As great as it is, college football has never been a system of parity or equal opportunity.
Whether the top and playoff-bound teams were selected by the press, the BCS, or the College Football Playoff (CFP) Committee, college football has maintained a quasi-caste system reminiscent to the social systems of ancient Rome and India. It is a sport made for the elite, one which forgives losses by the rich and powerful institutions and punishes those beneath the high born Power 5 Conferences.
The college football landscape is a manifestation of social stratification, unfortunately maintaining more of a closed, quasi-caste system. Closed systems, such as caste systems, offer little to no chance of advancement in social position. Open systems, which include class systems and meritocracies, allow for advancement, growth, and movement regardless of your initial position. Sports should be a meritocracy, where reward and advancement are based upon performance.
But the structural organization and institutional behavior of the FBS college football hierarchy make a fallacy of this system.
From a sociological perspective, a caste system is one in which “people are born into their social standing and will remain in it their whole lives.” College football mirrors characteristics from this system in that programs are essentially born into their positions, and no matter their performance or talents, they are relegated to their current position and status through rankings rendered by a collective hierarchy.
While not a traditional caste system, college football’s quasi-caste system maintains its stranglehold through the CFP ranking system, one which is hotly debated and contested annually. 2020 was no exception as in early December, Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Ohio State remained in the top spots, and rightfully so. But shockingly, the 8-2 Florida Gators remained in the top seven despite losing to #5 Texas A&M and the unranked 4-5 LSU Tigers.
Did Florida have a good team? Definitely.
Did they deserve to be ranked above a then undefeated #9 Cincinnati (8-0), #11 Indiana (5-1) that almost beat Ohio State, or a then undefeated #12 Coastal Carolina team (11-0) who beat a previously undefeated BYU team (11-1) in a thrilling, last-second victory? Maybe.
But therein lies the problem. “Maybe” denotes uncertainty and opportunity, something college football’s quasi-caste system attempts to prohibit. Those teams aren’t big names, big programs, big draws, or teams from heavily favored conferences like the Big Ten or SEC. And it has nothing to do with their endowments or financial standing. Rather it ties back to legacy, hierarchy and a biased system.
Ultimately, Florida was destroyed by Oklahoma, 55-20, in the 2020 Cotton Bowl and two days later, in a thrilling 2021 Peach Bowl, Cincinnati of the American Athletic Conference (AAC) gave SEC fans a heart attack in their last-second 21-24 loss to Georgia. These games demonstrate why the college football power structure chooses to adopt a restrictive system and then reinforce it every year. In their view, teams like the Cincinnati Bearcats threaten the structure by rising above their station and they are compelled to quell these uprisings that exposed a flawed system.
It is an overt form of inequality and athletic social oppression, and, like a caste system, college football has also had its own issues with race and segregation.
Race, caste and college football
In 1970, two years after the end of the Civil Rights movement and one of the most pivotal years in Black history, the USC Trojans traveled to Alabama to take on the Crimson Tide and their legendary coach, Paul “Bear’ Bryant. This football game carried more significance than a mere battle between two great schools. No, there was much more to it. USC was an integrated team and featured an all-Black backfield that included Sam “Bam” Cunningham at fullback, Jimmy Jones at quarterback, and Clarence Davis at running back. Alabama was the exact opposite. Cloaked thoroughly in Southern, confederate history, Bryant’s Tide not only refused to recruit Black players, but they also refused to allow Black fans to enter Legion Field.
“In some ways, slavery never ended,” said John Giggie, an African American history professor at the University of Alabama. “It just simply was transformed into a program of white supremacy.” And Alabama, through the efforts of Bryant and his supporters, became the symbol of “American” values for white fans.
Symbolism is important to acknowledge because it is of crucial importance in a caste system. Isabel Wilkerson discussed its importance in her book “Caste”, using examples of Robert E. Lee, confederate flags, statues, and Nazi swastikas. In these instances, symbols represented men and movements that were racist, evil, oppressive and, ironically, defeated through joint efforts. In the case of Lee, his name lived on after defeat through Washington and Lee University in Virginia, elementary and high schools in states such as California, Texas and Florida, U.S. postage stamps, a monument in New Orleans and, according to Wilkerson, “some 230 memorials.” (Caste, page 337).
College football’s intimate relationship with symbolism is evident as institutions have chosen to honor those with checkered pasts through symbols. Bryant has a statue on Alabama’s campus. Twice in the last few decades, the University of Mississippi was forced to deal with periods of racial reckoning, first when they decided to ban Confederate flags from being flown at football games in the 1990s, and then when they removed Colonel Reb as their mascot in 2003. For non-college football fans, Ole Miss plays in the SEC, the same conference once dominated by Paul Bryant. But it wasn’t just an SEC issue as racism reared its head further north in the form of the infamous Notre Dame vs. Miami “Catholics vs Convicts” clash in 1988. These are just a few examples of the institutional racism that existed in college football at the school level. However, my focus rests on how the collective powers in college football established a closed system that created separation by institution instead of skin color.
