r/CFB • u/Thomallister1291 Oregon Ducks • Alabama Crimson Tide • 1d ago

News [Pete Thamel] Per sources, the amount Fox is expected to get back for the cancellation of the Big Ten title game, which it owns the television rights to, is estimated in the $50 million range annually.

https://x.com/PeteThamel/status/2111241297298387030
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105

u/I_Enjoy_Beer Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 1d ago

Can I just get one fucking sport that I want to watch?  Is that too much to ask?  They've ruined the NFL.  NHL games that are remotely interesting are buried behind paywalls, if even available.  Now college football is going to be the same watered down commercialized bullshit that they've done with the NFL.

Goddammit, I just want one fucking sport I can reliably watch every week with some kind of soul to it.

25

u/awmaleg Iowa Hawkeyes • Arizona State Sun Devils 23h ago

MLB Baseball has been really good since the Pace of Play changes that Manfraud stumbled bass ackwards into

25

u/AtiumCollector Maryland Terrapins 21h ago

Great just in time for there to be no MLB season next year

0

u/jhamels 16h ago

Nah TV deal renewals are coming up. The owners can’t risk their ratings dropping from an extended lockout. That would hurt their bottom line the most as the TV deals are where they get the most money from. There will be a season maybe closer to 150 games or so. The owners are too greedy to let the valuation of their clubs drop from crappy TV deals.

2

u/SCIPM Notre Dame • Indiana 19h ago

I agree, but as a cubs fan not in the Chicago market, the games are nearly all blacked out though. Used to be able to watch on marquee (or RIP WGN)

1

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 22h ago

Minor league baseball is where it's at.

2

u/AdBoring5565 19h ago

Hipster ass comment

1

u/KingOfWickerPeople Georgia Bulldogs 14h ago

I wouldn't know. My team is behind a paywall

11

u/Intelligent_Dress347 Alabama Crimson Tide • Georgia Bulldogs 22h ago

I love the NFL, personally. 

19

u/originalusername4567 Kansas Jayhawks 1d ago

College Volleyball is in a great spot right now.

3

u/msimon82 Pittsburgh Panthers 23h ago

Hey that’s where my school wins! 😂

2

u/originalusername4567 Kansas Jayhawks 13h ago

We know, unfortunately

1

u/SwaglordHyperion Nebraska Cornhuskers • Texas A&M Aggies 21h ago

Yessir!

1

u/originalusername4567 Kansas Jayhawks 13h ago

Husker bros better watch out, Taylor Stanley is a generational talent and KU runs in her blood so she's likely staying the full five years

11

u/AdamOnFirst Northwestern Wildcats 14h ago

“They” have “ruined the NFL”

7

u/sourcreamonionhummus Oregon Ducks 12h ago

seriously what is this person talking about

5

u/tehjarvis Ohio State Buckeyes 1d ago edited 1d ago

IPTV. I've been using it for years. EXTREMELY cheap and you get literally everything. I don't mean every game. I mean everything. Well, except Chinese and Japanese TV for some reason.

I can watch any game I want and if all the games suck, watch Dexter's Lab in Russian. Russian dubs are the funniest. Or watch ANY regional network channel. It's amazing.

2

u/Capta1nKrunch /r/CFB 23h ago

Any suggestions? Everyone I get is usually scammy or goes down within a couple days and they disappear.

1

u/PorcelainTorpedo Notre Dame • Arizona State 22h ago

I’m not who you’re replying to, but z2u dot com and search IPTV. Use Apple (or google) Pay. Watching everything for about $5/month.

1

u/Hobo__Joe Ohio State • Austin Peay 13h ago

For sports, check s4u subreddit, been using them for years

1

u/Individual_Holiday_9 23h ago

Which do you use. I tried Apollo and cancelled it once I didn’t need Sunday ticket and they called me 5 times a day trying to get me to renew. It was scary

4

u/KnotAlreadyTaken Georgia Bulldogs 21h ago

I feel you, man. I’ve had to pony up for YouTube tv so I can see all the NHL games I want. For me and college football, this season is my most disinterested ever.

