I’m simply typing what everyone is thinking, it’s time to restore college football to the glory it once held, and make it great again. It’ll take more than this blog to make it happen, but there are two main areas that need to be addressed in order to return the sport to where it once was!
First, let’s fix the Transfer Portal
Second, time to prevent players from “opting out” of bowl games
Let’s start with the biggest issue, the Transfer Portal!. Want to know who the top college football program will be next year….well good luck, you’ll have to wait a couple months to get a gauge because the Transfer Portal is still open. We all know it, it’s gotten to the point where players are joining their 4th or 5th schools. Sure, we can partially blame the extra year players received during covid, but at the end of the day we know the new NIL rules are the real reason. At the end of every college football season, the best players who still have eligibility start to get interest from the biggest schools (and their boosters) with the idea of getting them to transfer. And thanks to the incompetence of the NCAA (just like every governing body) there are no rules in place to maintain the integrity of the sport. Players can jump from team to team with weak excuses on why the transfer was necessary.
Look at JT Daniels, started his career at USC in 2018 and has now player for USC (2 Seasons), Georgia (2 Season), West Virginia, and Rice without ever sitting out a year. No offense to him, but he wasn’t transferring for medical hardships, he was searching out the best opportunity for him.
So how do we fix it? Honestly it’s simple, regardless of when a player is eligible, if they transfer schools, they aren’t eligible to receive 50% of their NIL Money until they graduate from said school. They get 50% up front and then the rest when they graduate. In theory, this prevents players from transferring multiple times because they won’t get paid in full if they don’t graduate from the school.
Next, let’s talk about the “opting out” of bowl games because players are trying to prepare for the draft or protect themselves. I get it, those players expected to be taken high in the draft have a lot to lose in case they get injured, but that thought also diminishes the fan experience for bowl games. Look no further that this years Orange bowl to see why this needs to be fixed. The majority of FSU’s starters opted out of the game, which led to them losing 63-3 to Georgia. The Orange Bowl used to be a prestigious game for players, but if it’s not for the National Title, players don’t care. Going forward, fans will delay buying tickets (or just not buy) because they players they want to see are on the sidelines. These games should make money for the universities but if fans won’t attend, the Orange Bowl may as well be the “Autozone Liberty Bowl”
So how do we fix it? Simple, players get paid 50% of their NIL Money before the season, and the other 50% after the play in the bowl game. Will this prevent every player from “opting out”, probably not, but some of these NIL deals are so valuable, 50% might be worth close to what a 3rd or 4th round pick will make in year 1 in the NFL. The goal is simply to make Opting Out more painful on the wallet for those players, which will also make the game more exciting for the fans.
NCAA take note, it’s time to make College Football Great Again!.
