This is a fringe sports topic, but I imagine you’ll see the connection shortly. Paramount has upped their offer to buy Warner Bros Discovery to $30/share and an enterprise value of $102b. Paramount’s hostile offer is in response to Netflix agreeing to buy WB for $72b. Paramount (David Ellison) has thrown a hissy fit over the valuations, but in reality, this is simple. This isn’t a Make or Buy. David Ellison doesn’t wanna put in the Work. Ya hear me, dawg? What would Saban say? You gotta put the Work in. Ellison is trying to leverage his dad’s balance sheet into a media empire without putting the Work. CAN’T DO IT. But KMARK, didn’t Netflix buy their way to their own content strategy? Not like this. At least Netflix poured dollars into their own studio, funded the ops, and took a swing on building a content factory. At this point, they get to buy WB. If David Ellison wants the same title, use your billions and start Building. That’s the Sports Way.

Hand up! I made mistake thinking Duke would clinch a College Football Playoff spot. Duke won, but there’s no automatic bid structure in this current playoff format. The SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and ACC are likely to negotiate automatic bid(s) for next year’s 14 (or 16) team format. As for 2025, Duke is the ACC champ, but they’ll be watching from the sideline.

Yaknow who else is sidelined? Notre Dame. The Fightin’ Irish watched Miami jump into the Playoffs at their expense, despite ND holding a higher seed in each previously released playoff ranking. From Notre Dame AD, Pete Bevacqua:

“Hey, I get it. But these rankings shows, like, what's the point? Why send these signals and get the hopes [up] of these teams, these coaches, these kids on the team, that believe they're doing everything necessary. It just felt, in that room, a collective sense of the rug being taken out from under us, without any explanation.”

What’s the point? Notre Dame further removed themselves from any postseason football by refusing to accept a bowl bid. What’s the point?

There’s ten thousand angles to process, but the point is clear: college football bowl games are over. It’s one thing for NFL draft prospects to remove themselves. It’s worse if it’s just guys getting a jump on the transfer portal. It’s entirely different when whole teams decide December football isn’t worth it.

I don’t understand why. The incentives of all the parties involved seem to align. The television partners wan’t to fill programming space as people are home for the holidays and the sporting calendar is light. NIL-era players should want any opportunity to play on a national stage. Bowl games were/are the original NIL! Advertiser driven exhibitions that used to compensate teams and players with free goodie bags, travel and entertainment, and a competitive showcase. Why skip that?

Originally, the angst of this section plus Leading Off had me down. I’m not here to smear. And truthfully, the format outlined in the paragraph above gives me hope. Capitalism will prevail. The Pop-Tart Bowl will live to see another year! In all seriousness, I have written my way back into a more positive perspective. Consider 2025 the end of the bowl era as we currently know it, but look forward to a wider playoff next year, a recalibration of why December non-playoff ball is still worth it (3 different Draftkings Bowls), and just enough football to get us to January.