Example #1: ESPN Host ripping his almamateur, Oklahoma fans for no fan support
Example #2: Notre Dame Head Coach ripping home fans for no support
https://x.com/TheFieldOf68/status/1891371936355160098
Both of these teams are struggling. But im sure theres many more examples of this across college sports, getting butts in seats
This topic could also be what a mistake it was Oklahoma to leave the Big12. Across alot of their programs, they seem to be very average compared to the rest of the SEC
Oklahoma could very well drift into obscurity like Nebraska did.
Apparently this has been a trend since the pandemic, there’s been several articles about it. I think some things has pointed towards people not wanting to go to live events for fear of COVID but it’s been 5 years and nobody cares anymore, that’s definitely not it. Ultimately it has to be cost of living. Most people don’t have a lot of disposable income to throw around and the first thing that is cut will be live entertainment. Also TV contracts definitely play a part. Back in the day you could probably only see a handful of games on TV. Now every single game is streamed on ESPN+ at a minimum. Why not just stay home and save some money?!
NIL is killing fan interest. It’s not college sports anymore. It’s a glorified minor pro league. When these college players are making more money than the fans and the schools keep wanting the fans to pay more for them you get what we are seeing. It will get worse.
I am a former season ticket holder in football up until Levine. I had season tickets with Penders as well. I go to maybe 1 football game and a couple basketball games a year. I have 2 degrees from UH and about to start my third. I just don’t feel that passion anymore. Covid helped me feel better about not going. The athletes making more than me made it a lot easier. I watch it on tv every time I can. And I get to park for free in my garage, use my clean bathroom, eat my food, drink my drinks. If there is a tv timeout, I can check out another game. I can watch 4 on the screen at once with YouTube. It is just easier at home. I don’t have to commute the hour there and back and I never sit in traffic.
The NIL thing has caused me to watch the Texans more. If I want to watch high paid athletes, might as well watch the most talented.
Go to basketball game? Or buy eggs?
And its not just NIL. Hell every player becomes a free agent every year. How any school not in the P4 has any fan support is beyond me. Any good player they have is gone every year. Even P4 teams who have breakout stars suddenly have kids acting like they have Boras as an agent. Shopping for the highest bidder. This is Unsustainable IMHO. Yes we all love how the Coogs men’s basketball is doing. BUT we all know the RUN IT BACK tweets all are because these players threatened leaving until they got paid,
Maybe, im missing the boat here but how in the world is the NIL + Expanded Playoffs in BOTH basketball and football any worse than the BCS era when the voters had “their 2 championship participants” picked from a shortlist BEFORE the season even started.
In THIS era, ANYONE can win…as long as you win it ON THE FIELD OR COURT.
If anything, the NIL/Transfer era BREAKS UP dynasties, like Alabama, who can no longer afford to stock pile 5 stars 3 deep at multiple positions…they are now distributed to other schools!
To me, the BCS Era was the Dark Ages!
The high cost is certainly a major factor.
The NIL/Portal era isn’t just affecting the traditional powers. It’s impacting almost everyone. How in the world are dedicated fans supposed to invest in a team and the personnel on the team when they are 1 year rentals? It’s just hard to do that and get those fringe fans or longtime dedicated fans to stick to showing up each game when the roster is completely flipped over.
We are fortunate here at UH to still be watching Roberts, Sharp, TA, and Javier in their 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th years. People tend to develop relationships with players from a distance when they see them for multiple years. It’s hard to do that now, so the investment on a personal level is lacking.
Sure, the odds to compete have gone up for other schools but it isn’t all about that.
The ones whining and the ones playing are getting paid so who cares? They may want more fans in so they can hit their bonuses but like y’all have said it’s hard to develop that passion cause these guys are just passing through unless you pay them more to stay and we have real world problems than to pay folks already there getting the best of everything
That’s the transfer portal…which was in place before the NIL.
NIL doesn’t create more talented players…it only pays them and bucket #1 is NOT sustainable.
You just need a strong GM that knows how to assemble a team with a strong nucleus
The NIL $$ will be there for the big market schools or schools with unlimited wealth.
