Let’s fix college sports.
It is broken. It has been broken for some time, ever since the rise of the NFL into such a money-focused form of entertainment. For that, we should blame or praise Jerry Jones, but in doing so would miss the point of our piece. The point is that the NFL is a professional league. Up until recently, it was the ONLY professional league. Other leagues haven’t fared as well.
I will make a distinction here for the Canadian Football League, which, while it indeed uses a football, feels like a different game. Its draw isn’t as great as the NFL.
We have Spring Professional football now! Great! Name a team. Name a player on a team if you’re not related to them or work for them. Same goes for Arena football, which is fun but again “not football”.
The NBA has the G-League plus AAU basketball. College basketball, while popular in March, is almost like sighting the Easter Bunny. Players don’t stay at college for degrees if they are good. They are smart enough to get into the show, or to take their talents overseas where there are a wealth of places wanting to see professional basketball.
Baseball has an extremely robust minor league system that tracks people from high school to their 40s in various classifications.
Hockey has several different minor leagues and the junior hockey level, where people develop skills.
But there is no minor league in football.
Except that there is. It’s on college campuses, bolstered by alumni and ticket sales and TV revenue, wrapped up in college tradition. But the rise of two things: the transfer portal and NIL deals, have made college almost an afterthought.
If you are a good enough player, where are you going to play? At a school with a great academic reputation, or the place that gives you the most money?
If you are a good enough player, where are you going to play? A school that has a role you can step into and snipe from a backup, or one where you’ll ride the bench?
Specifically for football, I believe that universities should divest themselves of their programs and admit that they are minor leagues for the NFL.
“All universities?” Yep. Just think of the Title IX savings that could be achieved by not having to support a large men-only program. Now if a university wants to associate itself with an entity that RUNS a minor league football team, I see no problem with that. But for most players in large football schools, their coursework is woven around specific majors specifically so they have maximal time to play football instead of study.
That way players can get paid, like in the minors in any other sport.
That way people can enjoy the thrill of Christians v. Lions just like in the Rome of old.
That way we can keep our bread and circuses at arms’ length from our bodies of learning.
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