Paul Finebaum believes college football is at 'a very dangerous point'

Amid what some anticipate to be another transformative offseason for college football, there is growing consternation among fans unhappy with all the constant upheaval of the sport they love. As the host of the longstanding The Paul Finebaum Show, a daily call-in radio/TV show, Paul Finebaum is well-versed in these complaints.

It’s why the 69-year-old “Mouth of the South” is sounding the alarm one day after Big Ten and SEC administrators met Wednesday in New Orleans to discuss a joint proposal ahead of next week’s College Football Playoff Management Committee meeting to discuss the future of the CFP beginning in 2026.

During Wednesday’s episode of the Always College Football with Greg McElroy podcast, McElroy asked Finebaum if big-time college football has reached a point of no return that could alienate fans to the point they turn away from the sport en masse.

“I do think we’re at that point. While I don’t agree with a lot of the criticism about what’s happening in New Orleans or what will happen, I think the sport is at a very dangerous point,” Finebaum said on Wednesday’s episode of Always College Football with Greg McElroy podcast. “Whether you want to say college football is under assault, whether we are at the inflection point, the existential threat point, but I hear a lot of negativity from fans. Now most of them are older, most of them want to go back to a different era which I don’t want to. But there is no loyalty. That self-explanatory. Everyone knows that.”

Paul Finebaum ‘detected a turnoff this year’ from disgruntled college football fans

In an era where the NCAA Transfer Portal and NIL have completely reconstituted the college football landscape, and revenue-sharing with student-athletes is the next hurdle to be crossed later this Spring, many older fans have long yearned for the days when student-athletes remained with one school throughout their college careers, and played for what was colloquially called “the love of the game.”

Despite those concerns, Finebaum doesn’t see college football coming apart anytime soon.

“I still think college football is doing well, but I detected a turnoff this year, just from the daily interaction of what I do, just from talking to people,” Finebaum added. “But ultimately I still think Saturdays are pretty sacred. I think all the angst we have during the week and the players being at times mercenaries, does turn some people off. But live sporting events are still the most valuable commodity in television, and I don’t think that’s going away anytime soon.”

McElroy then asked Finebaum how much that “turnoff” was impacted by disappointing 2024 seasons from Alabama and Auburn. The Crimson Tide (9-4) lost four games in their first season under new head coach Kalen DeBoer, its most since 2007, while the Tigers (5-7) lost seven games for the fourth straight season in Year 2 under Hugh Freeze.

“I think that’s a fact. And I think a lot of people point to (the retirement of former Alabama head caoch Nick) Saban, but I think Saban was a small part of this. He was always going to leave at some point. He’s 72 years old. I don’t think we expected him to be Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden. But he did take a lot of cache with him,” Finebaum concluded. “And, yeah, when you watch on an October Saturday and Vanderbilt beats Alabama, it’s a shock to the system, especially that old-line Alabama fan who’s just saying to themselves, ‘I never thought this would happen again.’ Well, a lot of things like that are happening. … But that’s also a by-product of the portal and all the things that we obsess about. But I do think it starts with Alabama at the top of that pyramid.”