LA Bowl host Rob Gronkowski calls out UCLA fans, praises Boise State fans

This year’s LA Bowl between UCLA and Boise State is hosted by none other than four-time Super Bowl-winning tight end with the New England Patriots, Rob Gronkowski. Not only did Gronkowski host the game, but prior to kickoff, he also sang the national anthem. But the Super Bowl-winning tight end wasn’t done making headlines there.

Shortly after halftime, with Boise State leading UCLA 16-14, Gronkowski shared a few thoughts about the two combatants and the location for Saturday night’s game — SoFi stadium in downtown Los Angeles, CA. And although the stadium is just down the road from the Bruins’s home campus, according to Gronkowski, you would have thought the Broncos were the closer in proximity program.

“College football is awesome. So many people love college football. We got two great teams here: UCLA [and] Boise State. Let me tell you, even though UCLA is 10 minutes away, Boise State has more fans here, in LA, at SoFi Stadium. And they are a lot louder than UCLA, too. I just gotta give them credit,” said Gronkowski.

Although the UCLA fans did not show up with the same numbers as the Boise State fans, the Bruins are still handling business in their home city. After starting the second half trailing by 9, 16-7, UCLA has since taken over the game, leading Boise State 28-16.

In the first half, the Bruins’ defense struggled to slow down the Broncos’ rushing attack. But in the second half, it is a whole different story. With less than 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, UCLA has allowed less than 20 yards rushing in the half.

Kelly calls for football to break away from other sports

Chip Kelly has been one of the most outspoken coaches about the impact of conference realignment.

Over the summer, the UCLA coach suggested football break away from the other sports and become independent — similar to the model Notre Dame has as an independent in football and an ACC member in its other sports. Those comments came after the Pac-12 effectively disbanded while the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC secured schools on both coasts.

But conference realignment isn’t the only issue in college sports at the moment. NIL and the transfer portal are also dominating the conversation, and the idea of revenue sharing with athletes is seen as the next big one. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is helping lead the charge to give athletes a slice of the pie, issuing that call again after the Wolverines made the College Football Playoff. President Joe Biden also discussed revenue sharing during a meeting with former college football players and advocates last month.

For Kelly, the idea of football breaking away and being on its own would present that type of opportunity. Instead of each league having its own media rights deal, he argued football would be under one TV umbrella. He even suggested having the “divisions” sponsored by different brands.

Either way, Kelly’s point was to ultimately give the athletes their share.

“I think if you went together collectively as a group and said there’s 132 teams and we all share the same TV contract, so that the Mountain West doesn’t have one and the Sun Belt doesn’t have another and SEC has one and they have another, that we all go together,” Kelly said during a Friday press conference. “That’s a lot of games, and there’s a lot of people in the TV world that would go through it. You can sponsor each one. Instead of calling it Group of Five and Power Five, you can call it Amazon, Nike, bid that out to things. A lot of different things.

“But I think if we still do the same thing and take all that money — and I would do this, and I think this needs to be done. That money now needs to be shared with the student-athletes, and there needs to be revenue sharing and the players should get paid and you can get rid of [NIL] and the schools should be paying the players because the players are what the product is. And the fact that they don’t get paid is really, the biggest travesty. Not that I’ve thought about it.”