I'm not talking about forcing these players to play, I'm talking about incentivizing players to play. There is a huge difference between the two.
It seems players can leave a school during the same year they sign. Can’t see making them play a bowl game.
This is the real solution. Other sports don’t have these meaningless post-season game exhibitions. Football is the last sport you want to play in an extra game like this.
NIL contracts are just that... contracts. All contracts have requirements of the signers. If NIL contracts were to require a player to play in a bowl game, they must abide or be in breach of the contract. So, simply put, if you write a requirement into the contract (that doesn't go against any standing laws) to make yourself available to play in any bowl game, the player must do that. Now, getting true effort from the player is another thing altogether. But, that is no different than, for example, a player in the NFL who wants to be traded.
Earlier, I stated that some of the players who have second or first round draft pick status may want to sit out a bowl game or event the BCS games to protect their draft status and potential earnings. I did a Google on this item and came up with the follow stats; There are 32 teams in the NFL. If you factor in the first and the second round draft picks, you would have a total of 64 players going into the first two rounds. This is were the real big money is for the hopeful draftees. "The first overall pick of the 2024 draft will sign a four-year deal worth around $38.5million, including a signing bonus of $24.8million."+ "Second-round picks will make slightly less, according to Spotrac, which estimates the first pick of the second round will pull in just under $10 million in their rookie deal, while the last selection of that round is estimated to land a deal around $6.3 million. Apr 25, 2024" "The third round goes from $6million to $5.5million, while the parameters for the fourth round are between $4.5million and $4.8million. This number continues to decrease right until the end of the seventh round when the final draft pick - known as Mr Irrelevant - will be able to sign a $4.09million deal. Apr 25, 2024 "Even if a player doesn't get signed for multi-millions in the NFL draft, a player can still make some respectable money. The minimum player salary for rookie in 2023 is $750,000 a year. That league minimum salary is what most unrestricted free agents, or players who don't get drafted, make." Note, all of the above info was copied from multiple Google search. Points to consider: A player who is projected to go get drafted in the first round has a chance for a $30 million dollar pay day. Falling to the second round is a $10 million dollars pay day. That is a $20 million dollar difference. Falling to the third round is a $26 million dollar difference. Falling to the seventh round is a $30 plus million dollar difference. Falling to undrafted status is a $37 million dollar difference. I can understand why players who have a high NFL draft status will want to sit out bowl game.
These numbers clearly illustrate a problem, that is just way too much money for rookies! Actually I think the entire league is overpaid, ever wonder why your cable/satellite/streaming service is so damn expensive?
Of all the bs that has attended the recent destruction of college football, bowl opt outs are really far down the list. I actually liked getting to see the underclassman step into larger roles for the first time.
The bowl opt outs are up there with the Transfer Portal (that has become a revolving door for some athletes) and the Mayhem which is named NIL! It's hard to tell which is more damaging.
Truth be told: I opted out of (watching) almost all the bowl games a long time ago. Life is too short for junk football.
The only way I can see them forcing this would be if the players are compensated directly by the university or if it's part of their country. With the Collectives and NIL I could see them forcing the players to sign contracts with many more stipulations in the future. And I could see one of those stipulations being that the players are forced to play in a bowl game assuming it's a "major bowl game" (which would be determined in the contract) or there's an injury concern. I could definitely see doctors of the players though making up some BS medical excuse (his wrist is hurting, he has a cold, his ankle is sore) to get them out of the game medically while not impacting their NFL prospects.
1.6 percent of all college players will play in the NFL Average NFL career is less than 4 years practice squad players make less than the NFL minimum. For star college players, best to leave college early, as second contract is the lucrative one. Get there a year earlier. More years in NFL pension system as well.
Long term I think that's the answer. Most of the bowl games don't even get good attendance and it's not even about that anymore. It's about the TV money and giving ESPN something to show. But in reality the bowl games have outlived their usefulness. Bowl Games used to be glorified exhibitions (remember back in the day the polls declared their National Champions before the bowl games as the bowl games were actually considered exhibitions) that were nice because you saw two teams that would normally never play each other end up playing. That aspect is significantly diminished in modern times. If it wasn't for ESPN I imagine most bowl games would either have already boarded up or would be in the next few years. I think ESPN keeps them running for a while but the writing is on the wall. To me for the CFP the clear solution needs to be a 16 team playoff with no byes. First two rounds on campus with the semi-finals and finals being at neutral sites. Keep the traditional sites for the semi-finals (Pasadena, Phoenix, New Orleans, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta) in an every three year rotation. Those sites can compete with other cities for the National Championship game on years they don't host a semi-final game. Bowl games as we know them essentially go away.
If people didn't watch the NFL so religiously, the numbers wouldn't be so out of whack. But, values are so skewed that pro athletes and people like the Kardashians are paid more individually than the entire group is worth. Problem is, people are addicted to their TVs and anything that's on it. So, it isn't going to change, bitch and moan all you like. Just curious, all you that complain about the NFL salaries, how many of you watch it every week?
This tells you how much college football has changed. How much talk about skipping bowls was there in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. It would have been a privilege to play.
Teams are valued in the 4-8 Billion dollar range so no they are not overpaid. Now some individuals are overpaid compared to their production but that is a different question. In 2023 the Rams had the highest payroll at 330 million. The Rams value is 6.2 billion. So roughly 5 percent of their value went to payroll.
