The World of College Football

[kreed5120]

30 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

 

I think there is still value in college athletics as it keeps alumni engaged, enhances the college experience, and provides marketing for the University. 

 

All of this said, the costs have got out of hand. I get why the Nick Saban's and Urban Meyer's of the world made what they did. Their programs were highly profitable and they were highly successful.

 

I don't think athletics necessarily needs to turn a profit, but it also shouldn't be financially crippling schools. IMO no MAC football coach is worth $600K+, yet you have multiple making $1M+. They're only able to command that because MAC Universities, along with most of the G5, are heavily subsidizing athletic departments to the tune of ~$25M+/year. If that subsidy was something more manageable, let's say $10 million, staffing costs across all sports and building costs would be greatly reduced.

Edited August 29 by kreed5120

[exit322]

54 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I think there is still value in college athletics as it keeps alumni engaged, enhances the college experience, and provides marketing for the University. 

 

All of this said, the costs have got out of hand. I get why the Nick Saban's and Urban Meyer's of the world made what they did. Their programs were highly profitable and they were highly successful.

 

I don't think athletics necessarily needs to turn a profit, but it also shouldn't be financially crippling schools. IMO no MAC football coach is worth $600K+, yet you have multiple making $1M+. They're only able to command that because MAC Universities, along with most of the G5, are heavily subsidizing athletic departments to the tune of ~$25M+/year. If that subsidy was something more manageable, let's say $10 million, staffing costs across all sports and building costs would be greatly reduced.

 

Yes, yes, and yes.  And one more yes

[Blue & Gold]

https://thecollegefrontoffice.substack.com/p/college-sports-needs-a-price-for?r=22guzg

[Blue & Gold]

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

The bottom half of the teams are genius. Per Google for FY2024-25, here is the media payout per school: 

Ohio State: ~$91.55 million (highest, boosted by postseason performance)

Penn State: ~$88.9 million

Next 14 Fully Vested Members: $76 million to $80 million each

Oregon: ~$48M

Washington: ~$46M

 

There are ~20-40 teams from that graphic that will likely break away from the NCAA to form their own super league at some point. Most of the Big Ten teams will not be part of that "cool club". When they remain in the NCAA with the rest of us peasants, they'll have ample resources to outspend the Akron's of the world. Effectively, they're playing the long game. Well done. 

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

Now do MLB...

[Blue & Gold]

To be fair this was last week in the rain. But all things considered we did awfully well in comparison.

Edited September 17 by Blue & Gold

[72 Roo]

This attendance was horrible for a school as steeped in history as Pitt. It gives me hope that we will overcome our attendance issues in the years to come because we continue to make incremental improvements to the program and the event experience.

[exit322]

19 minutes ago, 72 Roo said:

This attendance was horrible for a school as steeped in history as Pitt. It gives me hope that we will overcome our attendance issues in the years to come because we continue to make incremental improvements to the program and the event experience.

 

I'm not sure the Game 1 event experience improvements were incremental, honestly. It was a big shift.

[UAZipster0305]

3 hours ago, 72 Roo said:

This attendance was horrible for a school as steeped in history as Pitt. It gives me hope that we will overcome our attendance issues in the years to come because we continue to make incremental improvements to the program and the event experience.

Now move the game from Thursday to Tuesday night and add a much earlier sunset, much colder temperatures, and stronger potential for bad weather, and that's the attendance handicap created by MACtion.

 

Also, tonight's contest between Pitt and Syracuse is a bit of a Haley's comet moment in terms of its rarity...it is a game of P4/5 teams that have both been defeated by the Zips! 🤘💪

[exit322]

1 minute ago, UAZipster0305 said:

Now move the game from Thursday to Tuesday night and add a much earlier sunset, much colder temperatures, and stronger potential for bad weather, and that's the attendance handicap created by MACtion.

 

But but but TV money.  Never mind you can't build a fan base because fans can not come to all the games...so they just don't come to any.

[GP1]

7 hours ago, exit322 said:

 

But but but TV money.  Never mind you can't build a fan base because fans can not come to all the games...so they just don't come to any.

Exposure.......

[GP1]

11 hours ago, 72 Roo said:

This attendance was horrible for a school as steeped in history as Pitt.

I guess Pitt is steeped in history in the way a Lipton tea bag has been soaking in a glass of pee for a month. I read an article about the history of Pitt football about 10 years ago. At that point Pitt had winning records in only 38% of seasons in their history. It's a historically horrible program deserving of low attendance. The only thing making them interesting now is the ability to schedule more cupcakes at the beginning of the year and playing in the ACC that allows for lots of average teams to make a bowl. 

[exit322]

13 minutes ago, GP1 said:

Exposure.......

 

Yes.  Playing when fans can't make it to games means you don't get any where it matters.

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, GP1 said:

I guess Pitt is steeped in history in the way a Lipton tea bag has been soaking in a glass of pee for a month. I read an article about the history of Pitt football about 10 years ago. At that point Pitt had winning records in only 38% of seasons in their history. It's a historically horrible program deserving of low attendance. The only thing making them interesting now is the ability to schedule more cupcakes at the beginning of the year and playing in the ACC that allows for lots of average teams to make a bowl. 

