Was lurking a bit at the old place, and there was a thread asking who had never bet on CFB*, but the discussion went more into how legalized sports betting has affected fans’ engagement with college football. I am in a weird place, as I can’t come up with a lot of good reasons to specifically ban it when so many other forms of gambling are legal. It can also of course be done to a healthy degree, and even if someone is enthusiastic and engages with the sport in a gambling-centered way, who am I to say that’s “wrong”?
That said, I do fucking hate it at a personal level when people care more about the lines and the spreads or how their fantasy roster is doing in contrast to the rivalries and the stories and the analysis as a competition. I feel like these people, and particularly the media catering to them, are nudging team sports closer to the liminal space currently occupied by boxing and horse racing, where there is a hardcore base dedicated to the sports themselves, but the broad appeal is for gamblers and the occasional looky-loo spectacle. I can’t argue for any particular measure to stop it, but I sure don’t have to like it.
So, for those of us still hanging around in the very stupid offseason we now have with no real transfer restrictions and plenty of NIL to push players to leverage that fact, how has the explosion of sports betting affected your relationship with CFB?
(* - One $10 bet, well before 2022, on TCU to win the natty while in Vegas for other reasons, and one very boring season of buy-in fantasy football, though now that I type it, I guess that was betting on the NFL)
Maybe I’m overly sensitive to it, but I get an increasing sense that I’m being told I’m “doing it wrong” by not wanting to bet. It doesn’t make me want to bet though, just ponder the time investment I’m already making.
When cigarette advertising was legal they wanted you to feel cool if you smoked. When alcohol advertising was legal they wanted you to feel like you wanted a beer to enjoy a party. There’s nothing different with sports betting. They want you to feel like it’s part of the game, and you’re missing out if you’re not dropping a few bucks on every game. A lot of people are susceptible to this. Most people were fine without betting on sports prior to its legalization. Only difference now it’s the influence of the ads.