What's College Football Doing Right?
Inviting readers to solve this mystery
Sometimes, an article just doesn’t come together for me and this is one of those times. Yesterday, I was banging my head against the wall, trying to answer just why college football’s popularity is gaining in the face of trends that should have theoretically hurt it.
As indicated by Fox’s Michael Mulvihill, CFB viewership growth in the last half decade is indeed outpacing competitors. This is happening while the Name Image Likeness (NIL) revolution made the sport more transactional, and long loved conferences dissolved. If college football was struggling with the public, this would be an easy story to write, with obvious culprits. Instead, college football is absolutely thriving through the chaos, and doing so in an era where college itself is losing favor with many Americans.
So I put it to my subscribers: Why? Why has college football proven not just impervious to problems, but flourished in their face?
People care about the games. Period.
IMO all the playoff talk is diluting it a bit. But turn on a game whether it's a top 10 battle or its Iowa-Iowa State. People - fans, players, coaches - care a lot about winning the game. More than any other American sport, just winning a game is meaningful, regardless of playoff implications or anything else. That transmits to viewers and makes it better to watch.
Football is a scarcity sport. Every play matters so much more than a random strikeout or a jumpshot clanking off the rim. The NFL is appointment viewing because you only get to see your team play 17 times a year — any more than that and you're super lucky. (I'm a Lions fan.)
In college football, every play matters even more than the NFL. For most programs, one loss knocks them out of the chance of reaching the national championship. The four-team playoff makes it so every bowl outside of the CFP means nothing. A participation trophy, and nobody wants that!
There's probably a better, data-driven answer, but I think fans are yearning for sports where the regular season matters — and I'd argue no other sport has a regular season that matters more than college football. NBA, NHL, and MLB regular seasons mean nothing. Look at the Bucks, Bruins and Dodgers first round exits in this calendar year alone.
I'd be very curious to know if this viewership increases when the CFP expands to 12 teams. Will more fans feel like they have a chance and tune in, or is there always going to be a spot for the Penn State's and Oregon's now under the new format?