The future of college football is a hot topic around sport with all the changes observed recently: the introduction of NILthe transfer portal and major conference realignments have the power to think about the future.
Up to the southern mouth inclusive. Longtime SEC member Paul Finebaum just made a very surprising prediction about not only where college football is headed, but where it stands today.
Not a sustainable model
“It’s not just the future, it’s also the present,” Finebaum said.
“And I read something this weekend by Jack Swarbrick of our Ladyrespected individual – very respected – and he said he believed the NCAA’s current Power Five structure would be obsolete by the mid-2030s.
“It’s 10 years away. I think it’s very, very generous. I don’t think it’s a sustainable model that will last a few more years.
“Now, it’s impossible to predict the breakup of an organization like this because it’s moving so slowly. But it’s going to fall apart. The NCAA is on its last legs. And I think college football, such as we know it, is at its peak. last breath.”
What does it mean?
College football has always been a powerhouse sport, but that power grows each year with the advent of NIL rules and ever-larger contracts with broadcasters.
The biggest conferences attract hundreds of millions of dollars each season in television money, and when you add in College football Playoff money, that total is expected to reach into the billions once the expansion finally happens.
Only a few schools will have access to this kind of income. And when the gap between the top and the middle widens enough, those at the top will eventually decide to go their own way.
What about the NCAA?
This could mean the NCAA ceases to have any authority over big-time college football.
It has been a difficult year for the agency, particularly due to its inability to control the schedule and the emergence of NIL rules across the country. That was left to state governments, and potentially Congress.
But what real use does big-time college football have for the NCAA now? It is said that the recent expansion of the SEC is actually the first step in a long process of consolidation that results in a single league. Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney said as much recently.
Larger programs might prefer to form their own association and enjoy complete autonomy similar to the now abandoned idea of the European Football Super League.
Notably, as one athletic director told ESPN, “The NCAA has essentially collapsed, and it just hasn’t been recognized yet.”
