How would you force the players to play? Statistically, roughly 20% will have exhausted their eligibility. Those that are leaving early are forgoing their eligibility voluntarily to declare for the draft. Those that are transferring elsewhere could simply say they are injured. Generally speaking, rules that prohibit are easier to enforce that rules that compel.
Solution. Get used to it and just enjoy cheering for your school. You have to realize both the players and the school hav met their obligations to each other. The players played through the semester and the school has provided what the said through the semester. Once a player opts out the faucet is turned off. No more money, they leave student housing, the portal guys are cut off. If it's a draft player they are usually allowed to continue training because it's good PR for the school.
Semesters really only come into play for "Students" and since we are completely abandoning the pretence of student athletes then the end of the academic semester doesn't really matter.
NFL establishes developmental league with one team for each existing NFL team. This league drafts all of the top high school talent and makes no pretense about them being students. If you declare yourself eligible for the developmental league, you are forever ineligible for the NCAA. If you sign with a college, you are ineligible for the NFL or developmental league for four years. Athletes are students. No NIL. No Portal. For transfers, universities may veto any transfers by students in conference or to any school they have to play. Bowl games are part of the season. There’s a start.
Just because you keep saying it doesn't make it true. They are still enrolled and have to stay academically eligible to play.
More games in meaningless matchups do nothing for the game. Reduce the bowl payout to the schools by the percentage of missing players. No one should expect fans to participate when schools are fielding “ghost teams” in a uniform. This might be the reckoning that was inevitable. Major changes to the current anarchy are necessary or the demise of college football will not be reversible
Yeah...."enrolled" and "academically eligible"....just the same as the non paid football playing actual students.
They are not playing for a school, they are playing for money and will leave for a bigger check in a heartbeat. The days of "We Are the Boys of Old Florida" are over.
The bowls will eventually opt out themselves as less and less people are going to keep watching them. I think only fans of the schools will end up watching and that probably isn't a large enough number of viewers to keep advertisers paying for ads. fsu and uga might have been compelling when the matchup was announced, but with as many as, I saw it mentioned, 45 players opting out, it isn't the same matchup anymore.
for the newbies here, that was previouysly called "The Deion Rule" as he played the system to a T. In those days, they only had to be academically ellugible at the beginning of the semester. Deion found out about that and never attended class his Jr year as he know he was going pro. good ole Bobby was fine with it, the Board of Regents, not so much and revised the requirement for eligibility to run throughtout the semester.
Going to a bowl is about as interesting as a Spring Game nowadays. The entire bowl "facade" is awful. Look at FSU, they are not fielding anything close to their regular season team. The bowls are not supported by "gate" rather by TV. Most of the bowls look like a Miami home game nowadays. EMPTY! I for one am very disinterested in supporting a useless bowl product to enhance TV revenues for entities that, more than any other, destroyed the amateur status of College Football.
Close. Get used to it and just enjoy cheering for the team that uses your school's logo, branding and tax exemptions.
Exactly. Big money has ruined the game. Prior to this year, college football had a nine out of ten year decline in attendance. This season showed an increase, but recent history shows this might be an anomaly. That has probably influenced some schools to be discussing reduced seating, including UF.
We can only hope. Only change I'd like is ineligible for 3 years, not 4, like in baseball. That way the players have a year to bargain with if they stay one more year or does the drafting team agree to pay up enough for them to leave. That said I wish we had each player for 4 years like the old days but I think we are far far far past that.
Agreed as the only bowl I'll be watching this year is the Rose Bowl. Probably a few minutes of the sugar bowl and the championship but if they think I'm staying up past 10pm to watch modern CFB they're mistaken. How long until players start opting out mid game or even mid play if they're losing? Hopefully I don't miss that for the comedy value.
