[ARETE] Sport and Society - Are you Ready for some Football?

[richard crepeau]

SPORT AND SOCIETY FOR ARETE

JULY 23, 2022



For the past two weeks, the temperatures have been near 100 degrees Fahrenheit across much of the United States. Clearly, it is time for football to take center stage in Sportsworld. Heat, humidity, and football are in the air. The internet, social media, print media, radio, and television are full of little else. American sports fans seemingly cannot get enough football. Every season is now football season.

Two issues have dominated the current intercollegiate football discussions: Conference realignment; and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). Both are basically about money and its subsidiary, greed.

A few weeks ago, the intercollegiate football world was rattled by the announcement that UCLA and USC of the PAC-12 were leaving that conference to join their natural geographic partners of what was once actually the Big Ten. This creates a coast-to-coast entity that will blanket the television airwaves from early morning to midnight during the football season. In the process, nearly a century of tradition and generations of rivalries will be tossed to the wind. That is what is called “Progress” in intercollegiate athletics.

This is not the first event of this sort, nor a particularly revolutionary development. The Big Twelve, Big Ten, and SEC have been pursuing bigger television contracts through conference realignment while shattering tradition along the way. The pursuit of new revenue streams has been central to the intercollegiate football world for the past several decades.

What is new is the pursuit of revenue tsunamis rather than mere streams. It is important to note, that these potential tsumanic possibilities are readily available via television contracts; which in turn are enabled by the unquenchable thirst of football fans. That, then in turn, guarantees huge lucrative audiences for those selling an endless stream of merchandise to the viewing public. Is this what economists are referencing when using the term “multiplier effect?”

In recent days, a number of football coaches and athletic directors have offered their wise counsel on these developments. One of the more interesting came from the always insightful Nick Saban of Alabama. He is concerned that the new super conferences will create an elite tier of football teams shutting out those not in the super conferences from competing for a national championship.

Although a nice gesture on the part of the king of Alabama, this concern comes a little too late. Over the last decade or two an elite tier of less than twenty teams and a handful of conferences have dominated intercollegiate football. The new structure will change nothing in the race for national championships.

The other major point of discussion is the arrival of the NIL that allows college athletes to capitalize financially on their fame, or simply for their services. This development has accelerated since the Supreme Court opened the endorsement field to college athletes with its decision in the Alston Case, thus discarding the NCAA’s claim that college athletes must be amateurs.

Where and how this decision will ultimately impact intercollegiate athletics remains to be seen. One thing is clear. College athletes can accrue income from their NIL without losing their eligibility to play intercollegiate sports. For athletes in some sports, the scale of income seems likely to be greater than others.

Nick Saban said recently that Alabama football players have made $3M in the past year and that the Alabama quarterback had accumulated nearly a million dollars. For most, the figure is more modest. Those in non-revenue sports, or those from smaller institutions, will not have as much access to NIL income. Some speculate that NIL money for female athletes will not be as great as for males.

It appears now that the Booster with deep pockets who passed money to athletes under the table may be an endangered species on the campus. Payments now will be above board and will be NIL payments. The new reality has already created a new entity in college sports known as the collective. This refers to a group of donors who pool their money for distribution to athletes. In theory, this pool will not be used as a recruiting tool. Already, coaches have accused one another of departing from that theory.

With some of the numbers being bandied about, I wonder if we are going to be back to the mid-20th century when a college star had to take a pay cut when turning pro.

Some wonder if college athletes will be getting too much money. The Georgia football coach, Kirby Smart raised this question last week. This came not long after Coach Smart signed a ten-year, 112.5M contract. Smart will make $10.25 million this season, with his salary topping out at $12.25 million by 2031. This, of course, can be enhanced by his use of his own NIL.

Smart worries about what a college athlete might do with all that money and if it would affect the quality of play. One might ask what Smart will do with all of his money and what impact it might have on his performance. Smart’s concern about the potential corrupting influence of money on his players is admirable. Given what Georgia is paying Smart to coach, the hope is he can protect his players from the temptations of corruption.

College football has been a circus for at least a hundred years, and the beauty is that there has been an endless parade of novelty acts joining the circus over the years. This season apparently will not disappoint.

Those who run the circus are the gift that keeps on giving.

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don’t have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.



Copyright 2022 by Richard C. Crepeau



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