If you follow intercollegiate athletics to any degree, you can see that the landscape is changing quite rapidly. For years, the mantra was like the recurring theme in the movie Field of Dreams. “If you build it, they will come” was the constant mantra in this fictional story starring Kevin Costner. Costner plays Ray, an Iowa farmer, that hears a mysterious voice telling him to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield. The promise is that great players from the past will reappear on the diamond to play baseball.
That same mantra has played out in intercollegiate athletics for the past 20-plus years.
Universities spent millions of dollars constructing larger stadiums, indoor practice fields, extravagant training facilities, and other expensive capital investments to lure prospective players and fans to their program. The prevailing thoughts were simply, “if we build it, they will come.” It was simply an “arms race” to out build your competitor.
With the introduction of NIL, collectives, and the transfer portal, things have changed. No longer are buildings luring prospective players. Capital investment is no longer the attraction. With players now effectively being paid to play college sports, the theme now is more in line with the movie Jerry McGuire. “Show me the money” is the famous line from this fictional story starring Tom Cruise. Cruise plays a slick sports agent that sets out to make a name for himself by landing his client(s) the largest financial contracts possible.
The theme “show me the money” seems to be the prevailing focus for college athletes as well as coaches these days. While coaching salaries have skyrocketed over the last few years, players’ “pay” has become the most impactful change. Players’ NIL deals and collective payments are six figure agreements in many of the larger schools. The financial resources behind the larger schools in larger markets have further separated them from smaller universities.
With smaller schools in smaller markets not having the financial resources to compete in the “pay for player market,” it will be essential for them to embrace the concepts depicted in the movie Moneyball. This true account of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Bean, played by Brad Pitt, tells the story of how Bean challenges conventional approaches to be competitive in a smaller market. Bean’s team does not have the financial resources to compete with larger market teams with more money.
While Bean is recognized for advancing the analytics concept into sports management, his approach went well beyond the analytical approach to a comprehensive change to challenge the norm and find unique ways to be competitive. The clear message from Moneyball was that a “me too” approach was not going to work. Challenging conventional wisdom will also be the key to smaller universities navigating through the changing world of intercollegiate athletics.
The universities that are willing to make a sober assessment of their identity, their opportunities, and their overall competitive landscape will be the ones that successfully maneuver through these changing times. In the movie We are Marshall, coach Jack Lengyel, played by Matthew McConaughey, rebuilds the Marshall football team after a devastating plane crash took the lives of most of the players and coaching staff. This true story is one of building a foundation based on identity! “We are Marshall” is the recurring mantra that unites not only a football team, but a university, and a community.
Four movies that help us understand the changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics. As I look back at those four movies, I wonder which of those leading actors would be best suited to star in my life story. Would it be Costner, Cruise, Pitt, or McConaughey? Four decent choices, but I think I might just have to play myself.
