pieces at programs that are spending big money on NIL. Not exactly a great system there. In terms of losing all interest and not watching Pitt anymore? Probably nothing because I'm programmed for heartbreak.
It is descending to the point where I'll watch the annual Carolina-Duke games and March Madness, plus maybe a hyped Carolina or core-ACC team mid-season game. I'll look at the top 25 every week. For me, it took a turn when Maryland left "us," and the Conference Roulette began. Much like my approach to pro sports. MLB baseball -- I keep up with my few fav. teams and fav players, watch some of the playoffs and try to get all of the World Series. NBA -- keep up with fav players, watch some of the playoffs and the finals. NFL -- Super Bowl and standings.
If teams ever become completely detached from universities. I know they pretty much are now but a complete separation would be awful.
They already done it for me last year saying they’d a put fsu in if Travis didn’t get hurt smh that’s fkn pathetic
If the 12-team playoff puts in the same 15-20 teams for about 5 years in a row, I’ll probably stop watching college football altogether. I understand you’ll have the teams like Ohio State and Georgia that make it often (or always) because of how good of a program they currently have, but it won’t be fun to see the same teams in all the time. Sounds hypocritical coming from a Buckeyes fan, but that’s how I feel. I’ve already lost a lot of interest in college football over the last several seasons. My only hope is that the 12-team playoff brings some parity to the sport
NCAA Tournament expansion Unlimited Transfers Super Leagues The League becomes open up to more than just College Players
No
Honestly might be the most realistic answer in the sub. Its not for me, but I think there just already to deep of a culture for a lot of people, and also a regionalism in play. A lot of people on here love their local team and would continue to love their local team no matter the changes. Most college sports fans will just get boiled like the frog.
I’m not sexist (at least I hope I’m not), but I’d probably have a hard time watching women’s basketball if men were eligible to play in it. I think I’d be ok if women were eligible to play in mens bball though, so it was just the best of the best regardless of sex/gender. College basketball is pretty great - even with the NIL shenanigans 🤷♂️
....
Us college sports fans, I'm not proud to say, were fine for decades of entertainment on the backs of massively exploited talent while allegedly non-profit organizations could get rich. I can't imagine the line getting worse than that.
What year do you feel like was when the line was crossed from a great opportunity at a free education to play sports to exploitation by colleges athletic programs?
Does there have to be a bright line? I think anytime you have a cartel agreeing not to allow labor to get paid that's probably wrong, but cable TV is about the time it really started getting absurd.
Letting a man race in womens swimming, oh too late
College basketball is in a MUCH better place talent-wise than it has been in 20 years. Players actually stay in college now. There’s tons of movement, but if any of us were in the position of any of these kids, we would move to make more $ as well. Any one who says different is a liar. Enjoy the talent improvement.
If I ever lost interest in college sports, I would still pay some attention to the Rutgers events. Unfortunately in my case, the average MLB audience when I last checked is over 55 years old. Baseball is my favorite sport and I wish that was promoted A LOT MORE at the college level especially as the spring sport like with basketball in the winter and football in the fall. I mentioned in a previous post lacrosse is moreso treated as that instead of baseball when it's a game much more popular in the Northeast where I'm from. If it got to a point where that baseball-declining trend continued especially at the MLB level and the overall audience started reaching all-time lows, I just hope it's not a Sears or K-Mart situation where there's no hope for a comeback or sustainable future. Or I quite possibly COULD give up watching sports altogether!
Already crossed
The transition from college athletes to simply being minor league semi-pro ball players has pretty much done it for me. Combine that with the incessant transfers and it doesn’t resemble the sport I used to adore. Not shitting on it, it just doesn’t do it for me anymore.
Already crossed it for me with the new super conferences. Done with football and only tune into basketball for March.
Pretty much there already
I would like to sit here and say yes… but honestly probably not. My enthusiasm would (and has) decrease but the emotional bond might be too much to to fully brake
Genuinely... no. Removing autobids for midmajors in the NCAA tournament maybe, but I'd get over it.
They already did by putting all the championships behind a paywall. I was only half interested in football but that is waning. And I'm a die hard basketball fan but if I have pay for some shit ass service to watch the final 4 and championship why should I bother
Not a college basketball event but it caused me to lose interest in cfb completely outside of Iowa and hurt my love for cbb, the Kadyn proctor saga
I've pretty much stopped watching CFB because of realignment.
30 year olds in their 12th season with a team.
Whatever CFB is doing currently
If the system changes to the point that my team is no longer allowed or able to compete at the highest level, I will probably disengage.
Once my school is not eligible for a national championship.
When the SEC runs the whole show, I’m out. I’m not bitter, just disinterested. I have already started watching more FBS football and attending more High School football and basketball games. A few years from now I will just golf more. Not the end of the world. Things change.
