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)

  • @ToasterOverlordMEnglish
    3•3 months ago

    I don’t think my engagement has changed per se, but probably for a couple reasons.

    • I’ve never bet on a game, and have no interest in doing so. I like making predictions, although I imagine betting on my hobby would be like when I play poker: I tend to beat my poker friends but find it more stressful than when there’s no money on the line.
    • I didn’t follow cfb until I actually went to college so I think I missed the period cfb fans have the most nostalgia for. I have a hunch that if I had grown up with the SWC, I would be longing for that era. So the fan experience is probably degrading (probably moreso from other changes besides gaming), but its still good enough to keep me engaged.

    What I have always hated is the spread. Why does it matter if a team reaches some fabricated number? You either win the game or you don’t. The ugly side is when degenerate gamblers harrass players that allowed the other team to “backdoor cover.”

    Also, the XFL was egregious in its commentary last year, and I suspect eventually cfb broadcasts will openly talk about lines incessantly. When it gets to that point, I’ll mute the TV and find the local radio call instead.

    • g0d0fm15ch13fMEnglish
      2•3 months ago

      When it gets to that point, I’ll mute the TV and find the local radio call instead.

      You should do this anyway, honestly increases the quality of the broadcasts at least an order of magnitude. Bob Kesling isn’t even that great compared to the legend John Ward, but he’s miles better than the ESPN/CBS “A” teams that will only talk about the playoff and bama/tOSU and lightyears ahead of the B squads over on SECN.

      • @wjrii@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        2•3 months ago

        The homer takes on the radio broadcast can be a bit much sometimes, but so many classic calls only work coming from the local legends and their passion.

      • @ToasterOverlordMEnglish
        2•3 months ago

        I used to do that when I lived in Austin if the broadcast crew wasn’t great. They didn’t always sync up though.

        My pipe dream is someday we’ll have something like F1TV: a good FBS-wide dedicated streaming platform where you can choose what camera to watch (A22 please!) and different commentary options. Would be cool to switch between both local calls for a neutral game. Although I imagine getting the licenses for all of those things would cost extraordinary amounts of money, and probably is not possible in the current media landscape. But with the way things are heading, that might be one good thing that could come out of superconferences. And I would pay top dollar for it. I wonder if the NFL is already doing something like that.