College Sports (Football)
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
A completely absurd argument for a variety of reasons not even worth getting into.
The sport is shrinking. It's not dying by any stretch of the imagination, college football is beloved in this country and will be for decades to come.
But anyone with eyes knows the peak is in the rearview mirror now. No one will even be arguing about it in a few years.
The new argument will be one for which I stand on my soapbox with more vigor than ever: IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT.
Events sell, inventory doesn't. College football voluntarily transformed itself from event to inventory, with eyes wide open, knowing exactly what it was doing. The sport CHOSE to becomes something that will be a net loser in the industry changes to come rather than a net gainer. I and many others were right about this every single day while it happened. It. Could. Have. Been. Different.
Is the college football TV ratings boom hitting a wall? Here’s what the data suggests
The expanded Playoff is supposed to juice the mid-tier games, but viewers are already tuning those out before it's even arrived.
www.nytimes.com
That ought to be a free gift link if folks want to see the numbers in the underlying article.
There's a whole other Big Ten vs SEC factor there that isn't pretty either.
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Also, every game going 3.5+ hours with 3 minute commercial breaks is a slogA completely absurd argument for a variety of reasons not even worth getting into.
The sport is shrinking. It's not dying by any stretch of the imagination, college football is beloved in this country and will be for decades to come.
But anyone with eyes knows the peak is in the rearview mirror now. No one will even be arguing about it in a few years.
The new argument will be one for which I stand on my soapbox with more vigor than ever: IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT.
Events sell, inventory doesn't. College football voluntarily transformed itself from event to inventory, with eyes wide open, knowing exactly what it was doing. The sport CHOSE to becomes something that will be a net loser in the industry changes to come rather than a net gainer. I and many others were right about this every single day while it happened. It. Could. Have. Been. Different.
Is the college football TV ratings boom hitting a wall? Here’s what the data suggests
The expanded Playoff is supposed to juice the mid-tier games, but viewers are already tuning those out before it's even arrived.
That ought to be a free gift link if folks want to see the numbers in the underlying article.
There's a whole other Big Ten vs SEC factor there that isn't pretty either.
I agree with this. College football has to address pace of play.
On a Thursday MAC game, the announcers said midway through the fourth quarter, "The NFL game started an hour after our game, and the NFL game just concluded."
The NCAA timing rules almost mirror NFL rules. I think commercial breaks are the main culprit, but do they try and get the Golden Goose to reduce her egg-laying production?
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Their margin for error completely evaporated on Saturday night. If they win out, then they will be a virtual lock to get in. I think that is their only path for getting in. It is hard to see any argument for a 3 loss B1G team making the CFP (especially since OSU is already on the wrong side of the bubble with 2 losses) -- there was controversy with Alabama making it in with 3 losses last year, but their last loss was in conference championship game. This season, there very well may be a 9-3 team in the CFP, but it would come from the SEC not the B1G.
I happen to think OSU loses this weekend vs Oregon. It would not really surprise me if OSU ends the season 8-4.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Me either, they are an extremely ordinary team if QB problems cut off their ability to make the best player in the country the protagonist of every play.
The difficulty of retaining a QB2 at even the absolute best programs and big recruits at QB sometimes just not having it (remember Justin Zwick?) are going to continue to be the great equalizers and humblers of the powerful in NIL World.
Plus, losing 3 of the top 11 picks in the NFL Draft on defense made their defense worse, who'da thunk it?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Did the midterm elections kill the Protect College Sports Act? Here’s what happens next
The PCSA, which has survived a few near-death experiences to get this far, is definitely not dead, but the odds are stacked against it.
www.nytimes.com
Will PCSA be a priority in the lame duck session? Hard to say.
That’s the only way it will survive imo.Did the midterm elections kill the Protect College Sports Act? Here’s what happens next
The PCSA, which has survived a few near-death experiences to get this far, is definitely not dead, but the odds are stacked against it.
Will PCSA be a priority in the lame duck session? Hard to say.
It’s OK as long as you can record the game, start to play it an hour after kickoff, FF thru the commercial breaks, and finish on time.
This option makes going to see a very slow game live less attractive, especially in bad weather.
This is the optimal way to watch most sports nowadays. I try to catch up love some time in the second half of basketball or 4th quarter in football.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
I don't know. I take the long commercial breaks during Illinois games to catch the hot takes in the games thread.
I also don't have patience to not know the live score for the first 30 minutes of the game.
Funny enough, I look at the game thread when I attend games in person to get a better feel for how certain calls went that can be better seen on TV. It makes the longer timeouts go by pretty quick.
OnlyOrange
- Belleville, IL
I wonder if at some point, regular season ratings do drop (they haven't yet)? I'd like to think I'll be watching some of the marquee games less because why bother. It's all about playoff seeding anyway for the teams like Bama, Ohio State, Texas, Georgia.
So it'll be 20 SEC teams and 4 other AQs
Just curious, do you feel that way now watching Illinois basketball games or other marquee basketball games?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Lol, the bracket comes out and they have LSU in there like four times.
OnlyOrange
- Belleville, IL
It's a good question, and I was going to liken it to basketball season in my post! I can only speak for myself, but yes, I actually do think college regular season basketball games are less of a big event/something I'll make time to watch than weekly college football Saturday games.
I normally watch Saturday marquee CFB games in which I do not have a clear Illini-related rooting interest, but I really don't do the same for CBB. Is that because there's less on the line (really just NCAAT seeding, in most cases), or because the sheer number of games in the season is higher? Not sure I can answer that part. Ex: Why would I care if Kentucky wins or loses a regular season game against, say, Tennessee when they're fighting for a 3 or 4 seed.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Connelly wrote an article for ESPN a few weeks ago highlighting his concerns with the 24 team playoff (which btw, has anyone seen Connelly and @ChiefGritty in the same room?) and yes, he’s concerned with regular season tv ratings:
It’s hard to argue with him. If each regular season game has less impact on postseason play, less people are likely to tune into each game.
What’s interesting about the article is that he makes a case for why the 24 team playoff is bad for Alabama, Ohio St, and Georgia fans (you’re essentially guaranteed to make the playoff, so why care about the regular season?) and G6 team fans (they’ll still largely be left out), but as he gripes about the new system, you know which fan base he doesn’t cover? Illinois’!
While the regular season as a whole might weaken, the 24 team playoff makes every regular more important for a team like ours.
4 losses will likely be the cutoff. So just look at the last couple of years.
2025: We’re 7-3. All we have to do is take care of business against a bad Wisconsin team and a middling Northwestern team and we’re in. You know what happens next. Gutted.
2024: We make the 24 team playoff! How invested would you have been in every single game that season had you known a playoff berth was on the line?