We have become used to big money college athletic departments. I love it. Most of you do as well. Football and basketball make money. That money plus a ton of donations add up to paying for the non revenue sports. Coaches get paid big salaries in order to build teams that win and thereby bring in the big revenue required to make it all come together. Half the NCAA struggles financially to stay at the table, while some thrive. So if we lose a football season college sports and fans will be out in the cold right? Well maybe not.
What happens to NCAA football and basketball’s biggest competition once big time ncaa sports stop? Isn’t ncaa football what feeds pro football? Besides, pro sports are going to also have financial obstacles as a result of the Covid-19 virus. So the competition won’t be walking away with all of the fan interest leaving ncaa sports in their wake.
I grew up in the shadow of a college stadium that once held 90,000 fans. Across the Bay, Cal had a stadium that once held 78,000 fans.... and they also have a track stadium that holds 22,000. The football stadiums were built in the 1920s and Cal’s Track Stadium was built in the 1930s. These stadiums sold out frequently. The players were rarely given athletic scholarships. The quality of play in both college and pro football was not nearly to today’s level. However because there was parity, the games were exciting enough to the public that people all over the country would spend Saturdays and Sundays glued to their radios to here the broadcast of these games. Coaches didn’t get paid enormous salaries. Professional football players held jobs in the off season. The players played the game out of love for the sport. The fans went to the games and had thrills. The marching bands played. The cheerleaders danced.... the electricity was all there.
So what about the minor sports? Well, they actually did better. Oregon had more men’s sports then, not fewer. They may not have had many athletes on scholarships but they sent athletes to the Olympics and had fan following. I see no reason why the woman’s sports wouldn’t also continue.
I am not advocating anything. I’m just saying that the primary ingredients seem to remain, money or no money and scholarships or no scholarships. Those primary ingredients are fans, stadiums, workout facilities, and athletes who want to play sports in college.
We couldn’t afford the big time recruiting, but we would still have recruiting. With the internet that would be much easier today than it was in the days that my Godfather from a farm in Iowa was an All American at Stanford and played against another All American, Norm Van Brocklin who came to Oregon from the Bay Area. Oregon had a ton of out of state players in the pre television era. One of Oregon’s most storied players, All American Johnny Kitzmiller who played for the Ducks in the 1920s was from Pennsylvania.
I believe that fans will follow their teams and buy tickets as long as the games are played. Television will continue to broadcast games. If our society is poorer it will all just happen on the cheap. Sports continued to be played during the depression. My parents went to college during the depression. They went to football games in large sold out stadiums. Tickets were cheaper, scholarships rarer, and everyone, including coaches took pay cuts. It was the depression, but we still had the Rose Bowl, World Series and The Olympics. Joe Louis still knocked opponents out while millions listen intently on their radios. You can not change the fact that fans, athletes, and coaches are not disappearing. It would just be a matter of time before football would begin generating money and coaches’ salaries increase. Should the current economics of college sports collapse they will continue with different economists then eventually things willchange and we will return to higher salaries and more scholarships.
No matter what circumstances may develop, one way or another, college sports will survive. Fans will still follow their teams and the marching band will play on... as long as there is no better alternative.
Want to know a secret? Big time talented scholarship athletes have never made a dime on the aggregate for college football. Great coaches drawing big salaries don’t make money for college athletic departments either. That is just a myth. Fan loyalty makes money for the athletic department. Fans will follow their teams as long as they play the game. What other sports alternative do they have? Fans packed the stadiums when the players were much slower, smaller and less graceful. So if the financial roof were to cave in due to either a cancellation or limitation of the football season, we would start back on the cheap. We will play with less resources, but college sports will continue.... and the fan base will remain. Television sets will tune in to see Notre Dame, Bama and for that matter Washington State.
What happens to NCAA football and basketball’s biggest competition once big time ncaa sports stop? Isn’t ncaa football what feeds pro football? Besides, pro sports are going to also have financial obstacles as a result of the Covid-19 virus. So the competition won’t be walking away with all of the fan interest leaving ncaa sports in their wake.
I grew up in the shadow of a college stadium that once held 90,000 fans. Across the Bay, Cal had a stadium that once held 78,000 fans.... and they also have a track stadium that holds 22,000. The football stadiums were built in the 1920s and Cal’s Track Stadium was built in the 1930s. These stadiums sold out frequently. The players were rarely given athletic scholarships. The quality of play in both college and pro football was not nearly to today’s level. However because there was parity, the games were exciting enough to the public that people all over the country would spend Saturdays and Sundays glued to their radios to here the broadcast of these games. Coaches didn’t get paid enormous salaries. Professional football players held jobs in the off season. The players played the game out of love for the sport. The fans went to the games and had thrills. The marching bands played. The cheerleaders danced.... the electricity was all there.
So what about the minor sports? Well, they actually did better. Oregon had more men’s sports then, not fewer. They may not have had many athletes on scholarships but they sent athletes to the Olympics and had fan following. I see no reason why the woman’s sports wouldn’t also continue.
I am not advocating anything. I’m just saying that the primary ingredients seem to remain, money or no money and scholarships or no scholarships. Those primary ingredients are fans, stadiums, workout facilities, and athletes who want to play sports in college.
We couldn’t afford the big time recruiting, but we would still have recruiting. With the internet that would be much easier today than it was in the days that my Godfather from a farm in Iowa was an All American at Stanford and played against another All American, Norm Van Brocklin who came to Oregon from the Bay Area. Oregon had a ton of out of state players in the pre television era. One of Oregon’s most storied players, All American Johnny Kitzmiller who played for the Ducks in the 1920s was from Pennsylvania.
I believe that fans will follow their teams and buy tickets as long as the games are played. Television will continue to broadcast games. If our society is poorer it will all just happen on the cheap. Sports continued to be played during the depression. My parents went to college during the depression. They went to football games in large sold out stadiums. Tickets were cheaper, scholarships rarer, and everyone, including coaches took pay cuts. It was the depression, but we still had the Rose Bowl, World Series and The Olympics. Joe Louis still knocked opponents out while millions listen intently on their radios. You can not change the fact that fans, athletes, and coaches are not disappearing. It would just be a matter of time before football would begin generating money and coaches’ salaries increase. Should the current economics of college sports collapse they will continue with different economists then eventually things willchange and we will return to higher salaries and more scholarships.
No matter what circumstances may develop, one way or another, college sports will survive. Fans will still follow their teams and the marching band will play on... as long as there is no better alternative.
Want to know a secret? Big time talented scholarship athletes have never made a dime on the aggregate for college football. Great coaches drawing big salaries don’t make money for college athletic departments either. That is just a myth. Fan loyalty makes money for the athletic department. Fans will follow their teams as long as they play the game. What other sports alternative do they have? Fans packed the stadiums when the players were much slower, smaller and less graceful. So if the financial roof were to cave in due to either a cancellation or limitation of the football season, we would start back on the cheap. We will play with less resources, but college sports will continue.... and the fan base will remain. Television sets will tune in to see Notre Dame, Bama and for that matter Washington State.
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