Good for the Texas, and Houston types…BAD for tĥe LSU and Alabama types.
Embrace it…WE are the HAVES in this new world which is why we have the #2 Recruiting Class in college basketball in a HIGHLY COMPETITIVE NIL payouts
We just need our collective to ramp up the football side with our embarrassment of riches, on the.bucket #2 side (marketing and corporate/business opportunities in our metro)
2017-2020 - 2735 players transferred.
2021-2023 - 4079 players entered the portal (NIL era and year they stopped making players sit out 1 year)
1 less year and 1300 more transfers. NIL/Portal go hand in hand.
Yes…it will allow US to build a Championship Roster IF
We have a strong nucleus of players with a strong GM that selects our value additions wisely via the portal
In the BCS era, about a dozen teams were allowed to stockpile all of the 5 stars and NOBODY else ever had access to them EVER
Viva the NIL era…it IS the era where the University of Houston can FINALLY win a Championship in Basketball and Football!
We just need to tap into our Bucket #2 potential…as our Basketball team has.
Remember, Shead landed a sweet NIL deal with ExxonMobil…that is just one example
The bigger issue is that we’ve crossed the point where sports are, for many people, better on TV than they are in-person. TV is just an outright better experience for much of the fanbase. It’s most obvious with Football; I can either pay money to fight traffic for however long it takes me and bake in the sun for four hours, or I can stay home and watch the game with a better viewing angle than I’d get in-stadium, better, cheaper, and more accessible food and drink, and a more comfortable, air-conditioned seat. It’s a hard sell, and explains why other entertainment options like concerts aren’t experiencing the same issues.
I remember reading an interesting article some years ago about how the quality of college basketball began to decline in the early 2000s, and now with the portal we don’t have the attraction of seeing teams stay together for a few years and really develop an identity, along with the ability to play better basketball.
I believe the portal has accelerated a decline in quality that had been ongoing for quite some time. Now, I still find the sport enjoyable and love following the Coogs, but the overall quality, from a team perspective, is not great. I don’t know if there’s any way back with the portal set up the way it is.
It still felt like college sports then, like the college part mattered. We could look down on t shirt fans, even if their teams were winners (especially then).
Now it feels like we have t shirt players, and we who have emotional investments in our schools feel like chumps. Mercenaries are taking shortcuts to riches, using our institutions as platforms, that most of us never could have.
I appreciate that Sampson is running one of the last real programs that inspire loyalty and other virtues, and that guys like J’Wan send most of their NIL back to their hometowns.
Overall, things are changing because it’s a commodity. The usual story about why mainline churches are empty is that they tried to be politicized country clubs and abandoned their distinctiveness; people just left to go find the real thing, political or religious (or country club). College sports are abandoning the college thing, and I don’t think it will be long before the reason for spending millions on watching a developmental league will go out with a whimper.
I get the portal making CBB less interesting for 98% of fan bases, but under Sampson, it has near zero effect on us. Which is another reason we are in the golden age.
In 10 years, we’ve lost 2 notable players Mills and Mark. We’ve had 1 one and done.
Guys come here, stay here, and don’t get into trouble. This is the most stable roster you could ever hope for. If/when we turn into a school where 1/3 or 1/2 the team shuffles in and out each year, I will definitely be a lot less interested. As of now I am going to enjoy the ride while it lasts.
That is me for pro sports. I pretty much stopped attending pro stuff 5 years ago. Only pro team I’m still invested in is the Astros. I used to go to 15-20 games a year, didn’t go to a single game last year, and maybe 2 the year ago.
Everything at pro sports is just ridiculously over priced and going up. Not sure when others will finally reach their breaking point, but feels like it has to be soon.
Excellent point. I’m sure there are hundreds of examples out there each year, but the one that stands out for me is AJ Storr for Kansas. 19 points a game at Wisconsin last season at a very efficient clip. He takes that Adidas money bag from KU and he’s a non-factor this year.
Damien Dunn for us last year is another one. There is probably one on every team.
Hurts development and creates this school hopping situation that snowballs.
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