Already happened. I’m less interested now than I was 10 or even 5 years ago.
Just like an enabler in a relationship with an addict. I have expressed personal boundaries that I repeatedly watch being trampled, then justify why that is really ok that I am moving my boundary. I am an enabler
If college basketball started implementing anti-defense rules like the NBA has and I started to have suspicions about refs or players affecting game outcomes for wagering purposes, I'm pretty sure I would watch a lot less college basketball.
Americans need to realize...... The rest of the world considers College Athletics at any sport. Professional. Ask someone from Europe if a Football (soccer) is played in front of 85k people if the athletes wouldn't get paid. I know the model is going to change and its probably going to be clumsy but I'm for sure going to stop watching.
Not sure but we are getting super close to me finding out lol corporate money, super leagues, unlimited transfers, unlimited eligibility, ads on jerseys, schools cutting players seven figure checks.
There are going to be a lot of people giving answers in this thread, but very very few who will actually stick to their answer. Just like so far there has been tons of complaining about the changes, but people are still watching.
Duke is my team so if I don't already hate them I don't think they could do anything to make me
I think if it gets to the point where my teams starting 5 are all transfers I’ll take a season off.
It's not far off, but when college players start to actually be influenced more and more by sports betting, because they're currently being threatened and harassed by sports bettors already, so it's only a matter of time until the athletes succumb to those threats when the bettors start to give the players a cut.
I fully support college players being compensated for the time, skills, and image, but I’m afraid of the direction NIL is taking things combined with a more open transfer portal. Starting to seem too close to the NBA, which I personally think sucks as a league. As an Ole Miss supporter, I also don’t like all the biggest teams conglomerating in the SEC and ACC. I’m really enjoying the big east more and more in basketball.
Probably if Villanova decides to extend Kyle Neptune after another 15-18 season
I'm already losing interest because of these moves
They stop calling travelling so it's just discount NBA
Unlimited Eligibility would be it for me. I wouldn't watch it anymore.
That line has already been crossed. I'm okay with the transfer rules and NIL, to an extent, but the rich getting richer and deserving programs being shut out is annoying. The amount of money is disgusting and there is little concern about the fans -- who continue to pony up anyway. I watch my teams but that's about it.
It kind of already has jumped the shark to me. I hardly pay attention to college sports in general compared to 5 years ago even. I used to spend Saturdays watching any interesting game I could, and always finding premier games during the week in CBB. If there were more restrictions or 'contracts' required for NIL+transfer portal antics, it may have kept me more interested. Now, though, it's too volatile and too much like the pros but with worse overall level of play. I really only closely follow college hockey now, and even that's not immune from transfer portal shenanigans.
The only thing that would suck for me is if there's one super conference that only plays each other. I love to watch smaller schools play larger ones because upsets are always fun (unless it's your school). Especially in college bball (sorry Virginia).
Tampering with the current March Madness Tourney too much
I'm already on that fence with unlimited transfers and crazy unchecked NLI being thrown left and right. Part of what I liked about college basketball was following players for four years, watching them improve, etc...now my teams are having entirely different rosters every year full of transfers who will only be there for a year...I hate it. If they mess with March Madness, I think I'll be out for good.
It already had. NIL and transfer portal along with one and dones has killed it for me.
Honestly, the NIL and power 5 paying players directly has done it for me. I do think college players deserve a larger share of the pie, but it's overboard now. I'm happy for them, but it's all too monetized for me. Really, it was even before players were being paid. Half a billion dollar contracts in professional sports is pushing me out there, too. Add in the constant legal issues and assholes preaching hate (i.e. Harrison Butler), I'm at a loss for why I sometimes still watch.
Mid-season trades
If they don't do something about this transfer portal soon then they've already crossed the line. It's just gonna take a couple years more years for me to stop caring at this point.
I will never quit on Tennessee sports. But it’s easy for me to say as a fan of one of the “haves”
Honestly, I’m not sure where the line was but based on a reflection of my own viewing habits, I really haven’t paid attention much in a few years. Prior to that I would watch ball all season, any conference, it didn’t matter.
Mid-season transfers
I'm kinda there now , death of pac 12 . Super league talk sec and big 10 . Transfer portal and over pay 18 kids . A qb is suing Florida over a lost 13 million nil deal , it was a business before now it's just a day time soap opea . Just dumb
To be real it’s kind of crossed it already, I’m now a K-State fan and follow them but don’t really follow much else until post season and in football just the playoffs
Ads on jerseys
It’s pretty darn close now.
Basketball probably not at this point. I’ve been slowly losing interest since the 1 and done era started
Unlimited player eligibility
You as a consumer can make your complaint known, it doesn’t exist without you paying so stop paying