Ad dollars ruin everything. It ruined the internet, and now it is ruining amateur athletics and academics. I'm not sure how to fix it, but I suspect we'll need some regulatory answers. Just like some places have laws to prevent a billboard being built in a place that harms others, we shouldn't enable advertisers to harm others in other realms.
Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
11–20 of 71 posts
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#12This conference realignment is obviously a bad outcome. The leaders of the universities and American academia are delivering very poor results: education is too expensive, academic freedom is limited by outsiders, and now this. What good do the conference realignments do for anyone? Who is happy or better off? The Big 10, in particular, used to be both an athletic association and an academic one, sharing resources be…
What was the norm for generations was and has always been laughable. College football has been a cancer for academia, at first fed by the deep pockets of alumni who were the real audience. The business side grew up and realized that tv rights were an even bigger prize, but along the way somehow failed to recognize that they were greasing the wheels of their money machine with the distant hopes of a pro career held by academically underqualified students with athletic gifts, most of whom either fail to get a diploma, succeed in getting long term injuries, or both. The university priorities get turned upside down and season-winning coaches win the compensation lottery too.
It’s disgusting and always has been. Gooooo fighting whatevers!
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#13[deleted]
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#14TFA mentioned Kansas (where I sit typing this comment) as potentially losing its importance (such as it is) in college football.
If it turns out that way, it won't just be disappointing for the KU football program; recent action by the program will make it disastrous.
What action? Huge scale reconstruction, of the football portion of the KU campus. As I type, the current football stadium is being demolished, to make way for a bigger and better (and more expensive) stadium, within a fabulous and exciting "Gateway District".
This was already IMO a bad bet, on continuing KU football's recent relative success; if things go the way TFA projects, catastrophic failure could occur regardless of win-loss success.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#15This conference realignment is obviously a bad outcome. The leaders of the universities and American academia are delivering very poor results: education is too expensive, academic freedom is limited by outsiders, and now this. What good do the conference realignments do for anyone? Who is happy or better off? The Big 10, in particular, used to be both an athletic association and an academic one, sharing resources be…
As a thought, faith has been lost in institutions, and society in general, and rightly so in many respects. But I think instead of feeling agency to fix the issues, people feel they have to either capitulate, break the system or work outside it entirely.
I feel we forget, or don't teach, the fact that we built all of this, and for the purpose of our own benefit. Society and institutions have become antagonists in people's minds, rather than the enabler and provider that it is supposed to be.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#16These “students” should be allowed to delay their academic studies until they’re done playing. Most of them won’t make the NFL, so they’re stuck with whatever education they can get while they’re not busy getting CTE.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#17Oh cnn you garbage site: “ We apologize, but your web browser is configured in such a way that it is preventing this site from implementing required components that protect your privacy and allow you to view and change your privacy settings. This functionality is required for privacy legislation in your region.”
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#18Now that Stanford and Cal are in the ACC, there will be vastly more air travel, having environmental impact and lost time for academic study, which these two universities actually care about, and consequent fatigue for the players. Zoom classes on the long flights, or sleep? Same for other left (over) coast teams, but less impact.
I’m guessing that you grossly underestimate the academic support for athletes. 1. Most athletes take fewer and easier classes during their season, or the main part of their season. Missing credit hours can be made up for during the summer, which sometimes have easier classes. 2. Many athletes take easier majors in general. 3. Athletes have access to free tutors. Sometimes these tutors help, sometimes they help a lot…
Maybe OP, despite the article being about college football, was considering how the realignment might affect athletes in other sports?
For college football, it’s only ~12 games a season and they typically are played at or near the weekend. But for many other sports, the schedule is heavier and played throughout the week.
I believe, as maybe OP did, the college football realignment (along with its many other faults) will potentially more detrimental to the athletes in other sports.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#19As an outsider with close to zero knowledge of American football, the spectacle of college athletics seems bizarre. I mean, I understand the old principle of _mens sana in corpore sano_ but it’s a stretch to imagine college athletics serving that goal for all but a very few students. I don’t doubt that the system has produced some academic success stories but it must be the exceptional case. Instead, the whole system bears the taint of over involvement of parties with financial incentives that have nothing to do with the mission of the academy.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#20These “students” should be allowed to delay their academic studies until they’re done playing. Most of them won’t make the NFL, so they’re stuck with whatever education they can get while they’re not busy getting CTE.
While not quite the same thing, most schools will allow football players to finish their degrees after their football eligibility has expired. Given the amount of money live sports generates due to being one of the few places advertisers can be guaranteed an audience, schools that used to be stingy with limiting scholarship money to what was required by the NCAA, can now be very generous. But yes, this isn't quite the same as letting players focus on football first and then work through their degrees once their playing career is over.