Sports

The NFL’s dominance over college football

Will Sharis, Photo Manager • September 16, 2019

The National Football League (NFL) continues its supremacy over college football as its popularity continues to grow with its superior strategies, fan interactions, and fair play format.

In a recent poll of the students that watch football in Pleasant Valley High School, 15 of the 21 students polled said they preferred to watch and follow NFL games. Those numbers match up with the national polls where approximately four times the number of fans watch NFL games compared to college football games.

One of the students in the high school that follows the NFL every week is Aditya Desai. “I find the NFL more interesting because of the various complex stratagems that are lacking in college football,” Desai commented, “College teams can often outplay each other based on pure talent, but in the NFL, it is more strategy-based.”

Because of his desire for a more strategic and thought-out game that college football lacks, Desai’s interest in the NFL lead him to play in three fantasy football leagues. “Fantasy football adds another dynamic to the NFL which other sports lack,” commented Desai. In fact, most of the interviewed male students that preferred the NFL also play in fantasy football where they compete with friends for fun or even prize pools.

The massive growth of this highly interactive market has created a fan base that not only watches the NFL for entertainment, but also for competitions. It also turns NFL games into not just games but an interactive experience that requires paying attention to not just a fan’s favorite team, but the entire league itself.

When talking about college football, Mitchell Strobbe summed up the general consensus of the sport among the NFL fans about college football.“There always seems to be the same top teams every year vying for the best bowl games while the bad teams stay bad,” Strobbe commented, “At least with the NFL, the worst teams now have a chance to be winning the Super Bowl four years in the future.”

Excluding the Patriots, there have been well over a dozen different NFL teams in the Super Bowl since 2000. One of the main factors behind this turnover of teams is the limited salary cap space that does not allow the rich teams to spend more money.

This type of system is non-existent in college which allows teams like Alabama and Clemson to have the highest chance of recruiting the best athletes. Instead of a +-predictable winner every year, the NFL has created a chaotic system where anyone can win which fans love.No matter what, college football often becomes a very similar season seen almost every year. However, the NFL has created a product that changes and interacts with the fans to create a unique, captivating experience.

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About the Contributor

Will Sharis, Photo Manager

One thing that any person could tell you about Will once you meet him is that he rows, a lot. But there is more to William than just his 2k, many awards and endurance. Will has three siblings, two older sisters and one older brother. He's also a genuinely nice guy, almost always laughing or cracking a joke/being sarcastic. He works hard in school, earning great grades and his favorite teacher is one-hundred percent Mr. Meyers. Unfortunately, and hardly known about Will is that he suffers from extreme back pain. It was a hereditary issue that has caused major impacts on his life, having to spend days upon days in the hospital. But he gets through it all with a smile on his face. Or with a deadpan look If he's tired from rowing. When Will gets older he wants to go to a great college and keep doing his sport. All in all, Will is an athletic scholar of a young man that has his fair of hardships, he has an admirable work ethic and a humorous attitude.