Several weeks back, I was up late working and watched Clemson play an ACC conference game… in California. We’ve blown was past peak absurdity in cfb now

3

u/jpetrie18 Boise State Broncos • Gonzaga Bulldogs 21h ago

Honestly? If you have a good small-college team nearby, get season tickets and go. I happen to live about 4 miles from the top-ranked NAIA team in the nation, and their games are so much fun. The level of play isn’t as high as your flair (in my case, they’re equivalent to a top 10-20 D2
team per SP+), but there’s still a sense of community and some level of pageantry (even if it leans a little camp) that makes it all worthwhile.

Also, I can take the wife and 2 kids and tailgate all season for a little over $200.

9

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 22h ago

For professional sports, MLS isn't too bad. Just sucks they decided to go to a fall schedule and kill attendance and viewership for clubs affected by football. See: Columbus.

3

u/a5ehren Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets • Team Chaos 15h ago

Syncing the calendar with global soccer and having the stretch run/playoffs in Spring is a net positive, imo

1

u/Smoocci-Mane Arkansas Razorbacks 21h ago

Spitballin’ here. If we get any more changes: Summer playoffs ending in july

3

u/spicyhospice 1d ago

The ocho.

1

u/Huge-Internal6456 Oklahoma • Tennessee State 1d ago

Tire wrestling, truck wrestling, and kickball are more fun to watch than they should. 

3

u/e3super Alabama Crimson Tide • Team Chaos 21h ago

I don't know if people who have been watching it for many years feel the same way, but AFL football in Australia has been fantastic every time I've watched. There's the obvious time zone issue, but if you can handle watching replays or staying up, it's a really fun sport.

5

u/Calithrand Oregon State Beavers • Platypus Trophy 23h ago

I enjoy starting my weekend mornings with Premier League games on Peacock. There's a certain charm to European football league scandals that just doesn't exist over here :)

4

u/a5ehren Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets • Team Chaos 15h ago

Ah yes, the league where half the teams are owned by murderous oil barons or Russian oligarchs

1

u/Calithrand Oregon State Beavers • Platypus Trophy 12h ago

Like a said, a certain charm!

6

u/smitherenesar Pac-10 • RPI Engineers 1d ago

Try college hockey?

9

u/Acceptable_Owl2618 1d ago

More paywalls.

Michigan hockey plays on Big Ten Network, Big Ten Plus, NCHC TV, ESPN+, and I’m sure other networks this season.

1

u/Weak-Bid2774 Michigan • Northwestern 1d ago

Right now number 1 and number 2 are playing in college hockey and it’s almost impossible to watch the game

1

u/smitherenesar Pac-10 • RPI Engineers 15h ago

https://nchchockey.com/tv/subscriptions?
$35/mo for niche content...
Probably not with it unless it really had all the games for your team

9

u/seeingRobots Nebraska Cornhuskers 23h ago

MLS? At least it’s ok for the time being. Not the best quality of soccer on the planet. But some of the teams are like-able. Small stadiums and very few commercials.

The “ultras” for teams like LAFC that’ve only been around a few years are weird. And Miami and its fans are extremely unlikable. But those are the outliers.

I think there is still plenty to like.

You do have to get over the weird European knock-off names like Real Salt Lake and DC United.

They also have a tendency to schedule all games within two time slots each week. But, at least they are on Saturday evenings and not at the crack of dawn like the EPL or in the middle of your workday on Wednesday like the Champions League.

Edit. I forgot to mention the expanded play off that makes almost all regular season games pretty inconsequential. Which is kind of a feature, not a bug. It’s no big deal if your team loses a game.

5

u/alwayz Rutgers Scarlet Knights 15h ago

I'm an MLS fan and my team is owned by an energy drink and ships their best young players out as soon as they show promise. We used to compete until ownership realized they just wanted access to the local talent pool for their global franchises. Our biggest rival plays in baseball stadiums and is owned by a middle eastern country. Every new team that comes in is named united or sc, which reflects the dearth of creativity possesed by the league. The tickets used to be the best value in the tri-state but the prices have increased and the in-stadium experience only gotten worse since covid. Its not all sunshine and rainbows.

