Change seems to be the only constant in college football lately.
Some Dawgs fans say they barely recognize the game they grew up loving, thanks to the impact of a transfer portal that allows student athletes to change schools as many times as they choose, as well as the big-time NIL dollars that players are earning.
If the settlement of a lawsuit against the NCAA over player compensation becomes final and schools start paying players directly — instead of NIL money just coming from consortiums of boosters — the college game essentially will have transformed into entry-level professional football.
And on top of that, there’s talk that private equity firms are interested in “investing” in top college football programs like Georgia’s, so they can capitalize on a lucrative market that generates billions in revenue each year. There’s no telling what fresh hell for fans that will unleash if it comes to pass.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart always has preferred to recruit and develop high school talent, but that is becoming tougher to do as many players leave if they don’t immediately get enough playing time.
And while the past season showed that heavy use of the portal can help a midlevel program become more competitive, Smart correctly has noted that the wide-open transfer policy also makes it more difficult for programs at the top to stay there.
It’s no wonder Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches voted recently in favor of at least moving the transfer portal to one single window (10 days) in early January, rather than splitting it between December and April.
Of course, with the NCAA having retreated from dealing with most of these issues, for fear it might lose its antitrust protection in a court case, there’s no guarantee the portal won’t give way to an even more chaotic scenario, as evidenced by Wisconsin’s dispute with one of its players, who transferred without entering the portal by withdrawing from school and then enrolling at Miami.
Wisconsin has taken legal action, claiming defensive back Xavier Lucas had signed a binding two-year NIL agreement. The player’s lawyer counters that Wisconsin is trying to hold Lucas “hostage.”
Looks like another possible change to the game that the courts will decide.
The bigger question is what all of this will do to the fan and booster support that always has been the foundation of college sports.
Nowadays, it’s true that you can’t count on favorite players sticking around more than a year or two, but does that make the game any less interesting and worth watching?
So far, that doesn’t appear to be the case. The 2024-25 college football bowl season on ESPN platforms showed significant increases in viewership across key demographics, and it wasn’t all about the expanded College Football Playoff. The 33 non-playoff bowls averaged 2.7 million viewers, marking a 14 percent year-over-year increase and the largest audience since the 2019-20 season.
Also, ESPN-ABC reported its college football coverage had the best overall viewership in 15 years.
All three King brothers are still watching, though we have varying views of the current iteration of college football.
My view: I’m glad that players now can profit off their name, image and likeness, as the universities had been doing for years, but I’m not as sanguine about the wide-open portal, which makes it nearly impossible for coaches like Smart to build a roster with the sort of depth that allows programs to compete at an elite level.
And if schools are going to pay players directly, then I think they ought to be able to require those players sign contracts. I’d keep them reasonable: say, 2 years, which is about what you get out of top talent these days (not counting redshirt years).
My brother Tim said he’s “on the fence on both NIL and the portal. There needs to be some way to regulate them better. It’s crazy that there are players playing on their fifth team next year.”
I told him I’m not sure, based on past court cases, that there’s much regulation that can be added to NIL, though I think eventually those shelling out the money might start putting some sort of stipulations on it. As in, we’ll pay you this amount, but you have to stay at the school for a certain period in order to get all of the money.
Tim thinks that equal revenue sharing, which seems likely, might be an improvement, too. “If everyone got the same amount of money in the revenue sharing, then the number of players using the portal would probably drop.”
Our brother Jonathan, meanwhile, summed his view up succinctly: “I hate everything about NIL and the portal.”
He prefers the old system, where players just got “free education, room and board and health care. Stay in school. Get a degree and see what life brings you in the future.”
Since he hates the direction in which the game is going, I asked Jon why he continues watching.
It’s simple, he said. “I’m just a Georgia football fan.”
So, are old school ties the only reason to stay with college football nowadays, or is the game itself — which many of us still find more exciting than your average NFL contest — a good enough reason to keep watching?
I asked some Blawg readers and friends for their thoughts.
