Keith Strudler: NCAA Football Playoff Aftermath

The easiest way to ensure victory upon exit is simply to declare it so. Especially when success is a question of perception, it never hurts to proactively write history. It’s kind of the opposite of cut and run. It’s cut and win.

For now, that’s what the power brokers are doing around the first ever college football playoff, which ended Monday night with an Ohio State win over a favored Oregon squad. This isn’t a hard narrative to craft. For starters, the game pulled the second highest ratings in college football history, trailing only the 2006 Rose Bowl featuring Texas and USC. And it did set a cable TV record, as much as those distinctions still matter. The two semi-final games on January 1^st pulled nearly the same number of viewers, making the package a strong sell for ESPN. College football hasn’t reached NFL playoff numbers as an aggregate, but they’re much closer than you’d expect for the so-called minor leagues. And they’re ahead of both the NBA Finals and the World Series, essentially making college football America’s second favorite professional sport.

Beyond the numbers, college football administrators can laud the process, which came under endless scrutiny throughout the season. The committee that picked the four playoff squads can take considerable pride in the fact that the one questionable pick ended up winning the whole thing. And everyone in the business can rejoice that two teams outside of the seemingly indestructible SEC played for the trophy. So perhaps this playoff might renationalize a game that was starting to feel a bit too regional. For college football, this playoff was one step towards the NFL, one away from NASCAR and Ice Hockey.

So if that’s the case, then why are representatives of 10 major Division I conferences visiting the White House representing their new group called the Coalition to Save College Sports? If things are going so well, as everyone seems to believe right now, then what exactly needs saving? That would be like Bradley Cooper creating a committee to meet more women. It’s just not necessary.

Of course, this all comes down to your definition of “save,” which would be more genuinely replaced with the word “protect.” And that’s being generous. Of course, no one’s ever accused advocacy groups of honest labeling, especially since pretty much all of them use words like “save” or “freedom” or “fair” no matter what corporation they’re fronting. So if nothing else, the NCAA is by no means unique in its approach.

What the group seemingly wants, and understandably so, is antitrust exemption, not unlike some professional sports leagues in the US. That would likely allow big time college sports safe haven from the issue of paying their athletes market wages, or dealing with the potential of unionization. It might also allow them to more creatively create stipends or travel money or any of the other ideas you’ve heard about compensation. Basically, it’s a way for college sports to be professional without actually having to act professional. This, by all accounts, is how college sports intends to save itself.

Of course, there’s more to actually save when it comes to athletics on a college campus. There’s academic fraud, there’s a disappearance of men’s Olympic sports, there’s the conflicted relationship between the college and pro ranks, there’s heath issues, and so on. All of these may be part of the coalition’s agenda. But none of them will be as vital as preserving a model that is just as successful as it is unstable. It’s like riding a unicycle for most of us. It’s great while you’re up, but it just can’t last. This coalition is looking for a set of training wheels.

It’s not surprising that college sports would seek this kind of refuge. Who wouldn’t after the week they just had. They’ve got a lot to protect. What will be interesting is how the government will react. It’s hard to imagine a Supreme Court not rendering much of the NCAA’s activities as illegal. You only need eyes, not a justice, to see what happened Monday night wasn’t amateur. This coalition, potentially working with the President and congress, might be a safeguard against that. That’s the game, and those are the stakes. And while this college football playoff might have been an unmitigated success, this coalition is clearly aware of the law of unintended consequences.

Which makes it hard right now for college sports to fully declare victory. And why the Coalition to Save College Sports is not entirely that.

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