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Is Hill a sinking ship or....
Industry-wide layoffs tomorrow or nah?
The Annex.. why?
Fun ice breaker questions to ask new hires?
Are HH layoffs this week?
Give me Calibri or give me death.
Cheapest agency in NYC?
Layoffs at Warner and HBO today 😢😢😢
AKQA NY. Thots?
Layoffs at r/ga today 💔
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For some reason, we in America have this obsession with violence and violent sports. And also watching games that have 11 minutes of playtime, three hours of commercials, and an hour of replays and shots of the crowd. So I’m in the same boat as you
That said, it’s not that brand are obsessed with it, Americans are obsessed with it. So brands want to feed into that obsession
@CD1 this is incorrect. People in UK talk often about their schooling (both Uni and prep school) and India is the same, especially IIT grads.
It’s like European football clubs. More regional and high allegiance from a lot of geographies that don’t have prominent professional sports teams. Throw in the fact that people personally identify because of alumni connection and it’s a perfect storm.
This is really it. It’s incredibly regional.
Because America is incredibly regional and regionally competitive, there was a boom in the second half of the century in college attendance, the NFL is seen as less pure and more commercial, and because it’s fucking awesome.
I don’t know that it can be explained in a way that’s any different from the rest of the world’s fascination with soccer.
Why are brands obsessed with it? Because people are.
Why are people obsessed with it? Because it breaks up the monotony of an otherwise boring life, I guess. Same as anywhere else.
Thanks for this insight Strat1. I find both types of obsessions fascinating. I agree the American version is elitist, given the association with college. I also hate that colleges have anything to do with the spectacle.
NFL is the Premier League
College Football is the Championship, League 1 and League 2.
What McCann said. college has local rivalries the way that football does in the UK. Liverpool Manchester United = Alabama LSU. except there's bloody hundreds of them.
the places that take it seriously have to be seen to be believed. 300,000 people tailgating for two days. trailers and RVs with ten flat screens. villages spring up around big games, and they instill a sense of local pride that is generally not so prevalent in the US.
it's also interesting in that plenty of people love the scene not the sport. alumni will come back for a weekend, or parents of kids will watch. for Ms t it'd the only sport in their lives.
I would recommend getting to a game if you can. somewhere with nice weather. it's a lot of fun.
I'm American and I do that get it either.
If you don’t get college football, I fear you’d spontaneously combust at a Texas high school game.
History teaches us that football started in UK prep schools and adopted Association Rules except for Rugby, whose version of the game became synonymous with the school.
In the US during the 19th century, the IVy League dominated the adapted American version. A nascent professional league emerged. But it took until the 1950s to gain mainstream appeal. In fact the first Super Bowl appeared only in 1967.
So college football in the US is a legacy from those origins. The land grant university system bolstered regional popularity.
And the advent of television, which reached the mainstream of American household in the 50s and 60s further elevated both college and pro leagues.
Like all sports. Distractions from the real world for a few hours.
It’s the same as your obsession with soccer. It’s tribal.
it's modern day gladiators (cue Russell Crowe "are you not entertained!") and an amazingly strategic game across multiple dimensions I'm just starting to appreciate.
Just sub college football with soccer and you’ll be fine.
Echoing what a lot of people have said here, it's the connection. Whether it's a local or alumni connection, it's a real thing and it's fun to be a part of. As a sidenote, it may or not be your thing, but I dislike the thought process behind automatically dismissing it.
I don't get why it's called football. And I'm not being sarcastic, just don't understand where this name came in the first place.
Because it evolved from soccer and rugby and kept the name.
What a lot of people have said in terms of alumni and locality but also accessibility to the mass media and the national conversation. College sports brings money and attention to otherwise ignored towns. There usually aren’t world class entertainment alternatives in non-major cities.