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The Recession: The College Football Fan’s Best Friend

Feb 24, 2010, 9:04 PM UTC

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â†µWhether they're known as "guarantee" games or â†µ"body bag" games or, to Big Tenâ†µfans, "MACrifices", fans know nonconference games in which a small schoolâ†µcomes in for a paycheck and a beating by one word: boring. Scan theâ†µblogosphere every fall for an array of rants about ridiculousâ†µnonconference scheduling that no one on earth has ever disagreed with.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe laws of free-market economics don’t care, though, and thus have doomed fansâ†µof every program to regular games in which the opponent has little or noâ†µchance. Longtime holdout Michigan decided if it was going to play a I-AAâ†µteam, it was going to be a really good I-AA team. Everyone knows how thatâ†µworked out. But instead of going back to a I-A-only policy, Michiganâ†µjust downgraded the level of opposition. Last year they played Delawareâ†µState. This year they’ve got UMass. Even Notre Dame is downgrading itsâ†µeasy games from match-ups against the likes of Stanford, Washingtonâ†µState, and various service academies to the Western Michigans of the world. Theâ†µrace to the bottom is ruthless.â†µ

â†µâ†µBut where the rules of economics take, they also give. With attendanceâ†µslipping and small schools asking for â†µincreasinglyâ†µexorbitant payouts...â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Navy will receive an eye-popping $1 million for playing at Ohio Stateâ†µâ‡¥for the first time since 1931.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“I think $1 million is going to be the market price in theâ†µâ‡¥coming years,” Ohio State athletics director Geneâ†µâ‡¥Smith (pictured) says.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Arkansas State has signed for $1 million payouts from Auburn nextâ†µâ‡¥season and Virginia Tech in 2011. This season, the Sun Belt Conferenceâ†µâ‡¥team has guarantee games against Nebraska for $750,000 and Iowa forâ†µâ‡¥$900,000.â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µ...punching a bunny in the nose three times a year starts to makeâ†µlessâ†µand less sense.â†µ

â†µ

â†µThat's one reason the Pac-10, which has more attendance issues thanâ†µother big conferences, added a ninth game a few years ago. It's a reasonâ†µthe Big Ten keeps makingâ†µnoises about a ninth conference game despite itsâ†µmathematical impossibility. And it's a reason that Texas athleticâ†µdirector DeLoss Dodds is making noises about a ninth Big 12 game (andâ†µmore Big 12 basketball games) when not batting away Big Ten expansionâ†µspeculation: â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“I’d rather play more conference games,” Dodds said. “We don’t haveâ†µâ‡¥enough votes for that. We wouldn’t be buying so many games.”â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Dodds said he has trotted out the idea “a couple of times. Hadn’t hadâ†µâ‡¥much success. They know where we stand. Sometimes programs get down andâ†µâ‡¥want to play games where they can win more games. Those votes willâ†µâ‡¥always be against adding.”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µBowl eligibility is the hangup here. Going 3-6 against the Big 12 isâ†µa lot harder than going 2-6 when you’re Baylor. Even so, as the economicâ†µequation shifts from epic 63-point beatings to “competitiveâ†µgames” people “want to see played,” the chances that theâ†µfirst few weeks of the college football season are less bereft of meaningful games improve.â†µThanks, subprime mortgages! â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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