Can someone explain me College football? (1 Viewer)

It’s difficult to explain and I’m not the most qualified to try, but I know it’s huge in some states that don’t have an NFL team, like Alabama where both Alabama and Auburn (2 huge programs) play. It’s also just a more fun atmosphere overall than the NFL and rooted in tradition.
That’s all I can offer I’m afraid. A lot of things about America are difficult to understand.

The whole US Sports system fascinates me...it's not just the football (NFL) but their other major sports, plus the likes of Golf...I truly believe it can be a great system. There's a lot of money put into the system so that kids in the US can develop their sports abilities but at the same time, attain a good education. The % of people who make it to the top is quite small so those who don't make at least leave with a degree.

Americans are obviously very passionate, loyal and proud people so these younger sports stars who could be the next global superstar, are looked upon in the same light as us Brits look upon our players in our football clubs.

It's a completely unique system that instills not only education, but great sporting development into these youngsters.

Also, the US is huge so not everyone will be located near an NFL team or an NBA team or an NHL team. So the next best thing is likely to be college sports.

The top players are drafted from it - basically it's like the Championship.

They don't have the pyramid of leagues we do here so it acts as basically like the lower divisions and the fans do the 'support your home team' thing with college programs from their state or where they studied. As the NFL only has 32 teams many states miss out and there is massive over demand of tickets so this support filters down to the level below.

You then have the weird situation of fans of college teams supporting players that used to play for them at whatever NFL team they end up at which means their top level support is more transient than ours. This sort of fan would have been up for the ESL here as it's just about top players and not tradition. The college game conversely is actually fiercely loyal to their locality.

@tisza follows the college game more than me so he should be able to shine a bit more light

Doesn't some of it come down to location as well. For us our local team/college team would be Coventry City. But the NFL team would be something like The West Midlands Wondernuggets or something.

hill83 said:

Doesn't some of it come down to location as well. For us our local team/college team would be Coventry City. But the NFL team would be something like The West Midlands Wondernuggets or something.

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Brilliant. I've just copyrighted that name for when the Wasps franchise becomes available.

The little league baseball is what gets me.

When I was living in San Diego, me and a mate went to a bar to watch a football game. They must have had about ten screens, all of which were playing a baseball game which was basically under 12s level. They had all these players and their statistics and stuff, I found it a bit creepy to be honest.

We asked if they could put the football on one screen and they said no, so we started taking the piss, which then erupted into a bar brawl with one or two locals. At the end of it all, my mate went up to the bartender and apologised. He introduced himself and said he was the new guy who was starting on Monday. That wasn't even a joke, he genuinely started a scrap in the place he was about to start working in. Nutcase.

Never been into American sport but watched the documentary flick the undefeated the other night and really enjoyed it

clint van damme said:

Never been into American sport but watched the documentary flick the undefeated the other night and really enjoyed it

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I went to a Baseball game in Atlanta a few years back when out in the States on work business. I have to say that I really enjoyed it although I think it was more to do with the atmosphere/occasion that the sport itself (which wasn't that bad).

Skyblueweeman said:

I went to a Baseball game in Atlanta a few years back when out in the States on work business. I have to say that I really enjoyed it although I think it was more to do with the atmosphere/occasion that the sport itself (which wasn't that bad).

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Baseball has that cricket vibe where you can just kick back and let the game go by as you have a nice time.

Liquid Gold said:

Baseball has that cricket vibe where you can just kick back and let the game go by as you have a nice time.

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Yeah, exactly that. I had a two pint pitcher of beer and some nachos with salsa. Obviously.

They do do entertainment well over there to be fair.

Skyblueweeman said:

The whole US Sports system fascinates me...it's not just the football (NFL) but their other major sports, plus the likes of Golf...I truly believe it can be a great system. There's a lot of money put into the system so that kids in the US can develop their sports abilities but at the same time, attain a good education. The % of people who make it to the top is quite small so those who don't make at least leave with a degree.

Americans are obviously very passionate, loyal and proud people so these younger sports stars who could be the next global superstar, are looked upon in the same light as us Brits look upon our players in our football clubs.

It's a completely unique system that instills not only education, but great sporting development into these youngsters.

Also, the US is huge so not everyone will be located near an NFL team or an NBA team or an NHL team. So the next best thing is likely to be college sports.

Click to expand...

The US pro sports system is set up in a way they wanted to set up the ESL. No surprise a lot of the American owners were in the talks. The concept of relegation and being punished for poor performance is alien to them and they want that loophole closed. If they started shit in the ESL they could just decide to tank that for a season and concentrate on domestic league as they'd still be in ESL next season.

US franchises are basically an excuse for owners to print money - if they don't make enough they threaten to move the team. If they want new stadiums/infrastructure they massively lobby authorities for public funding or threaten to move and thus also make them unpopular with the voters. Fans are fiercely loyal because the team could leave and either don't seem to realise or care they're basically being used to harvest money.

Trouble I have with the college games are that the players are paid absolutely nothing because 'they're getting an education'. If they paid them they could afford the education and have more left offer. It's a bit of a racket because the kids need the exposure to get in the draft etc but some of them could be earning millions in sponsorship/image rights etc but they're not allowed. The colleges however can cash in on them. Some of these colleges have got ridiculous stadia and equipment, plus pay stupid money to coaches in order to spend the huge amounts of money they bring in

Plus for the top up-and-coming players it's all about getting them into their system for the sport - the education is an afterthought for them and often not worth a great deal if they don't make it.

Basically, a lot more people go to University than live in a city with an NFL team. Someone in Alabama would need to travel hundreds of miles to watch a pro game, or travel in-state and go see Alabama or Auburn. It's also a lot easier to feel connected to the team of a University where you studied for 4 years.

Also being a college football fan is a lot of fun. The tailgating (pre-game fan parties) last for hours and people cook, drink and play games in the parking lot of a stadium with their friends and family.

I started following Miami because of the ESPN 30-for-30 documentary. They have a fair few on college football and all are a good watch.