College football poobahs like big bucks
The people who run big time college football decided to add more teams to its College Football Playoff series. Beginning in two years, the playoffs will expand to 12 teams. This is all about money, something the stars of the show, the players, will never see because for some reason college sports poohbahs will not pay college student-athletes. Some student-athletes can make some money off of their faces. But colleges and universities justify handing out almost full scholarships in exchange for the usage of athletes’ bodies and make some money off of them as a fair deal. The first round is scheduled for the week of December 21st, 2024, those games at home stadiums. The turn of the calendar six bowls will rotate quarterfinals and semifinals but the 2024 semifinal hosts will be the Cotton Bowl in the Dallas area and Orange Bowl in the Miami area. The national championship games will take place on January 20th, 2025, and January 19th, 2026.
The college football poohbahs know the stadiums will be packed for the additional games and they will be able to wring out more money from marketing partners and if that doesn’t work, there are other marketing partners to be found. But television might be a problem. The college poohbahs want money for the games where everyone gets paid except the players, the stars of the production. Disney’s ESPN is the sole rights holder for the College Football Playoff series through 2026. There has been a shakeup at Disney with Bob Iger returning as CEO. Will Disney buy the rights to the additional games in the expanded series? Or will those games go out to bid? Warner Bros., Comcast-NBC are cutting costs. If Disney says no to the additional games, that could mean the extra games end up on streaming services.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