Mark Symms said he thinks NIL and the portal have “irrevocably changed the college game,” but “for those of us who graduated or attended UGA, the feelings of our love and loyalty to our school cannot be changed by the new era of college football. A win still gives feelings of euphoria. A loss is devastating, for the moment.”
Symms did grant that he thinks the portal has brought more parity to the game and “evened the playing field. ... I watched Vandy play a game. Who would have watched Vandy play a game before, if you were not a graduate? …
The games seem more exciting with the talent level spread out.”
Helen Castronis, whose dad Mike was a UGA coach for many years, is a proponent of change. “I have no patience for the complainers,” she said, but “I put this mess squarely on the NCAA. Their greed, obstinacy and arrogance led to all of this through the courts. I am for the players.”
She also pointed out that while some fans criticize players who leave UGA via the portal, they welcome those who transfer into Athens the same way. “For the players to bear the brunt of the criticism when they are only working with the present structure is not fair.”
And, she added, “none of the changes and upheaval have diminished my love of college football. It’s just a reminder to me that change is inevitable. Adjust or complain.”
Leonard Pallats agreed that “it was inevitable, and is appropriate, for players to get paid,” though he acknowledged that “handing millions of dollars to college-age athletes creates challenges for them, their families and the schools. Professional sports leagues have developed systems for helping young players adjust to receiving large sums. The colleges must do the same or face consequences.”
Like some other fans I have heard from, Pallats also said he doesn’t think Georgia’s Smart “is comfortable in the new era of college football. … Recruiting high school players who are going to leave after a year if someone offers them more money doesn’t match his style.” He thinks this trend might drive Smart into an NFL coaching job.
Jim Sandifer said he remains a college football fan — for now. “Being a UGA grad, I cherish the connection to the university. My bottom line is: As long as the roster is made up of folks pursuing a degree, I will probably remain a fan.”
But, he added, “the toothpaste is out of the tube. … The craziness will continue until the college football industry prices itself out of the market. We might be close to that point now.”
Darrell Huckaby said he’s bothered by the changes in college football “until the game starts.”
But, he said, “I like watching the players develop over time. Like everyone else, I love players like Stetson Bennett, Nolan Smith, Dan Jackson and others who come as freshmen and stay with the program. I can’t blame the players for taking money and jumping around, but in the long run it is not in the best interest of most. I truly believe there is great value in learning allegiance and commitment.
“I hate that money has taken over the game. I don’t think coaches should make millions of dollars a year. I don’t think games should last four hours because of television commercials. I don’t think we should play Georgia Tech on Friday night, or any game any day of the week that ends at midnight. I am ashamed of the amount of money I spend attending games. I am a dinosaur and hate all of it.
“But I always make sure I am in the stadium in time to hear Brook Whitmire say, ‘It’s Saturday in Athens and time to tee it up between the hedges’ and I always stay until the band finishes ‘Georgia on my Mind.’”
For Billy Chism, despite all the changes “nothing beats college football in the fall and everything that goes with it, including the Redcoat Marching Band. I love to watch college football on television, and I guess I always will.”
Joe Strickland thinks how you view the changes probably depends on what generation you are. “I imagine many bleed-red-and-black Dawg fans, like myself and my wife, are Georgia graduates from past decades who went to Athens from our small hometowns and/or high schools and found a whole new world,” he said. “For many, like us, those years were among the best times of our lives.” Whatever came afterward, Strickland said, “most have remained loyal, supportive Dawg fans even when our hearts were ripped out and stomped flat repeatedly over the years.
“Reaching national recognition and glory along with Kirby and crew vindicated much of the past woulda, coulda, shoulda and led most to believe the Dawgs had finally achieved their rightful place as a perennial Top 5 team. Then along came NIL and the portal and [they] began to erode the long-established principle of loyalty to team, coaches, fans and university. It’s a difficult adjustment for older fans, especially.”
Keith Frost doesn’t like the direction the game is headed. “Sports teams were always meant to promote your school and school loyalty, but now it promotes individualism, self-promotion and get all that you can from wherever you can get it!”
“NIL and the transfer portal have changed the game,” said Arthur Cody, who was a team manager during his freshman year at UGA in the 1970s. As a result, he said, “my love for college football has died somewhat.”
