College Football more like MLB than NFL

[MNSpaniel]

College football is more like major league baseball than like the NFL. In the NFL there is a salary cap. In MLB there is no salary cap and that is why you have so many haves and have nots. There is a lot of parity in the NFL because everyone has the same amount of money to spend.

It has always been a little like this but it is about to get much more like the Dodgers, Yankees vs the Twins and Royals in college football.

 

[MNVCGUY]

College football is more like major league baseball than like the NFL. In the NFL there is a salary cap. In MLB there is no salary cap and that is why you have so many haves and have nots. There is a lot of parity in the NFL because everyone has the same amount of money to spend.

It has always been a little like this but it is about to get much more like the Dodgers, Yankees vs the Twins and Royals in college football.

Honestly, I'm not so sure college football can get a whole lot more lopsided than it already is. If anything, these changes might allow a few more teams to join the party with the handful of elite schools, but it will still probably be a pretty exclusive group.

The NFL definitely has things figured out on the parity front. The NHL is probably up there as well. Even with a salary cap the NBA is lacking a lot in parity. MLB isn't even trying to keep things balanced.

 

[spermophilus]

Interesting that the sports league that generates the huge, oceans really, revenue/profits that it does, and hence market capitalism’s dream, rewards poor performance by awarding them the chance at the best new assets each year. Wealth rebalancing/redistribution, perhaps? Please note: this is NOT a commentary for one side or the other, just an observation.

 

[Gophers_4life]

NFL also has it so that the worst teams get the best chance at the best new players entering the league, and get to have them "cheaply" for the first four years, before the big payday with FA.

In major college football, not only is there no draft, but the richest teams can offer the most NIL and/or "improper" benefits/payments.


And now with the portal, you have guys trying to move up the ladder after a year or two.


It's quite the opposite of the NFL setup, and as mentioned means the best of the best are only going to be more and more funneled into the elite 15 (? if that?) programs around the nation, than they already were.

 

[Gophers1992]

I wish I could dig it up but someone at ESPN a while back wrote an article that laid out how the NFL really doesn't have more parity than MLB, and arguably has less.

Also, MLB does have a salary cap, just a softer one by way of a luxury tax. And salary caps are stupid anyway, and would be especially stupid in CFB.

 

[Gophers1992]

College football is more like major league baseball than like the NFL. In the NFL there is a salary cap. In MLB there is no salary cap and that is why you have so many haves and have nots. There is a lot of parity in the NFL because everyone has the same amount of money to spend.

It has always been a little like this but it is about to get much more like the Dodgers, Yankees vs the Twins and Royals in college football.

Psst, the Royals have a more recent WS win than the Yankees. So do the Astros, Braves, and Nationals. The SF Giants have won 3 WS since the Yankees last won one. The St. Louis Cardinals have the second most WS wins all-time. Not all the biggest markets there.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

It's even worse than MLB. MLB has a draft (it's of less importance) and when players leave you're usually able to build up your farm system. College football is the most polarizing.

That said, I'm hoping that the transfer portal almost works as a "depth cap" for the helmet schools. So far, I think it's been the case. A player who is a good backup at Ohio State is not just going to wait their turn to play. I've seen significantly more talent going from helmet school to non-helmet P5 than vice versa.

We'll see how it plays out though.

 

[disco]

I actually think that we may see the opposite. High ranking recruits to places like Alabama that end up sitting on the bench are more than likely going to take advantage of the portal to go somewhere to get to actually play.

 

[Gophers1992]

It's even worse than MLB. MLB has a draft (it's of less importance) and when players leave you're usually able to build up your farm system. College football is the most polarizing.

That said, I'm hoping that the transfer portal almost works as a "depth cap" for the helmet schools. So far, I think it's been the case. A player who is a good backup at Ohio State is not just going to wait their turn to play. I've seen significantly more talent going from helmet school to non-helmet P5 than vice versa.

We'll see how it plays out though.

This is key. As frustrating as the portal can be, I think it actually works to the benefit of "mid-tier" programs like ours. Guys who want to upgrade from G5 or FCS can move up (Gibbens), and guys who don't see the field at OSU/Alabama/Clemson/Oklahoma can move down and help us (Pinckney)

 

[disco]

Psst, the Royals have a more recent WS win than the Yankees. So do the Astros, Braves, and Nationals. The SF Giants have won 3 WS since the Yankees last won one. The St. Louis Cardinals have the second most WS wins all-time. Not all the biggest markets there.

Media market size:
Bay Area - 6
Atlanta - 7
Houston - 8
Washington - 9

You were saying?

 

[Gophers1992]

Media market size:
Bay Area - 6
Atlanta - 7
Houston - 8
Washington - 9

You were saying?

Correction, not small markets, but their payrolls aren't so far above and beyond the rest. 2020 payroll rankings, which I believe would be more accurate to the point being made:

Houston: 4 (I'll grant this was a bad example to use)
SF: 9
STL: 10
Washington: 11
KC: 26
Atlanta: 13

FYI Tampa Bay ranked 28 and they have been to two recent WS. CFB is way more of a haves vs have nots than any pro sport.

 

[MNSpaniel]

Psst, the Royals have a more recent WS win than the Yankees. So do the Astros, Braves, and Nationals. The SF Giants have won 3 WS since the Yankees last won one. The St. Louis Cardinals have the second most WS wins all-time. Not all the biggest markets there.

The Royals are a good example of the exception to the rule but the other teams you mention spend money a lot of money on free agents. Maybe not quite as much as the Yankees and Dodgers but most of those are much higher than the Twins or Royals. I don't have any facts to support that off the top of my head but they seem to sign big free agents.


P.S. See Gopher 1992 addressed some of this.

 

[Some guy]

College football is more like major league baseball than like the NFL. In the NFL there is a salary cap. In MLB there is no salary cap and that is why you have so many haves and have nots. There is a lot of parity in the NFL because everyone has the same amount of money to spend.

It has always been a little like this but it is about to get much more like the Dodgers, Yankees vs the Twins and Royals in college football.

There is more parity in champions in MLB than the NfL

 

[Gophers1992]

The Royals are a good example of the exception to the rule but the other teams you mention spend money a lot of money on free agents. Maybe not quite as much as the Yankees and Dodgers but most of those are much higher than the Twins or Royals. I don't have any facts to support that off the top of my head but they seem to sign big free agents.


P.S. See Gopher 1992 addressed some of this.

You're correct. I guess my overall point is that MLB results have not been nearly as lopsided as people like to believe.

 

[Gophers1992]

There is more parity in champions in MLB than the NfL

Correct, I think a large part of the haves vs have nots nature of the NFL is that a QB makes such a difference. Having a Brady/Manning/Mahomes/Rodgers basically sets you up for years of contention, and can cover a lot of other flaws.

 

[disco]

Correct, I think a large part of the haves vs have nots nature of the NFL is that a QB makes such a difference. Having a Brady/Manning/Mahomes/Rodgers basically sets you up for years of contention, and can cover a lot of other flaws.

Brady alone skews the stats on NFL parity.

 

[Goldmember]

Interesting that the sports league that generates the huge, oceans really, revenue/profits that it does, and hence market capitalism’s dream, rewards poor performance by awarding them the chance at the best new assets each year. Wealth rebalancing/redistribution, perhaps? Please note: this is NOT a commentary for one side or the other, just an observation.

It works because creating parity and competitive balance maximizes the product offering. It also makes the games more compelling.

What’s interesting is that the same teams that get those draft picks pretty much stay at the bottom wasting those picks for decades. So the “handout” doesn’t actually really help them at all. They get a big name and a lot of hope and hype, but almost never get much more competitive.