1

u/tws1039 Maryland • Arizona State 12h ago

Red Bull NY gave me free tickets after the World Cup, good seats too against Orlando

Those same seats are now $650 when Miami comes into town this month. I get it's Messi but cmon now yall

6

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 22h ago

MLS is a top 15 league minimum worldwide despite the fact it's in a country (and Canada) where it is not the default best league in the world. It has it's flaws but is still chaotic. Basically it's a fairly balanced league due to salary and roster rules.

2

u/Calithrand Oregon State Beavers • Platypus Trophy 23h ago

RCTID!!!

2

u/hm_rickross_ymoh Maryland Terrapins 21h ago

There are hundreds of teams all over the world with the word United in their name. How is that at all strange? 

2

u/SchleppyJ4 Alabama • Delaware 16h ago

As a Union fan, I’m having fun right now :3

2

u/nickleback_official Texas State Bobcats 12h ago

I wish the MLS would appeal more to Americans. Like I live in Austin and it’s Austin football club? The fuck is that? Austin SC is right there if you really wanted to do that but still just be American about it and give them a normal ass name like all the other sports. Oh and they sell scarves. Like who the fuck in Austin Texas is wearing a scarf? No one. Really big miss from the MLS in my opinion bc if we wanted European soccer we would just watch that.

2

u/seeingRobots Nebraska Cornhuskers 3h ago

At least Austin had some cool merch though. The Yeti tie in seems vaguely relevant and you’ve got Howler Brothers collabs.

I keep laughing about the Dude Wipes sponsorship on the NYFC jerseys. I would wear a shirt that says Dude Wipes on it if you pay me. But that amount of money is definitely timely much greater than zero. I can’t even imagine being a fan and voluntarily buying one of those jerseys.

1

u/8footpenguin Notre Dame Fighting Irish 22h ago

Real Salt Lake and DC United? Lol, good god that's cringy as hell.

3

u/Smoocci-Mane Arkansas Razorbacks 21h ago

Not wrong, still great to have

0

u/_pamela_chu_ San José State Spartans 13h ago

Buddy, your mascot dresses up in full leprechaun garb. Cringe is built into college football.

1

u/Otherwise_Awesome Michigan • Tennessee Tech 18h ago

How dare you not mention Nashville SC whatsoever

1

u/a5ehren Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets • Team Chaos 15h ago

MLS playoffs are already too big. Like a cheeks team like ATL is only 6 points out of a spot

1

u/Toto_LZ Troy Trojans 13h ago

USL fans rise up.

1

u/Lazulott Northern Arizona • Notre Dame 8h ago

Even more based if you go find your local USL team

-1

u/N226 St. Cloud State • Notre Dame 16h ago

I think they were referring to real sports, that would be like suggesting watching the WNBA

3

u/ProfessorBeer Nebraska • Valparaiso 15h ago

Grow up

2

u/ZealousidealScheme85 Alabama • Tuskegee 1d ago

Boy do you have the flair to pick up college wrestling for

1

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 22h ago

I lived a brief time in Tennessee and the new sport that was gaining momentum there was wrestling. Kind of a shock, given how learning how to take down another person wouldn't be popular given the obsession with football. There is a reason why it's big in the midwest, it is a sport football coaches send all their defensive players to if they can't play any other winter sport.

6

u/OstrichSpiritual8536 1d ago

I love hockey but I have no idea how to even watch anymore it’s insane. NFL is all about gambling/fantasy and college is being watered down. PE ruined Jersey Mikes.

3

u/metallicaset 21h ago

PE ruins everything

2

u/Mesothelioma1021 Temple Owls • Penn State Nittany Lions 15h ago

The NHL is on ESPN & TNT, it’s not that hard to find.

2

u/qcthunder Iowa Hawkeyes 22h ago

Every PWHL game is shown on regular YouTube in the U.S. Try it!

1

u/Big-Water-8986 13h ago

You can buy the center ice package if you have cable. Yeah it costs money but you get EVERY game.

3

u/qcthunder Iowa Hawkeyes 22h ago

When MLS went behind the Apple TV paywall, I started watching the NWSL on ion, Prime and CBS and really enjoyed it. Smaller league and easy to follow on weekends (but with expansion this season, more Wednesday games started). But soccer might not be your thing.