He pointed to the two teams that ended up meeting in the recent CFP championship game, noting that Notre Dame had a lot of transfer players and Ohio State “reportedly has the highest payroll of any team in college football. Guess the future will be who can buy a title.”
However, he said, “I can’t blame the players. I would probably do the same if I were in their shoes.”
Still, he said, “until you have a governing body that can enforce legitimate rules that are fair, the game will continue on a downward spiral.”
Frank Arnold said he is fine with NIL, because “it is only fair that the straws who stir the drink should be allowed to take a sip every now and then. ...
“The portal, however, is out of control,” he said. “For those who advocate for total and unfettered capitalism, this is what that looks like. There have to be some guardrails and mutually binding commitments. Otherwise, the ultimate ‘team’ sport loses the tie that binds, and our beloved game will suffer.”
Joel Provano conceded that “letting players earn what they can is the right thing to do, but watching millionaire teenagers play football and then transfer to the highest bidder just isn’t the game I grew up loving.”
Veteran college football reporter Tony Barnhart (a UGA grad) agreed that the game we grew up loving is gone. But, he said, “the fact is that coaches, players and administrators have had to adjust to this new world order and the fans are going to have to adjust as well.”
Besides, Barnhart said, “once the games start, fans really don’t care where the players get their money, they just want to see football and wear their colors.”
He also has no problem with players getting what they can these days. “For over 100 years, they played a sport that netted billions of dollars for the institutions and relatively little compensation for the players. They have watched coaches make 8, 9, 10 million per year while they still received room, board, books, tuition and fees. … The athletes, until now, were not able to put their talent on the free market like coaches can do.”
As for the portal, Barnhart said, it “gives players the freedom of movement like anybody else in the job market.”
Barnhart also pointed out that “the irony to all of these changes is that the game on the field is better than it has ever been. Last season was the perfect example. Week after week, we had great games building to the 12-team playoff, which was also great.
“Fans will fuss in the offseason, but when the season rolls around, they will fill the stadiums and watch on TV by the millions. College football pulls on our heartstrings like no other sport does. As fans, we are going to have to embrace the change.”
One of those who has embraced those changes is Owen Scott, who said he still enjoys college football and doesn’t believe unlimited transfers and NIL have ruined the game. “They have led to greater parity among teams, allowing less successful teams to upgrade their roster talent while thinning the depth charts of traditional powers like Georgia and Alabama. Even the teams with $20 million rosters, like Ole Miss and Ohio State, are not the sort of juggernauts prevalent only a few years back. OSU and Notre Dame, for example, both had bad losses this season.”
OSU, he noted, is “a two-loss champion. We may not see another undefeated national champion any time soon.”
But Scott would support some changes, “to bring more order out of the current Wild West era. The rule I’d support is limiting players to one undergrad transfer and one graduate transfer. I believe this would be in the interests of the players, as multiple transfers probably hamper their development and pro prospects.”
All of these fans made good points, but I think that, ultimately, Don White’s view is why college football likely will survive and even thrive.
“I am sure I will always watch UGA football, and college football in general, even if my alma mater is not playing,” said White, who has two degrees from UGA. “For me, ‘old school ties’ are enough, plus the nostalgia of long-ago-but-unforgettable memories of my Dad and I sitting on the Sanford Drive bridge in old lawn chairs, eating boiled peanuts, and watching Dooley’s Dawgs in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.”
I think White is onto something there. The college game isn’t just about what happens on the field. It’s tailgating and reuniting with old friends and classmates. It’s about enjoying the band and cheerleaders and the mascot and all the pageantry that pro football lacks.
And it’s also about passing your passion for the game and your school on to the next generation, which probably won’t remember or care about how a college roster used to be assembled, just as my kids knew nothing of the Bullpups freshman team and my generation didn’t miss the leather helmets, one-platoon football or freshman rat caps of an earlier era.
Next time you’re at a Georgia football game, take a look at the excited faces of all the kids in the crowd. They’re why the future of college football remains bright.