 

I suppose a terrible history is still history. Just like Akron is a storied FBS program. The story is just how not to run a program.

[zippy5]

18 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

To be fair this was last week in the rain. But all things considered we did awfully well in comparison.

This is going viral and the team entered the field as fans were in the concourse and not allowed in seats yet because of a lightning delay. A bit misleading.

[Blue & Gold]

 

[ZippyRulz]

On 9/18/2026 at 9:56 AM, zippy5 said:

This is going viral and the team entered the field as fans were in the concourse and not allowed in seats yet because of a lightning delay. A bit misleading.

 

if you watch the game highlights you can see the crowd was actually pretty big.

[GP1]

Let's assume the Supreme Court would uphold this part of the law, and it probably wouldn't. But let's assume.  I have a question. What else could these meatheads do that would pay them $5 million per year? $5 million is life-changing money. A head coach could make $50 over ten years. That's not enough?

[GP1]

This seems to be a good place to place this since college football drove changes. Full Ride opened with this yesterday. Part of the bill is it caps the number of teams per conference and requires schools to be an independent for three years after leaving a conference, if my memory is correct.

 

If passed, it would put an end to the Miami rumors unless they can beat the deadline because they won't be independent for three years. It's basically begging schools to not make bad decisions the way the NCAA limited Akron's scholarships in 1986 telling us we would be making a horrible mistake, and we did it anyhow. Akron has provided an encyclopedia worth of bad decisions since 1986. 

 

It gives back power to the NCAA, which is like giving an arsonist matches. Worse, it provides antitrust protection which is like giving the same arsonist a welding torch. It doesn't force membership in the NCAA, which means the P4 conferences could leave whenever they wanted. Actually, anyone could leave whenever they wanted. 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/senate-passes-protect-college-sports-act-decisive-vote

Edited Wednesday at 12:22 PM by GP1

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, GP1 said:

This seems to be a good place to place this since college football drove changes. Full Ride opened with this yesterday. Part of the bill is it caps the number of teams per conference and requires schools to be an independent for three years after leaving a conference, if my memory is correct.

 

If passed, it would put an end to the Miami rumors unless they can beat the deadline because they won't be independent for three years. It's basically begging schools to not make bad decisions the way the NCAA limited Akron's scholarships in 1986 telling us we would be making a horrible mistake, and we did it anyhow. Akron has provided an encyclopedia worth of bad decisions since 1986. 

 

It gives back power to the NCAA, which is like giving an arsonist matches. Worse, it provides antitrust protection which is like giving the same arsonist a welding torch. It doesn't force membership in the NCAA, which means the P4 conferences could leave whenever they wanted. Actually, anyone could leave whenever they wanted. 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/senate-passes-protect-college-sports-act-decisive-vote

 

I feel the part worth pointing out that is most applicable to Akron is it limits players to only 1 transfer. Any additional transfers require a player to sit out 1 year. This should in theory reduce the number of transfers we see in all sports.

[GP1]

8 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I feel the part worth pointing out that is most applicable to Akron is it limits players to only 1 transfer. Any additional transfers require a player to sit out 1 year. This should in theory reduce the number of transfers we see in all sports.

I think this is going to make it hard for players making a lot of money to transfer for playing time. The salary cap will restrict the potential opportunities. What I don't know yet is what is the school's responsibility to the player if they cut him?

[AkronAlumnus]

5 minutes ago, GP1 said:

I think this is going to make it hard for players making a lot of money to transfer for playing time. The salary cap will restrict the potential opportunities. What I don't know yet is what is the school's responsibility to the player if they cut him?

Valid point, I hadn't thought about that.  They need to do something bc college sports is borderline unwatchable anymore. 

[GP1]

4 minutes ago, AkronAlumnus said:

Valid point, I hadn't thought about that.  They need to do something bc college sports is borderline unwatchable anymore. 

I respectfully disagree. There are plenty of very competitive games on every week. Teams that used to stink can now get good. It's still the most unpredictable sport on TV other than Jai Alai, which the South Florida organized crime basically runs. 

 

What I find difficult are the 3.5+ hour games, long halftimes, endless replays and now ESPN Game Day. I'm a bit sick of the players themselves   I've seen enough celebration dances from guys catching three yard outs on their own 28. The Fox pregame show is actually interesting and doesn't have Pat McAfee doing his pro wrestling routine for three hours. I'm Pat McAfeed out. I'm tired of television, gambling apps and beer companies making all the decisions. 

 

What I'm starting to find interesting is the use of the noon start to highlight big games. It used to be the ghetto spot for the worst games. Now the games are compelling against high ranking teams. I wonder if they are experimenting with early starts because they a afraid of the NFL. What the NFL wants, it gets. They may want Saturday primetime. If they get it, it will crush prime time college football on Saturday. 

[kreed5120]

If the NFL wasn't banned from playing football on Fridays and Saturdays they would have been doing it for decades by now. I can't see them getting a filibuster majority to overturn the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.