Getty Image / Al Messerschmidt
When most of us were growing up, pretty much everyone took college football bowl games seriously. It felt like schools and players considered it an honor to play in any bowl game in a particular season.
That’s changed in a big way. The College Football Playoff has made non-playoff games feel like exhibitions. And, players are opting out of bowl games to avoid injury and protect their draft stock.
That’s caused some of these games to become a joke. Florida State had nearly a dozen players opt out of their 63-3 loss to Georgia in the 2023 Orange Bowl after being snubbed from the College Football Playoffs despite going 13-0.
It makes a lot of sense for players who are going to be high NFL Draft picks to not play in these games. Famously, former Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith was considered a potential top-ten pick in the 2016 NFL Draft before a horrific knee injury against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl made him drop to the 2nd-round and sapped him of much of his game-changing athleticism.
Fans used to not care as much about the opt-outs. But, now that those same fans and boosters are essentially funded player salaries through NIL collectives, and those same fans are the ones most likely to pay thousands to attend those bowl games, it’s bothering people.
Currently, NIL cannot be tied to participation. It’s pretty hard to write a contract for NIL earnings that forces a player to play in a bowl game. But, with reports that direct revenue sharing with the players is closer than ever:
Bowl Season director Nick Carparelli told @YahooSports in Phoenix that he expects NIL to soon come “in-house” and for athletes to sign binding compensation contracts with schools that will require them to play in bowls and CFP games, eliminating or greatly reducing opt-outs.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 1, 2024
Nick Carparelli's full comments on opt-outs: pic.twitter.com/tUKgEBEn6g
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 1, 2024
I think we can all agree that this would be a welcome change. Truthfully, I don’t think we were all that far from players opting out mid-season with their team still in playoff contention to protect their draft stock. That would’ve been disastrous for college football.
Hopefully, these changes will be implemented in time for next season.