Realignment and “sue for peace”
In 2005, Alex Smith and the Utah Utes destroyed the Pittsburgh Panthers in the BCS Fiesta Bowl, 35-7. In the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, the underdog Boise State Broncos shocked the favored Oklahoma Sooners, 43-42 on the now-famous “Statue of Liberty” play in the game’s final series. But the power structure’s worst nightmare occurred in 2007 when Appalachian State marched into the Big House at Michigan and shocked the world with a 34-32 victory over the #5 ranked team in the country, the first victory by an FCS squad over an FBS team in college football history. Some, including Sports Illustrated, considered it the biggest upset in college football history, one which dropkicked the Wolverines out of the top 25 rankings in its aftermath.
A few years later, in a period lasting from 2011 – 2016, we witnessed conference realignments, the rare unlatching of college football’s closed-door system, the elimination of the BCS for the founding of the College Football Playoff in 2014, and the establishment of the Power 5 conferences. The Pac-10 welcomed Utah and Colorado and became the Pac-12. Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers joined the Big 10, TCU and West Virginia joined the Big XII, Missouri and Texas A&M joined the SEC, WAC football ceased operations and Big East Football became the American Athletic Conference. Ironically, when the AAC was formed, it simultaneously lost its automatic qualifying bid as their best teams were purged by other conferences, which ultimately led to the formation of the Power 5 conferences and college football’s newest version of its elite quasi-caste system.
Coincidence? I think not. Vacating the former Big East’s Automatic Qualifier was a cunning move by an evolving power structure aiming to separate and consolidate power. It is one steeped in history, with roots that can be attributed to ancient Roman history and the act of “suing for peace”, a move meant to end a war and preserve some dignity for the parties involved, primarily those on the losing side. In the Punic wars, Rome and Carthage faced off three times, with Hannibal and Carthage suing for peace after the second war. Concessions were made, an indemnity was paid and power was stripped from Carthage. When applied to college football, similar actions were meted to various teams and conferences during the aforementioned period.
Utah is one example of a smaller team that benefitted from the “sue for peace” concept. Tired of watching the Utes defeat then top BCS teams (Pittsburgh in 2005 and Alabama, 31-17, in the 2008 Sugar Bowl), the Pac-12 sued for peace and offered them membership into their conference. Not content with plucking teams from other conferences, the Power 5 signed rich media deals which financially benefitted their member schools, and like Carthage after the Third Punic war, conferences such as the WAC and Big East ceased to exist.
To be fair, all conferences seek to maximize their power, ratings, and earnings potential, so they obviously want the best teams to be members. But when teams like Utah and Boise State took down BCS powers, the system reacted to address these “embarrassments”. Schools that successfully revolted against the system entered a period of “suing for peace” and were invited into the elite class while others moved into other conferences. Some conferences, like the AAC, were treated like Carthage and had their power stripped, all to ensure that these “upstarts” would not be able to challenge the 65 teams of the Power 5.
Show me the money
Ancient Rome’s societal organization basically boiled down to a two-class system: the rich (patricians) and not-as-rich (plebians). Their society allowed for upward mobility through financial gain, but it was really one founded upon, and divided between, the haves and have-nots.
In other words, it was about the money.
Like ancient Roman society, college football is all about money. The money schools generate through college football conference media deals, ticket sales, scheduling fees, “pay for play” games, licensing and sponsorships basically fund athletic departments, enabling schools to build new stadiums, hire high-profile coaches, and fund the majority of the other athletic programs at the school. According to Fortune, the Power 5 schools (combined) “reaped nearly $1.8 billion in profits from their football programs in 2018, for an average of $27.5 million per university.” When you consider that most of the Olympic sports at the college level actually lose money, you see the importance of college football. This was evident in 2020 when Covid wreaked havoc across college campuses, destroying dreams and programs.
Stanford had to permanently cancel eleven varsity sports programs in July due to the projected financial shortfall. Others, like the Big Ten and Pac-12, decided in August to cancel their football seasons out of a concern for the safety of their student-athletes. But in mid-September, after speaking with medical experts, the Big Ten reversed course and voted to re-start the season in late October.
“This is all about our student-athletes,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren. “The only focus and goal we’ve had for the last 40 days was to safely allow our student-athletes to return to competition so they can fulfill their dreams … to compete at the highest possible level.”
Yet the financial impact of a lost college football season cannot be overlooked in this decision. When schools in the conference such as Michigan, Indiana and Nebraska furlough athletic department staff and Iowa cuts four teams due to a projected budget loss of $60 to $75 million, one can only assume that the revenue generated from college football factored into their decision.
College football’s financial impact at any level cannot be denied. Even the Power 5 conferences have their own financial hierarchy, with a few elite schools dwarfing their conference opponents. Reviewing LSU’s athletic finances from 2016-2017 exemplifies the sheer power college football, particularly in the SEC.
Of the $56 million in profit generated by the football team, one-half went to funding the budgets of other university programs. That’s the power of college football, and that’s the power that enables it to protect and further reinforce the generally impenetrable walls of the Power 5 quasi-caste system, a group of conferences that, according to ESPN.com, raked in $6 billion in 2015, nearly $4 billion more than all other schools combined.
