How ESPN Ruined College Football

We discuss college football realignment and how it all traces back to ESPN.

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[YinzHeavenhound]

Guess it's time to start watching MAC football. They seem to be the only conference that have stuck to what a conference should be. An association of schools in a similar region with similar levels of on-field talent. How often does someone win the MAC twice in a row?

[greatgasby]

I remember back in 2007 Michigan playing their hearts out in the Citrus Bowl for Lloyd Care’s last game. A lot of those players were NFL prospects. It was the “Citrus Bowl” players are now sitting out of legendary bowl games such as the sugar, fiesta, rose, and orange. The pageantry and tradition of college football is gone. And that saddens me. The NFL’s Divisions now have more tradition and pageantry now because they try to keep rivals in the same division. USC playing Rutgers for a conference game is beyond stupid.

[jeffrichards]

As a life long West Virginia University fan I about died inside when the BACKYARD BRAWL Game against PITT UNIVERSITY was ended. WTF best rivalry we had...

[greggdoty]

Absolutely agree with this. I'm an old-time college football fan (literally--I'm 62 and I've been bleeding Razorback red since I was a 9-yo selling Cokes at The Game of the Century in 1969) and it saddens me to watch the destruction of college football happening right in front of my eyes. I quit watching pro football years ago and now it seems like I might just quit college football--even my Razorbacks--within a few short years. Sad.

[Zrich]

The one group that made college football so fun has ended up being the ones that ruined it. Not even college gameday is good anymore it’s all corporate now. College gameday used to be about the fans now it’s just for sponsors and I honestly don’t see it lasting much longer. It’s sad the direction college football is headed.

[wjatube]

What's not being discussed is how all the non-football sports like volleyball and tennis and baseball going to handle the cross-country intra-week travel from California to Ohio? Is it going to be a true move or just for football because the logistics seem daunting, inefficient and costly.

[mikelally]

I used to be the biggest college football fan around. I even made it my mission to see all 130 FBS teams live and in-person, and after 37 years of trying, I accomplished that in November 2017. But by 2019 it was obvious the sport was changing, and not in a good way, and now I have little interest in college football. It’s feels so corporatey now. The soul of the game is fading away.

[kmir]

great video

as a diehard Michigan fan as well as a diehard CFB fan, it's sad to see all the major changes that the sport has taken in recent years. the playoff and possible expansion of the playoff, NIL, portal, bowl game opt-outs, conference re-alignment and the erosion of rivalries have all devalued and removed the luster of the game I and so many other people loved

the way it's going, I don't even know if I'll be a fan in 10-15 years. it's changing too much, too fast, and not positively either

[m.c.martin]

The problem everyone involved is ignoring, is what happens when these consistently winning schools in these weaker conferences go to better conferences and struggle and don’t win as much. Will those fans stick around if their programs don’t get a single winning record after 5 years? I don’t think so.

You’ll end up back where you started.

[michaelmarino]

The fact that there is not a Commissioner to help create conference stability & accountability, allows these schools to go into business for themselves. The deterioration of CFB started in the late 90's with the BCS and Conference "free agency" has lead to the death of rivalries over the last 10-15 years.

[ArcherVideo]

So well stated! If they're wanting something similar to the NFL... just watch the NFL.

[vl]

ESPN has done a lot of damage. To the NBA and NFL also. It's why I canceled ESPN 2 years now and haven't looked back. B.S. storylines instead of the actual games is what they're selling. The good news is they are starting to lose money because fans are rejecting them.

[nebr]

Agree with almost everything in this video. As a lifelong, diehard college football fan (went to Nebraska way back when), the wholesale changes in the CFB landscape have slowly whittled away at my interest in the game. The closer CFB becomes to NFL-lite, the less appealing it becomes. Ultimately, my opinion doesn’t matter - I realize that - but I can’t believe that I’m alone in my thoughts about the game. I liked the rivalries, the traditions, and the bowl games (despite the controversies, every Jan 1 fans across the country were treated to an orgy of exciting and consequential games culminating in the end of the season). All of those have slowly been eroded. The direction we’re heading is to simply pit one monetary juggernaut against another - which school can hire the best talent with NIL money and spend the most on coaches with bloated TV revenues. I’m not saying this as one that looks at the past through rose colored glasses, but one who sees the future as so distant from the game I grew up loving that I’m about to reach a tipping point where CFB no longer matters. Sad.

[patrickstewart]

I haven’t watched College football since the Big 10 and SEC pilfered the Big 12 the first time. It flat-out killed the annual Border War game between KU and MU. Even if both schools were having off years you could always look forward to rivalry games. But mean little to the House of Rat. They need more money to cover the cost of the bombs they’ve bee trying to pass off as movies the past few years, your fan traditions be damned.

[paulkeane]

100% agree. I appreciate the fact that people like you are calling this out. If CFB turns into a super league I will not continue watching it.

[cityassembled]

Killing what is special about the sport doesn’t seem like a great long term strategy.

[ぬんぬんビム]

I knew things were going wrong when I heard MSU-Notre Dame wouldn't happen for 9 years. NINE. We've been rivals for 125 years, now we'll only see them once a decade or so, it's ridiculous.

[lbbotpn]

College football is really the only sport I watch anymore, and with all the recent changes I find myself rapidly losing interest. What shocks me is how many college football fans are actually leaning so hard into the changes that will ultimately destroy the sport - with some saying they want college football to be *more* like the NFL. That's a hard no from me.

It looks like I'll have a lot more free time on my hands in upcoming autumns.

[TuxWing]

As far as I am concerned, college football started down this road with the BCS because they refused to consider a real playoff scenario since that would kill 75% or more of the already useless bowl games. Its all about money and ratings. For me, the regular season is the only thing worth watching with "The Game", win or lose, being the last game of value to me. If a 6 and 6 team can get a "eame your bowl here" Bowl game, what is the freaking point. This is the epitome of everyone getting a trophy scenario, but ESPN hands them out like candy even when they have a mediocre season.

[PENS]

When the first wave of conference realignment happened it was made geographical sense, Nebraska to the Big 10, Maryland to the Big, Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC, even Pitt and Syracuse joining the ACC, geographically isn't far.

Now, these realignments aren't even making any sense geographically. Just a bunch of greed is all it is.