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SALT LAKE CITY — For a sport that is plagued with a host of serious problems, college football continues to explode in popularity.
The final game, which saw Michigan claim its first unanimous national championship since 1948, enjoyed the second-highest college football audience of the season trailing only the program's overtime win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl the week before. Nearly 28 million people watched Nick Saban's last game as a college coach.
Michigan, coached by the lightning rod known as Jim Harbaugh, also attracted a gigantic audience (19.1 million) in its annual grudge match against Ohio State on Thanksgiving weekend. Charging more than $800,000 for each 30-second commercial, ESPN made $90 million in total advertising revenue in the national championship game.
Yet the perception exists the sport has a litany of problems that have prompted critics to insist it can't go on under present conditions. Issues include the rampant free agency through the transfer portal, players more hopscotching rosters for NIL (name, image, and likeness) and widespread opt-outs before bowl games.
Far from ever being a clean sport, cheating arguably is hitting record levels. NIL has created an atmosphere of poaching players off teams to the point that rosters undergo major overhauls each year.
Entrenched starters bolt for more cash seemingly on a whim, forcing fans to wonder if loyalty has become a one-way street. Then there's the case of Harbaugh, who was suspended twice for a total of six games this season for alleged rules violations.
"Right now, there's a lot of growing pains out there," longtime college broadcaster Tim Brando said during an interview with The Zone.
But few care enough to derail the sport's popularity. Ratings and revenue are soaring, leading to the belief that all the gnashing and wailing of teeth don't pack any punch.
"College football ratings are going up, up and up," Brando said, "and they're only going to get better with all the new realignment with all these different leagues."
For all the change in recent years, the landscape of college football will look dramatically different starting next season. The realignments that dominated the news cycles will take effect across several conferences this summer.
Several months after the announcement, it remains unfathomable to comprehend all that went down to destroy the Pac-12. The conference's demise was tied to expansion in the Big 12, Big Ten and ACC.
"I would combine chaos with bliss. As someone who loves the college game, and I do, I'm blissful because I see a lot of great matchups and good games with the realignment process," Brando said.
"The games that you watch during the regular season next year are going to be so much better, so much more competitive because of the realignment maneuvers. I know a lot of people out west understandably are sad to see the Pac-12 go away, but look, the league didn't take itself seriously enough.
"It was asleep at the at the wheel; it allowed a commissioner, Larry Scott, to drive it into a ditch and George Kliavkoff could not pull them out of the ditch. Now you have to seek refuge elsewhere in a place where they simply care more and take care of business in college football."
The postseason also is in store for a major overhaul, beginning with the impending 12-team playoff. The new format won't eliminate all selection arguments, but there will no outcries like this season when undefeated Florida State didn't make the final four.
More change is anticipated over the next decade, potentially including much of the sport breaking away from outdated NCAA jurisdiction. Conference commissioners along with the sport's powerbrokers could form a legislative body to create uniformity.
"There's no question that the sport has grown in the last 25 years," Brando said. "It's up to them now to make sure that they govern themselves and they do it properly and make the necessary changes so that we can get some guardrails for what's happening with complete free agency with the transfer portal and NIL. Why are we in the position we are with NIL and the transfer portal – negligence, dereliction of duty by the NCAA."