In 2019, as part of their 20-year rights extension deal which runs through the 2036 season and is worth $240 million annually, the partners launched the ACC Network. This follows similar actions by ESPN and the University of Texas on The Longhorn Network in 2011 (20 years, $300 million), and the formation of the SEC Network between ESPN and the SEC in 2014.
This past December, ESPN signed a 10 year, approximately $3 billion deal with the SEC for the broadcast rights to their football and men’s basketball games beginning in 2024. This is a monumental, six-fold annual increase over the $55 million CBS was paying the conference in their current deal which ends after the 2023 school year; granted, ESPN will be broadcasting all of the SEC football games on its networks, while CBS only had select games. But with the 14 conference members receiving $132.5 million total in 2008-2009, $624 million in 2018-2019 and a reported increase of $20 million per school annually beginning in 2024 (roughly $65 million per school), the rich will become vastly richer in three years.
In contrast, The Mountain West Conference (MWC) partnered with CBS to establish their own regional network, “The mtn.” in 2006, but that network ceased operations in 2012, and the MWC’s current media deal with ESPN pays each member roughly $1 million per year. The Mid-American Conference’s (MAC) 13-year deal with ESPN nets the conference $10 million annually that’s split between its 12 teams. The TV deals for Conference USA and the Sun Belt are the smallest, earning each member school roughly $500,000 annually.
The biggest non-Power 5 conference deal is the AAC’s 12-year, roughly $1 billion deal with ESPN, which equates to $83.3 million per year for the conference and just under $7 million annually per team.
College football’s standing, position, and muscle separate it from every other sport and the NCAA itself. It founded proprietary systems of judgment, the BCS and the CFP, and aggregated its power into the 64 teams of the Power 5. The only exception is Notre Dame, an independent whose tradition and popularity enable it to be the only individual institution with a national broadcast partner (NBC), thus grandfathering it into this quasi-caste system.
Time to televise this revolution
While many are content with watching the same teams play every year in January, some have expressed their frustrations over this unbalanced system. This includes AAC Commissioner, Michael Aresco, who went off on the CFP after the then-undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats were dropped down in the rankings behind three two-loss teams.
“I never thought I’d say it, but if this continues, bring back the BCS and the computers because it would be a fairer system than what I’m seeing now,” Aresco said in an interview on ‘The Paul Finebaum Show’ on the SEC Network. “This is the seventh year [of the CFP], and it does appear the deck is stacked against us and against other [Group of 5 teams].”
He blasted the CFP selection committee, stating it needs to do some “soul searching” and is “undermining its credibility with rankings that defy logic and common sense and fairness.”
After watching the Bearcats lose to Georgia on a last second field goal in the Peach Bowl, you have to agree with Aresco. And it’s not the first time that “upstarts” have dared to challenge and/or defeated teams in from the Power 5.
In the 2013 Fiesta Bowl, UCF of Conference USA defeated the Baylor Bears of the Big XII, 52-42.
In the 2014 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State of the Mountain West Conference took down Arizona of the Pac-12, 38-20.
In the 2015 and 2017 Peach Bowls, Houston defeated Florida State 38-24 and UCF beat Auburn 34-27, respectively.
Yet despite their recent success, these plebian teams remain ostracized from the four-team college football playoff, which is seemingly reserved exclusively for the patrician teams.
Rulers in ancient Rome understood how to manage their society’s system. Give the people bread to silence their grumblings, quell potential protests and maintain the social status quo. College football rulers understand this practice as well. Let smaller teams eat through “pay for play” games and Top 25 rankings during the regular season but restrict them from being considered for the CFP in December. Feed them the bread of post-season bowl games but reserve the seats on the dinner dais in January exclusively for four teams from the Power 5. That’s how you satisfy the masses while limiting dissent, restricting upward movement and maintaining your position.
So how can schools combat this closed system? Following in the footsteps of Utah is one way but expanding the CFP to eight teams and mandating that two teams be from non-Power 5 conferences is a more equitable approach. Yet that would create a new opportunity for the power structure to be challenged and possibly defeated, and that’s a scenario that this current system seeks to prevent.
This is not an attempt to bash college football, but rather to highlight a path to balance the scales and bring parity to a system that is supposed to be a meritocracy. When the Cincinnati’s of college football are granted a legitimate opportunity for inclusion in the CFP in September and December, it creates a trickle-down effect that can positively impact recruiting, TV ratings and financial windfalls for every conference in the FBS. Otherwise, the Power 5 should formally (finally) announce that they are creating a separate division outside of the FBS.
But maybe those like Commissioner Aresco, who recognize the inequity and inequality in the sport and refuse to be silenced, can help foster change.
“If it continues to be the way it is, then you really don’t have a path,” said Aresco in that interview. “It looked like, at one point, Cincinnati might have had a path. We’re not satisfied anymore with just playing on New Year’s Day when we have teams this good.”
“I guess I could channel George Orwell [in] ‘Animal Farm'” he continued. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’
College football’s quasi-caste system might have changed titles from BCS to CFP, but the institutional bias, preventative access, and symbolism that the CFP system represents maintains the current societal structure.
Equality for all, but more equality for a select few.
