A super college football league? Bet on it
And it won't be just college football
Good morning, all! I hope your Thursday is off to a great start.
The CBS-owned website 247Sports is speculating we could see a super college football league in our lifetime. And it is not wrong! The settlement between the U.S. House of Representatives and the NCAA, according to the website, has opened the door to a super league, and I cannot agree more.
Why a super league you ask? Money! You think college sports is a ratings winner on television now? Wait! A super conference or league would rake in mucho bucks for all the parties involved. Gone will be the days of watching the top college teams fatten up on playing the low-ranked college schools early in the season. Every weekend matchup will be top notch.
As it is now, college football blows baseball away in the ratings. Imagine the numbers when every matchup is big time? Then throw in the betting aspect and you have a win-win all the way around. 247 Sports is not wrong and guess what? It is not going to be just football. The pooh-bahs will also take over men’s college basketball and its much-coveted NCAA Tournament.
The college sports landscape as we know it continues to change before our very eyes. The seismic shifts will continue, as sure as an earthquake shook New York City on Wednesday morning.
Here are some other thoughts that crossed my mind for Thursday, August 7, 2025:
Speaking of seismic shifts, it’s all making sense now. ESPN takes over the NFL Network and Red Zone and also announces some of its programming will emanate from the NFL Network’s studio near So-Fi Stadium in LA. Remember, ESPN announced earlier this year it was shutting down its LA studios. Why not? It makes little sense to have two studios in LA.
So the NFL sells its network to ESPN, with part of the deal giving the NFL a stake in ESPN. Now comes word that the NFL has a share of Skydance, which just merged with CBS’s parent owner Paramount. That means the NFL has a stake in CBS too. The NFL is adept at spreading its TV contracts among all the networks. It’s a safe bet CBS and ESPN will be getting some of the action in the next round of NFL TV deals.
Speaking of which, more and more I am beginning to wonder if ESPN, which opted out of its TV deal with MLB after this season, will be on the outside looking in with baseball. Remember, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said he was negotiating a new TV deal to replace ESPN, with NBC, Apple TV and ESPN. I could be wrong, but I would be surprised if ESPN’s relationship with MLB will continue, now that the all-sports network is totally in bed with the NFL. It’s head-over-heals relationship with the NFL was one of the reasons that ticked off Manfred about ESPN’s baseball coverage.
Incidentally, ESPN is about to announce later this month a new direct-to-consumer offering that includes the NFL. That was the reason ESPN wanted in with the NFL; to enhance its DTC package. Streaming is in. Cable-TV is out.
Thank you for subscribing and have a great day!
DAN