There's nothing quite like college football. The pageantry. The fans. The unpredictable nature of "any given Saturday." The sport has always been unique.
That's what makes it so unfortunate that for the last decade, the power brokers in the sport have done everything they can to remove that uniqueness and professionalize our lovely, weird sport. And that's not a shot at players making money, something that was long overdue. No, it's a shot at conference realignment, an ever-expanding playoff, and unlimited free agency that prevents fans from finding the same affection for their teams because of non-stop roster turnover.
It's why I had to roll my eyes a little when I saw what Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said at the opening of Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday in Frisco, Texas. His sentiment, while appreciated, is just too little, too late, as the damage has already been done.
Speaking in support of a 5+11 model for the inevitable College Football Playoff expansion to 16, Yormark said:
"We do not need a professional model, because we are not the NFL. We are college football, and we must act like it. ... We must protect what makes it special."
(Quote courtesy of ESPN's Adam Rittenberg)
The professionalism of college sports is already here
If Yormark didn't want college football to turn into a professional sport, well, he's a few years too late. Not that any of it is directly his fault; Yormark has only worked as the Big 12's leader since 2022, before that working for Jay-Z's Roc Nation as the company's CEO. But his comments are a bit naive after all that has transpired in the last few years.
Part of what has always made college football special is traditional rivalries. Now, because of conference realignment, so many rivalries have died off. That includes several directly tied to current and former Big 12 members, like Bedlam (Oklahoma-Oklahoma State), the Border War (Kansas vs. Missouri), and Texas Tech-Texas A&M, among others.
It's also hard to argue that college football is all that different from the NFL now that the Transfer Portal has opened up unlimited free agency. And with the passing of the landmark House vs. NCAA settlement, revenue-sharing is here, meaning that athletic departments will now be able to pay athletes directly.
The first major example of the new era of college football came from a Big 12 school: Texas Tech agreed to a 3-year, $5.1 million contract with 5-star 2026 OT Felix Ojo. That's about as professional sports as it gets.
And if that wasn't enough, further expansion of the playoff gets us closer to a professional sports model. It's also completely devalued one of the most unique natures of college football: bowl season. Bowl games that are not part of the College Football Playoff field are now glorified exhibitions. Top, draft-eligible players frequently opt out of the games to minimize risk. They've become meaningless in this era when they used to be a cornerstone of the sport.
Every decision made in the last few years by those in charge of this sport has been to the detriment of the fan experience and the rich tradition and pageantry that have long made college football stand alone in its uniqueness and beauty.
That doesn't figure to change, regardless of what Yormark says. So long as the almighty dollar is all that gets worshipped, college football will continue to assimilate into what other sports look like, instead of standing alone and resolute.