Top 3 Gripes w/ College Athletics Today

[Jer]

As we hit the final day of major college athletics until fall, I thought it would be a good time to ask this.

We have threads on each of these topics, and every decently long thread has one or more sub streams or conversations about issues, opinions, etc that circle back to semi-unrelated "gripes". I'm interested in seeing what people would choose if they could say 3 things they dislike, hate, is turning them off, etc the most with college athletics. I'm guessing NIL will be on the vast majority of lists so if you want to add a 4th, that's ok.

What are your 3 biggest "gripes" or "old man takes" on college athletics today.

A Few Examples:

• Selling alcohol
• Commercials
• Length of games
• Black uniforms
• Game times
• NIL (will be nearly universal)
• Change from student-first to semi-pro
• Open transfers
• Realignment (changes to who we play)
• Number of games or length of season
• Playoff construct
• March Madness construct
• Number of scholarships
• Recruiting process
• Ranking systems (AP, CFP, Coaches, etc)
• Crowd trends
• Streaming options, setup, etc
• Divisions vs Pods vs ?
• Etc

To help, this is mine...

I'm baking NIL into it so that is just a table stake hate for me.

1 - Football O/D Line Pre-Snap - I hate the amount of false start inducing movements and pre-snap hijinks now allowed on the defensive side when the offensive side can't even fart. I don't know the solution, I just hate seeing Offensive false starts because they blink when a LB starts running and lunging at them pre-snap.

2 - Realignment - Who we play and how often we play them used to be one of the most foundational aspects of fandom. Emotions were tied to each of your conference foes because of history. Rivalries should always be natural, not contrived (like Iowa vs Nebraska on Black Friday).

3 - Sport/Season Alignment - This is selfish and I know not practical for many reasons, but I'd love it if college football was August to January (add 2 regular season games maybe). Once that ended, basketball would then start and finish in late May. Those are the only sports I really care about and it seems like you miss part of the joy of BB starting when FB is still going with a lot on the line, and I hate the stretch from MBB to FB starting again.

 

[DukeofStratford]

1-Change from student-first to semi-pro
2-Open transfers
3-Streaming options, setup, etc

 

[Letterkenny]

1. NIL (If it was actually NIL, it would be fine, but it's not)
2. Realignment
3. Change from student first to semi-pro. (I find myself missing the actual amateur athletes where they basically slummed it with the rest of the students, then were stars on game day. Making these guys take classes while they're being paid $1mill+ seems like an ever dumber charade than ever).

 

[Prone2Clone]

• Open transfers/portal timing
• NIL
• Realignment

Actually maybe there is just one (UNMITIGATED GREED) with these three as sub-bullets beneath.

 

[Jer]

I'm going outside the box a bit on the first and third ones.

I'm baking NIL into it so that is just a table stake hate for me.

1 - Football O/D Line Pre-Snap - I hate the amount of false start inducing movements and pre-snap hijinks now allowed on the defensive side when the offensive side can't even fart. I don't know the solution, I just hate seeing Offensive false starts because they blink when a LB starts running and lunging at them pre-snap.

2 - Realignment - Who we play and how often we play them used to be one of the most foundational aspects of fandom. Emotions were tied to each of your conference foes because of history. Rivalries should always be natural, not contrived (like Iowa vs Nebraska on Black Friday).

3 - Sport/Season Alignment - This is selfish and I know not practical for many reasons, but I'd love it if college football was August to January (add 2 regular season games maybe). Once that ended, basketball would then start and finish in late May. Those are the only sports I really care about and it seems like you miss part of the joy of BB starting when FB is still going with a lot on the line, and I hate the stretch from MBB to FB starting again.

 

[CycloneDaddy]

NIL
# of reviews in basketball
football game length

 

[heitclone]

Immediate eligibility after transferring is my"get off my lawn" type of deal. From a basketball standpoint, transfers aren't developing like they used to, that sit out year changed some players entire career. The free agency aspect of all of this has led to the quality of basketball we watch keep getting worse.

 

[Cyclonsin]

1. Realignment (specifically non-regional leagues that are way too big)
2. Increased rarity of 4-year players
3. The CFP / diminished value of bowl season

 

[ClubCy]

Touchdown. Commercial. Kickoff. Commercial.

 

[Kinch]

1. University of Iowa
2. Greg Sankey
3. Tavern Hoks

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I'll give 4 since it's allowed

My main reason is the same as most everyone's. NIL - I'm for players being able to profit off their NIL, but that's not the current situation. It's leading to the costs being passed down to the fans at an increased rate.

