The Fleeting Freedom of College Sports Fandom
You’re going to yearn for this era of college sports, the one dripping with a "chaos" that, if we’re honest, secretly thrilled you. It captivated your attention, kept you on the edge of your seat, and most importantly, handed you, the loyal fan, a level of influence you’d never experienced before.
This period of college athletics, untethered, unrestricted, and bordering on the delightfully mad, will become a fond memory. You’ll miss the lack of boundaries, the exhilarating freedom to push the limits, to crank the dial to eleven without anyone telling you to slow down.
The defining characteristic of this era was the sheer power it granted to you, the fans. Your financial contributions, or lack thereof, dictated the market value of players, shaping team rosters and payrolls. You weren’t just a passenger in the clown car; you were practically behind the wheel, navigating the unpredictable landscape of college sports.
When your team achieved victory, you could bask in the knowledge that you played a part, however small, in their success. Perhaps you weren’t personally acquainted with the millionaire or billionaire donors, but you knew that your collective efforts, your shared passion, contributed to the team’s triumph.
You might have grumbled about the quarterback’s exorbitant salary or questioned the wide receiver’s market value, but deep down, you understood that your dollars made those paydays possible. And if the team faltered, if the on-field performance was lackluster, you had the ultimate power: you could close your wallet and withhold NIL donations until the university administration took action, like initiating a coaching change.
Even if you chose not to contribute a single cent to NIL initiatives and preferred to simply enjoy the games, that freedom was yours to relish. Contributing to NIL was entirely optional, a testament to the fan-centric nature of this era.
The winds of change are swirling around college sports, and the future remains uncertain. The exact shape of the next system is anyone’s guess, but one thing is clear: it will be vastly different. And I’m skeptical that fans will retain the same level of agency they’ve enjoyed in recent years.
Coaches relied on your financial support to build their rosters, but you were never obligated to open your purse. You held the power of the purse strings, and that power manifested in tangible ways.
Consider LSU’s recent offseason. The university’s dedicated donors and passionate fans significantly increased their giving, fueling a remarkable turnaround. As a reward for their investment, coach Brian Kelly assembled the nation’s top-ranked transfer class. Suddenly, the Tigers transformed into a legitimate playoff contender, perhaps even a national championship threat. This transformation was the direct result of a unified fan and donor base working together to achieve a common goal.
Gone are the days when a coach’s primary skill was recruiting prowess or the ability to discreetly slip money under the table in a fast-food bag. Now, fan dollars, gathered openly and transparently, facilitate roster construction.
The NCAA’s previous model of unpaid athletes is never returning, no matter how much nostalgia some may harbor. The courts deemed that old system illegal and dismantled it. Whatever emerges next will bear little resemblance to the landscapes of 2020 or 2024.
Athlete empowerment is a source of frustration for some within College Sports Inc., and coaches understandably yearn for greater control over their rosters. But their grievances extend beyond that. They resented relinquishing control to third-party collectives, the NIL groups bankrolled and operated by donors and fans that became the lifeblood of college football in recent years. Coaches and administrators would love to curtail fan power while continuing to benefit from their financial contributions.
Schools are actively attempting to bring NIL operations in-house, seeking to control the flow of your dollars.
Revenue-sharing is looming on the horizon, which translates to new expenses. If you believe that any significant administrative cost-cutting will occur to offset those expenses, I have a prime piece of Illinois real estate to sell you with a breathtaking mountain view. Expect at least some of the revenue-sharing costs to be passed on to fans. NIL donations were optional, but revenue sharing will be a more direct expense, manifesting as ticket-price hikes. Athletic directors may try to disguise these increases as "talent fees," but regardless of the label, the financial burden will shift more directly onto fans, even as your influence diminishes.
In the distance, federal bureaucrats are circling, eager to regulate college sports. College sports leaders are imploring Congress to impose government regulations that would curb athlete freedoms and diminish the influence that fans and donors currently wield.
I’m not suggesting that everything has been perfect over the past few years. Stanford competing in the same conference as Florida State makes little sense, and the unlimited transfer rule, allowing athletes to switch schools without penalty, is probably not ideal.
However, I suspect that fans may one day look back on these past few years as the "good ol’ days," a time that was underappreciated in the moment.
Coaches, administrators, and conference commissioners have repeatedly characterized the current state of college sports as "chaos," a "Wild, Wild West" created by unfettered athlete freedoms and unprecedented fan and donor influence. But I see it differently. Perhaps College Sports Inc. simply couldn’t tolerate the fact that you, the fans and donors, had become the sheriff in town.
