Thoughts on the Portal, NIL and expanded CFP world

[freescooter]

They were talking about the challenges that Stanford has with the transfer portal on Sirius College Sports channel this morning. I could see the super-elite academic league happening at some point. There are ways that Stanford and Northwestern can compete with anyone, and there are ways that they can't.

It would be interesting to see what Notre Dame does. They don't want to be in a league with Minnesota or Florida State, but a big chunk of their alumni would like to be in a league with Northwestern and Stanford.

Another chunk would like them to stay out of any league but play the cream of the bBig and SEC. I know the previous President said ND would never be interested in a league where players get paid. I doubt the current one feels that way

 

[KingLurk]

This original post and thread is a great read. Whether or not a certain prediction is right or wrong really isn't the main thing. The issue here is that everything is going to change. Most importantly, how has our athletic department started to adjust.

Where we are trending well:
Athletic Scheduling. (non conference games are key in football, baseball, it swings more toward winning in hockey, basketball, etc. Depends on sport).
Working Transfer pool (not just football, but basketball, baseball, etc.)
Branding. (Huge uptick in quality this year).

Where we need work in some sports but seem to be starting well:
TV Contract - we have a good start, need to keep it up.
Working on NIL. (Always room for everyone to work on this - like how it's starting though)

Where there are concerns
Rivalry/Identity. (Football team doesn't have a main rival, basketball has rivals from old big east we don't play)
Conference alignment: Great in basketball, our hockey conference is great, after that a bit of a drop off (we need to improve soccer and that will be a fine conference as we regrow. I think UConn is already looking ahead at possible football options which may not even interfere with basketball).

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Another chunk would like them to stay out of any league but play the cream of the bBig and SEC. I know the previous President said ND would never be interested in a league where players get paid. I doubt the current one feels that way

A lot of the "ND should be football independent forever" fans are not actually ND alums or major boosters. ND likes being a football power, but it makes much more money and gets much more prestige from its academic pursuits, and being affiliated with other academically elite D1 schools would be interesting to a big chunk of the decision makers, especially given the tradeoffs that schools will have to make as they transition to minor league teams.

 

[Windham4th]

If you play for a B1G school you have a greater percentage chance of making the field than a Pac-12 school.

I'd hope for the guys with next level aspirations that their individual career is more important than riding pine and watching teammates play in the CFP

 

[nelsonmuntz]

San Diego State and Florida Atlantic are in the Final Four. A middle of the pack ACC team is the only P5 school in the Final Four, and UConn is back in the Final Four, after many on this board were against the move to the Big East.

The NIL and Transfer Portal have changed EVERYTHING in college athletics. Most of the decision makers appreciate that, although it is hard to see where this will end up and I think some of the decision makers are making bad decisions (see UCLA and USC to the Big 10). All we know for sure is that the status quo is over.

Basketball needs fewer players, so it transformed quicker than football did, but change is coming to football too. I think we are going to see some shocker programs in the CFP Final Four within 2-3 years.