College football is America’s second most popular sport behind the National Football League.
But the sport’s in the middle of a season of change, and the worst is yet to come.
And College football is about to change forever because of this secret document.
College football’s uncertain future
Thanks to a Supreme Court decision allowing players to make money off their name, image, and likeness, the transfer portal that allows for complete freedom of player movement, and big money TV contracts facilitating a massive round of conference realignment, college football is undergoing massive change.
The Big Ten now has 18 teams, and a league formerly anchored in the Midwest now stretches from Washington, D.C. to Seattle, Washington.
The PAC 12 no longer exists.
The Atlantic Coast Conference recently admitted two teams from California and one from Texas.
Players change schools like they change socks and chase the highest bidder.
The upheaval was enough to cause legendary seven-time national championship-winning head coach Nick Saban to throw up his hands in disgust and retire.
Proposal for total revamp
Those changes were minor compared to what may lie ahead.
Sportico reported that a collective called College Sports Tomorrow (CST) sought to reorganize college football into an 80-team super league by leaving the NCAA and forming what would become a minor professional league, complete with a collective bargaining agreement with the players, direct compensation from the school to the athletes, a 16-team playoff, and the ability of lower-level teams to move up like in European soccer.
“College Sports Tomorrow (CST), a collection of U.S. sports team owners, executives and college administrators, has spent months trying to distill the current upheaval in intercollegiate athletics into an entirely new business model. The group includes Devils/Sixers owner David Blitzer, NFL executive Brian Rolapp, Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud and TurnkeyZRG chairman and CEO Len Perna,” Sportico reported.
Sportico revealed the existence of a slide deck breaking down how CST would eliminate the current conference structure and realign all the schools from what is known as the “power 5” conferences and Notre Dame along with the ten biggest “group of 5” – or “mid major” conferences into a seven-division super league modeled in the NFL.
College Sports Tomorrow has proposed a Super League for college football.
Could this work? pic.twitter.com/XQirak6aPB
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) April 17, 2024
Will this kill interest in college football?
The appeal of college football is the history and tradition of knowing your school is going to play the same rivals it did 100 years ago.
Since the players can only stay for a maximum of four years, the brand is the name on the front of the jersey as opposed to the name on the back of the jersey.
College football used to be about yearly rivalry games and winning your conference to play in a major bowl game.
Every regular season game meant something because one poorly-timed loss could knock a team out of national championship contention.
Now, the sport is turning into the NFL with unlimited free agency, and the regular season is devoid of any meaning as the playoff expansion means teams with three – and potentially four losses – will play for a title.
If Americans want the structure of professional football, they already have the NFL.
Will they tolerate a lesser version on Saturdays if there is no longer any meaningful difference between the pro and college game?