You mentioned hockey, though. The PWHL shows all of their games on regular YouTube, and that's a fun time in the comments. The league is just about to start its fourth season. It's good and the fanbase seems strong. There are four new teams this year, so you can get in on the ground floor with one.

And the WPBL was a short commitment to watch on ESPN+ over a couple months in their just-concluded inaugural season, which was played entirely in Springfield, Illinois despite having teams representing LA, New York, San Francisco and Boston.

Yes, all women's leagues. But you asked for less commercialized BS and more soul. These younger leagues still have something that the big guys lost. And they are affordable to attend – for now. The players are still accesible. With success and growth comes all of the stuff you don't want – just look at the WNBA right now.

Minor league baseball is easy to follow on a weekly basis, since teams now play a weeklong series with the same opponent to ease travel.

If not, the NFL is still really easy to follow on free (with an antenna) broadcast stations. It's still the lowest bar for casual fans. Good luck!

6

u/ExcellentBread Team Chaos • UMass Minutemen 20h ago

Not sure if you were aware but recently Apple TV removed the MLS package and put all the games on the regular subscription tier. So for $15 you get every MLS game in addition to all the shows and movies and whatever else.

2

u/rougehuron Michigan • Eastern Michigan 1d ago

Golf

2

u/tehjarvis Ohio State Buckeyes 23h ago

I watch chess and find that fascinating. I watch Judo and can watch about any kind of grappling. I can watch boxing matches from the era of black and white television. I've sat down and watched cricket and did not know they can last 10 hours. But I, for the life of me, can't do golf. I wish I could. I can't even play it, I find it so dull. I'd rather do nothing than play or watch golf.

The same goes for any motorsport.

2

u/alan_11 Nebraska Cornhuskers 23h ago

What’s wrong with the nfl? Have you considered maybe you just don’t really like sports?

4

u/luisstrikesout /r/CFB 23h ago

My only gripe for the NFL is the international games & Netflix X-mas games. No games should ever be on Netflix. And always feel like Christmas belonged to the NBA.

1

u/Brick_333 Indiana Hoosiers • Wisconsin Badgers 22h ago

You should start watching Indycar! Has the raw racing of NASCAR without a wacky point system. Every race is equal and whoever gets the most points wins the championship! All races are currently aired on Fox too so easy to watch.

Otherwise can I interest you in AFL??? Gotta love some 2am footie

1

u/AnnArchist Iowa Hawkeyes 21h ago

Every NHL team played on like Thurs or Weds and in Canada none were OTA/Cable broadcast

1

u/dirty_old_priest_4 Virginia Tech Hokies 15h ago

Have you tried golf? LIV is dead now lol

1

u/Turbulent_End_6887 13h ago

Try watching the WNBA. Starts with worse refs than you can imagine, and goes downhill after that.

1

u/phineasforest Boise State Broncos • Platypus Trophy 13h ago

Premier league is pretty fun if you follow a small team

1

u/Thisguyamirightbro Georgia Bulldogs • Houston Cougars 12h ago

College baseball is my jam right now. I don’t think it will ever be popularized enough to ruin but it’s still pretty easy to access. NFL is ruined, MLB is trying really hard to kill there fun, basketball is a playoff sport for casuals. 

1

u/theJMAN1016 12h ago

Premier League my friend

That's where I turned during covid and I haven't looked back

1

u/fantfb Tennessee Volunteers 12h ago

If you like basketball, I highly recommend the WNBA. I fully expect it to keep expanding and eventually become a bullshit product like other sports. But at the moment it’s pretty entertaining

1

u/IMayBeJoeDrew /r/CFB 9h ago

what’s wrong with the NFL

-1

u/I_Enjoy_Beer Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 8h ago

Can't touch certain QBs, rules favor passing, 8000 commercial breaks, sterile broadcast teams, overall simply boring games.

1

u/quadsoffury Washington Huskies • Ole Miss Rebels 1d ago

Auto racing? Some easy spots to find the races online 

1

u/shibbyflash 23h ago

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t 90% of those almost based on qualifying times? I see all the time they’ve made the cars slower, courses harder to pass etc. I love the Netflix series but it’s a stark difference than the reality of a race weekend

6

u/TheLastHeron 23h ago

There's more out there than just Formula 1.

