The transfer thread was turning into a discussion of how the transfer portal and NIL were going to impact college football. I think that is a very interesting discussion. Here are a few things I think are going to happen: 1) All of these things will feed off each other. Expanded access to...
the-boneyard.com
The linked thread basically covered my expectations for how the NIL and Transfer Portal (I also touch on streaming and the changes to the CFP) will impact college sports, and 4 months after making the first post in the thread, two mid-majors made the Final Four.
Almost every post in this current thread is based on several wrong assumptions:
1) ESPN will continue to have more revenue than every other broadcaster because ESPN can charge about $9 a cable subscriber whether they watch ESPN or not, and ESPN wants to broadcast household names in its main TV slots.
2) The SEC will continue to be dominant in hoarding talent because it is willing to cheat at a level that no other league is willing to do.
3) Players will happily spend their career being 3rd string on an SEC or Big 10 team rather than playing somewhere where they can actually play on the field.
4) Access to the College Football Playoff is limited so players that want to play in it have to go to a small handful of programs.
Every one of those assumptions was true 5 years ago, and is no longer true today. The SEC added Texas and Oklahoma and the Big 10 added UCLA and USC out of fear. Those two leagues can see the same fact pattern I just laid out and know that their competitive advantages have shrunk dramatically in the last two years.