It’s an issue schools shouldn’t ignore
Right now Syracuse Orange fans are dealing with the highs and lows of the new college athletics landscape.
On one hand, Fran Brown has used the transfer portal and NIL to reinvigorate the football program. On the other hand, Adrian Autry has watched five members of last year’s squad hit the transfer portal. If you read the comments here and elsewhere online, the word “loyalty” gets thrown around a lot, and many fans aren’t crazy about the major roster turnover.
Athletes having the ability to earn money (and change schools without penalty) is a good thing, but it also takes away something that appealed to college sports fans- watching athletes grow over a three to five year period. College sports has lost something which made it different than the pros. I understand that it’s a tough adjustment, but do the schools?
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When you ask Syracuse fans to talk about their favorite players you get many responses which highlight the affinity that grows over time. We think about players like Hakim Warrick or Zaire Franklin who went from overshadowed recruits to professionals. We look at the legacies of Gerry McNamara and Eric Dungey, athletes who could win elections to be Mayor or Onondaga County because of what they did over four years in Orange.
Winning can gloss over some of these feelings, but if you turn over your roster on an annual basis and you aren’t winning you become the college version of the Jets or the Nets. Putting fans in those new Dome seats becomes even more of a challenge, and that’s before you get to the current NIL landscape.
Colleges have spent the last few months pleading with fans to donate to their NIL collective(s). Dollars that fans might have spent on tickets or merchandise may be headed to athletes directly, which is great for athletes, but long-term isn’t helping the schools. Boosters have heeded the call to fund rosters, but how long will they show their support without a strong return on investment?
As schools continue to look for ways to generate more revenue, they need to avoid making the mistake that many have made. Fans of college sports enjoy winning, but many enjoy the aspect of sports that we don’t get elsewhere- the rivalries, the histories, the feeling of watching their own grow before their eyes.
If schools don’t listen to what’s being said now, they might find it harder to lure fans back in the near future.