2

u/shibbyflash 23h ago

Honestly wasn’t even considering nascar and others lol. You right

2

u/e3super Alabama Crimson Tide • Team Chaos 21h ago

I'm not a personally a fan of NASCAR, but it is good if you enjoy it. For other American series, the IMSA Weathertech Championship is absolutely fantastic racing, and IndyCar is great, aside from the fact that Alex Palou is just better than everyone else, so he does feel a bit inevitable at times.

Outside of the US, the World Endurance Championship is great racing that aligns in most ways with IMSA, and a good number of teams cross over between them, so if you like one, you can really enjoy both. The World Rally Championship is absolutely, positively riveting, and is some of the most interesting and technically impressive driving in the world. Even my mom enjoys it, and she has absolutely no interest in motorsport or even cars in general. I personally also love Formula E, but it is one that I wouldn't expect everyone to love, because it's a bit of an odd form of racing. There are several other series that are beloved for different reasons, like DTM and NLS in Germany, Supercars in Australia/New Zealand, Super Formula in Japan, the Dakar and other rally raid events, among many others.

Also, for what it's worth, the racing in F1 is much less of a procession than in the previous reg cycle. The current regs have a ton of issues, particularly for longtime fans, but they've made the cars smaller and more nimble, so there is more close racing than there had been previously. There are always races, like Monaco, that have always only been about qualifying and always will be, but there have been some legitimately amazing races this year.

2

u/-Jack-The-Stripper Virginia Tech • Cincinnati 23h ago

I can’t speak for F1 but sportscar racing (the WEC and IMSA) are in the middle of a golden age right now, but admittedly some more “pure” racing fans would argue the changes that have led to this golden era have actually taken the purity out of the racing.

1

u/GiraffesRBro94 23h ago

How do you watch it

1

u/-Jack-The-Stripper Virginia Tech • Cincinnati 22h ago

Tbh the easiest way is to wait for races to be uploaded to the official YouTube channels. IMSA usually has the races on their channel ~5 days after, and the WEC is usually ~2 weeks (there are very few races on a sportscar calendar and they’re pretty spaced out, so this isn’t as bad as it seems).

If you want to watch them live then I think IMSA airs on some NBC channel. Commercials suck so fucking bad in sportscar racing though, so it’s one of those sports where people either use VPNs or pirate sites to find streams that air the international feed without commercials. I personally just avoid spoilers and wait for the YouTube video that shows the international feed anyways.

The WEC can be watched with some FIA streaming package that I’m not familiar with. I also just wait for the YouTube upload there.

1

u/MyFace_UrAss_LetsGo Ole Miss • Southern Miss 20h ago

For some types of racing like F1 yes.

1

u/ggweewee Random • Sickos 23h ago

F1 is the best to watch for me. One subscription to watch all the races (plus now mls and mlb as an added bonus) with ZERO commercials watching on F1TV.

Other series like NASCAR are painful to watch due to the spreading of races across multiple services over the course of a season plus the amount of commercials.

-1

u/RemarkableClient7052 1d ago

Money has ruined auto racing too unfortunately.

1

u/PugeHeniss Michigan State • Washington 23h ago

Futbol.

5

u/IrishDeacon Notre Dame • Wake Forest 22h ago

Soccer is more commercialized than actual football. Their players look like NASCAR drivers from all the ads. Yuck.

I thought Emirates and Qatar were teams until I looked at a map.

1

u/a5ehren Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets • Team Chaos 15h ago

Dropping the pretense of the shirt having any meaning makes it easier to focus on the game, imo.

1

u/spatchcockturkey UAlbany Great Danes 22h ago

Premier League

4

u/IrishDeacon Notre Dame • Wake Forest 22h ago

Gross. No parity.

-1

u/Technical_Customer_1 18h ago

As a PSU fan, sorry, but you’re permanently banned. It’s for the kids. 

Conference title games already sucked. The fact that the 2nd best team was left out due to divisions a significant amount of times is the most obvious answer 

1

u/Nearby_Valuable_5467 Penn State • Arizona State 18h ago

Go wrestling!!