America Needs To Revolt Against The College Football Super League Just Like Europeans Did
When I was a kid my favorite video game was Bill Walsh College Football 1995. I believe it was the first college football game with licensing agreements with certain schools before that you had South Bend University playing against Tallahassee State instead of Notre Dame vs FSU. It was sega genesis so we were still the time period of blowing on the cartridge, shitty graphics, and a C-button that allowed you to basically jump 5 yards at a time. It was still great and Kordell Stewart (QB #10) belongs in the discussion with Bo Jackson and Jeremy Roenick as the greatest video game athletes of all-time. He was unstoppable.
Part of the issue with that limited data storage space on the old systems was the inability to have a full list of teams in the game. The game only had the 33 or so most relevant college football programs of the time and the service academies. The game also allowed you to play a 16 team playoff.
30 years later that video game is becoming a reality. Conferences are effectively dead and we are heading towards a larger playoff format. It sucks. College Football as we know is dying and it's doing so in the name of money. No more Big10 vs Pac10 in the Rose Bowl. No more Big12. The ACC is probably next to die. Regionality, tradition, arguments, rivalries, and drama that make college football one of the most popular sports "leagues" in the world is being thrown in the trash heap for presumably nothing but financial gain. It's not what fans want, I would assume it's not what the majority of college football players want, and there are going to be many schools with GREAT histories like Miami, Pitt, Colorado, Washington, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and others that squeezed of the landscape as the top 1% reaps all the benefit.
It disgusts me and I feel like college football fans around the country are watching the destruction of their generational saturday tradition get gutted with a shrug of the shoulders. Compare that to what happened when all the richest and most powerful clubs across Europe tried to form a Super League.
It was a fucking REVOLT. Protests across Europe and most intensely in England. It was ordinary people en masse against a collection of BILLIONAIRES from across the world and the people won. They were so loud and so angry that the idea of the Super League of the 20 biggest clubs in Europe died before it could even reach the board room. It was astonishing and fantastic to watch.
I wish it was also educational and inspirational to Americans. Are we just feckless little bitches compared to Europe? Where are the protests coming from the West, Texas, and the ACC teams? Where is the vitriol from across the country and money going to fewer and fewer kills something that we all share and love? I haven't seen anything except for a few angry tweets. You'd think if Europe can organize to prevent the monopolization and destruction of a game they love then Americans can do the same thing. The Super Leagues consisting of 20 teams in the SEC and BigTen are going to be so devoid of everything that has made College Football special for generations that it will ultimately ruin the game. I am sure it'll be profitable, but it won't be fun and it won't be a shared experience across the country. I LOVE the annual Apple Cup between Washington and Washington State. That game is going to be the equivalent of Miami Ohio vs Ohio in a generation if it even occurs at all. That is just one example. I feel like I am literally and figuratively yelling at a cloud with this position, but it truly does bother me and when I look across the Atlantic I get envious that they had enough passion to prevent the destruction of their game and we simply don't. Shameful. I hope we all get the most out of these last few years before it's unrecognizable.