1. We don't get a chance to watch players develop and grow from 'little knowns' to fan favorites

2. Realignment - non regional conferences suck compared to what we had

2. The major broadcasters of sports being so heavily invested in the success of two conferences that we feel obliged to root for conference rivals. It just feels dirty. It has led to a conference **** measuring contest.

 

[cyfanatic]

My top 3 are just selfish and nostalgic...I FAVOR anything that benefits the athlete in college. But again, if being selfish/nostalgic:

1. open transfers suck! I miss knowing players on teams that I didn't even follow! If a freshman was on the basketball court...I miss knowing we will see him develop for at least 2 more seasons at that school. I never rooted for UNC or Duke or the old-school Georgetowns...but I felt like I knew their teams well because players were there 3 seasons...but I am happy the young adults/athletes are getting the benefits they are today even if it messes with my enjoyment.

2. realignment sucks! Yeah...it is all about the money that hopefully filters to the athletes but the Big 8 was so much fun when I was a kid! I miss that...

3. game times/schedules! It was great to be in a Wednesday/Saturday routine for basketball. Almost like we could schedule things around when the men were going to be on TV. Now I have to look at the schedule almost daily to make sure I am not missing a game.

Again, all selfish ideas that impact my life/enjoyment...I get it.

 

[3TrueFans]

Commercials are basically my top problem with anything.

 

[MeowingCows]

Commercials are basically my top problem with anything.

Touchdown - commercial - kickoff - commercial. Full 3:30 breaks for both, of course.

 

[FarmerCy1]

1- NIL. Like others, I really don’t care about actual NIL, but what we have isn’t it- it’s pay to play masquerading as NIL. Off of that one as well- seeing people half my age complain about making twice as much as I do what the AD demands more money.

2- Alcohol sales. This for me is hand in hand with the first one. If the AD is going to ask for more money, they can at least do something other than cry about paying the players then saying “oh, by the way ticket prices are going up 10% because of it”. I get that the AD isn’t going to make much off of the sales, but by selling Ames Lager at Hilton and JTS, the AD is at least saying “we don’t agree with this, but since you’re being asked to give up more money, we’re going to make this small token of a change in the spirit of mutual sacrifice”. Instead, we just get called slobs

3- Realignment. I’m kinda of combining this this game times. It’s annoying to see ESPN try to create rivalries that didn’t exist before then try to make it sound super important. Along the lines of game times since I feel like realignment caused the changes in game times. I know it’s a personal choice, but spending 12+ hours in Ames is, well a long day. Night games used to be special. Having the majority of conference games be at night takes away from that. Getting home at 1 AM Sunday also sucks.

4- Gameday host. Just no- it doesn’t add anything to the atmosphere and is a waste of money (as little as it costs, we’re told the AD REALLY needs all the cash it can spare to pay players, so just get rid of this role)

 

[PSYclone22]

1. Lame Mascots - give me less Cardinals and Wildcats and Tigers and give me more Chimaeras and Space Lasers and WMDs
2. Nepotism in coaching and recruiting - looking at you Brian Ferentz and Billy Fennelly and all the McCaffrey kids
3. Lack of equestrian sports - adding polo and equestrian would probably lead to more nepo kids getting into college for free but add some diversity to recruiting (the horses) and also an opportunity for Vet Med to get involved.

 

[StevieISU23]

Touchdown. Commercial. Kickoff. Commercial.

Close--

Touchdown. Commercial.
Review of obvious TD. Commercial
PAT. Commercial
Kickoff. Commercial

 

[FinalFourCy]

The continued shoehorning of big business into the amateur model

It’s uncontrollably bursting at the seams.

Better to intentionally change to an employment era

Please, death to fake amateurism

 

[ScottyP]

1. Conference re-alignment: rivalries getting eliminated, wacky game times, not even sure who is in conference, threat of being left in the dust
2. NIL - pressure to donate, huge amounts being thrown around, no regulation, basically pay-for-play instead of true NIL
3. Change from student-first to semi-pro - I'm not even sure if these athletes even attend class anymore. Personally, it feels like it de-values my own degree in a way. Athletes taking a pay cut to go to the NBA/NFL/etc. For a little while, there were college football quarterbacks who were making more money in NIL than Jalen Hurts. Heck, Brock Purdy might be getting less right now than most P5 QBs.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Media controlling the sport
NIL that is actually pay for play
Conference realignment