In Reply to: What do we know about human nature so far? posted by ClockBlocker on July 10, 2024 at 09:43:34
Your post is pretty deep and maybe I’m missing some context because I don’t read anything Deploable vomits out, but I still think your conclusions are outdated and incorrect.
In 2024 and on a going forward basis, there is very little difference between crb and the NFL. People don’t take their kids to Stanford to watch a football game because they want their kids to enroll there. To the extent anyone does attend a Stanford game it’s because they live in PA or are an alum. Nobody from NY is flying out to PA to see a Stanford game; and I assure you thousands of parents would love to send their kids to Stanford.
The college model and the NFL are almost identical. People in Nebraska are Cornhusker fans, just like people in Dallas as Cowboy fans. Logistics overwhelmingly influence fandom. Additionally, most people who attend Nebraska or UCLA or almost any college are people from that general vicinity. You become a fan of your local, for the vast majority of people. Yes, there are certain brands that have a national fan base, but that’s typically tied to success and for the most part, success is fleeting. That being said it’s less stochastic in college, ohionstate, Bama, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Michigan, sc are almost always good. Therefore, like the Steelers, cowboys and packers, they have a more national base.
College player are now paid handsomely. That facade has been torn down and people don’t see a difference between the two anymore. About the only difference is that oftentimes in college ball there as massive mismatches think UCLA playing a HBCU and you never see anything like that in the NFL. You also don’t seem to have a grasp as to how much community outreach NFL franchises do. You go to any fundraiser in NYC and the professional franchise (oftentimes multiple) are heavily involved.
There really is no ifs ands or buts about this anymore: college football is NFL lite. It will become more structured in the future as I’ve written here dozens of times, but we are there. The final step will be the bifurcation of the Premier League and Championship League. In my opinion, UCLA is right on the cusp, however, I am not bullish on our future. This chasm will be painful to the athletic departments for the teams that don’t make the Premier League because the economic delta will be brutal.