To me, and maybe some other people my priorities changed when COVID hit. Then I realized just how much I spent on Iowa State sports could be going to paying bills and helping others out. I know that we are at the bottom of donations in the BIG 12, but they should not raise ticket prices when they are raking in all of the tv money they get. Sorry, I just don't like where college sports are heading!
NIL & Realignment: Change Your Interest?
- Thread starter Cysational
- Start date
I used to follow only ISU for basketball because I can’t stand all the bricks and overall poor play compared to pros.
I’ve always watched tons of college football across all conferences. That’s done now. Both sports now ISU only, why would I ever watch minor league pro sports that are irrationally connected to colleges I have no connection to?
Still a lot of interest in ISU, we’ll see though. Last year I remember watching most of the Ohio St/Michigan game, almost certain I’ll never be interested in something like that again, the sport will contract.
I’ve always watched tons of college football across all conferences. That’s done now. Both sports now ISU only, why would I ever watch minor league pro sports that are irrationally connected to colleges I have no connection to?
Still a lot of interest in ISU, we’ll see though. Last year I remember watching most of the Ohio St/Michigan game, almost certain I’ll never be interested in something like that again, the sport will contract.
- Mar 27, 2006
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Can I ask why this was the final straw? A lot of the things you listed aren't exactly new.
What makes watching a game between two teams with massive brands, huge TV deals and multi-million dollar coaches appealing, but a game between two teams with massive brands, huge TV deals, multi-million dollar coaches, and players who are compensated, completely unappealing?
Was it something you've been building up to for a while?
For me, college football broadcasts were a fantastic accompaniment to autumn Saturday afternoons whether on radio or TV. Less so today with overt pay, loss of traditions and regionality. TPTB are really screwing the pooch. Severe lack of leadership IMO.
I’ve never thought about player compensation when watching college football. Are people watching and thinking “ yeah this play is inferior to professional football but they’re only getting scholarships”.
The negative impact of NIL is competitive integrity when it’s combined with no transfer rules. Which can only be corrected via compensation- employment snd eventually CBA- given other students can transfer without rules.
If unregulated free agency is bad for business, players should be compensated for the value that comes from stability of rules
Honestly this sounded like a complaint against realignment as much as anything.
What’s weird about nil to me is that I always argued the athletes deserved some of the revenue stream they helped generate, not a completely different revenue stream.
If you’re going to watch paid players, why not just watch the best? Nobody’s putting the Iowa Cubs on national television. The line between university, loyalty, tradition is just getting hazier is all.
Having a more liquid form of compensation should not be an issue Imo.
I don’t think the loyalty of players has changed as much as they’re now being treated more like all their peers on campus that are free to make money from their talents and transfer at their leisure. If players 30 years ago could freely transfer to better their situation, they would have.
The association with the university that we like is enhanced if we can pay for it, given that forcing it on the athletes is no longer in the cards.
NIL and realignment won't necessarily be the breaking point for me. But if annual unlimited free agency emerges due to the proposed new transfer rules, that will likely be it for me as well as for many coaches who will flee the business because they signed up to primarily coach, not recruit.
- Mar 27, 2006
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I guess I just don't understand why the coach/school/conference making massive amounts of money is just fine, but if the players are, suddenly it kills the interest. I'm not saying that as a gotcha. I truly don't understand the logic.
It’s difficult to extract the compensation changes from realignment changes tbh. I signed up for the nil in the first couple of weeks for a nominal amount to see where it ended up, so maybe I’m not the one to speak to it.
We could pretend a bit academics mattered by graduation rates, etc, and scholarship reductions. Complete unrestricted free agency, a wild nil world, and realignment are just a lot to get a hold on.
What is college athletics really supposed to be about? Academics? Job training? An actual job? No answer from me, yet, it’s just a lot of change to internalize.
However in pro sports you can’t just transfer, you sign contracts. Feels like this is where we’ll need to go because paid student athletes are closer to professional athletes than college students at this point.
I won't change much, I stopped watching SEC, Pac 12, and B1G football when they initially raided the Big XII. I will continue to watch ISU loyally and the teams that compete in ISU's conference, no matter who those teams are or what that conference may be called. Even if we end up being a lower tier conference, I think CMC stays loyal with his DIII roots and value system of helping young men become the best that they can be! 
Regular students can transfer and get paid. The restrictions and rules are what make these players different than the typical college student.
So if we’re not treating athletes like the rest of the student body, getting compensated for that makes sense. Now just more in cash form
They’re getting more in cash form, moving to unrestricted transfers, and often not doing the academics.
My interest in sports has been in decline for some time now.
Never watch college basketball now and rarely watched the NBA.
Baseball is dead to me.
Hockey is watched less.
Didn't get cable for college football last season and really didn't miss it. Watched ball probably 2 out of every 3 weeks. 1 game on Saturday, not 4 like the old days. Realignment has taken some of the fun out of it.
NFL is really the only one that still has me, but I could see that changing too
Never watch college basketball now and rarely watched the NBA.
Baseball is dead to me.
Hockey is watched less.
Didn't get cable for college football last season and really didn't miss it. Watched ball probably 2 out of every 3 weeks. 1 game on Saturday, not 4 like the old days. Realignment has taken some of the fun out of it.
NFL is really the only one that still has me, but I could see that changing too
To me, it's because the money means schools like ISU are much more likely to lose our teams. For example, other schools will be watching ISU to steal our best players. Imagine between September and January we lose Dekkers, Noel, J.R. Singleton, Tyler Miller, Greg Gaines, Rocco Becht, Cartevious Norton, Beau Freyler, Tyler Moore and Tyler Perkins.
That uncertainty makes me anxious. Any player can leave any time and start the next week at another school. So far it has been a trickle, Tyrese Hunter, Isheem Young, Craig McDonald. But does anyone really think it is going to remain just a trickle? This creates the potential for a severely weakened ISU, a potential we never faced until NIL and open transfers.
I'm about half way to where you are. Stopped watching ISU MBB two seasons ago because it just wasn't fun. Watched more last year but a lot of conference games were not fun and turned the game off if it was bad. I don't feel any sense of loyalty to have to watch if I am not enjoying it. What I am not going to do is watch and post every five minutes in a CF gamethread ******** and dissing the players. And rarely watch NBA or NFL anymore. Used to to more into both but that was back in the Magic Johnson era.
I am watching more regular season Yankee MLB games with the advent of the team MLB streaming subscriptions. Good filler on summer evenings but by playoff time I've started to lose interest. Now with a dozen teams making the playoffs it's just like the NBA, NFL, NHL where a third of the teams are in. It's nothing special if you don't win it all or at least top your league. Making the playoffs is sort of the 6-6 college football team. Yay, we made a bowl game!
