quote:
It will be interesting. How many fans of weaker teams/conferences will still watch socalled college football.
Will younger fans of ACC teams continue to be football fans when their teams are not eligible for championships.

I think this is already happening in a way. I'm a WVU fan and alum, and while I still have season tickets and watch all of their games, I know they will never compete for a national title again. My interest in college football as a whole has really fallen off. Having young kids and getting older may be part of it, but I also feel it's the fact that it's not the sport I grew up with. As power becomes more concentrated I'll probably continue to lose interest.

College football was just different than any other sport, it was unique with great traditions and now what made it great is eroding. Saban had a quote recently about how years ago a team could go 10-2, win a good bowl and you were happy because you had a successful season. Now you'd be left out of the playoff and while you'd go to a "good" bowl, a lot of players would be transferring and opting out and it's a more hollow experience. Also the constant conference shuffling has a real negative impact on fanbases. I know this mainly an SEC board where the fans haven't had to worry about what will happen to their teams, but for a lot of schools around the country, the constant shuffling and worrying about who you will play just gets really old. I've seen it first hand at WVU, we've been dealing this since the ACC raid in 2003.

I was in school when Pat White, Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt, and Pat MacAfee were on the team. Today they'd all leave for a better NIL deal somewhere else or you'd be so scared they'd leave it would be much less enjoyable. You'd see those guys on campus and would shoot the bull with them. Today the players for the most part take all online classes and spend all day at the facility. I know even back in the day most of these guys were playing school so to speak, but they still felt more like a part of the student body and there was a connection with students and fans. Now they're around for a bit without ever really being part of the school and they move on. It is what it is, but it's part of the shift we've all seen.

Change is inevitable, we all know that, but so much seismic activity in a short time can very detrimental to the sport. I always comeback to NASCAR, they were flying high and then changed everything so quickly that it killed the sport. It didn't happen overnight, they still had record ratings when the changes started but soon the crowds and ratings melted away. If CFB becomes a real minor league, it won't die but it will see a negative impact.