Don’t Watch the CFB Championship Game

There’s a psychological concept known as “delayed gratification” and I want to briefly argue that, even though you may love college football and love watching it at its best and most competitive, that you will receive more gratification by boycotting the CFB playoffs than by watching.

The original experiment went like this: kids were placed in a room with a marshmallow. They could eat the marshmallow at any time and ring a bell, and they were done. Alternatively, they could wait an unspecified amount of time for the researcher to return and they would receive two marshmallows. Watching the CFB playoffs in its current form is analogous to eating a single marshmallow.

This Stupid System Persists Because we Keep Watching

Like its fans, the NCAA also does not get the concept of delayed gratification. It allows for a system that lacks parity, competitiveness, and fun to appease their top performing programs. OSU, ‘Bama, and Clemson have a lot of fans, but their dominance over the rest of the NCAA has led to apathy among other fan bases. We know a thing or two about ennui.

If the NCAA were to make reforms that allow for greater parity and competitiveness, more people would watch college football and it would make more money. There is a clear precedent for this in the forms of the NFL and the NCAA Basketball tournament. However, the guys in charge of NCAA football are clearly football guys, not economists. They see that marshmallow (big chunk of money) in front of them and they can’t help but to gobble it up. They don’t realize that they could easily wait fifteen minutes and receive two marshmallows.

Part of the problem is that we fans keep giving the NCAA a marshmallow. If fanbases outside the two championship teams refused to watch the championship game, then it would be a ratings dud and they would be forced to take a hard look at their business model. The stupid system persists because we allow it.

“But I’m just One Person”

This is the common argument given against boycotts and voting. You are just one person, just one data point out of millions, but it takes many people making the same decision to enact change. That’s what happened to Clinton’s “blue wall” in 2016 and Trump’s “solid south” in 2020 (please accept this analogy as politically neutral and do not debate its merits below). As well as boycotting the CFB playoffs, encourage everyone you know to do the same thing. If they’re not a OSU or ‘Bama fan, it probably sounds reasonable. Do weird things like write extended message board posts on your favorite CFB message board encouraging others to boycott.

What if a Miracle Occurs and Michigan Makes the Playoffs?

Watch that, obviously.