It’s about that time when the sports overlap. College football is starting its playoff chase, and pro football is doing the same. Pro basketball’s regular season is in full swing, and it’s the same for college basketball. This is where the conflict arises. Which one is more entertaining, college sports or professional sports? College sports is where it’s at for me.
For the 2018-19 season, ESPN reported that over 163 million fans watched Division-I, II and III football, and the championship game for the 2019 March Madness pulled an average of 19.6 million viewers.
Knowing this, we compare these numbers to those of the professional sports. The NFL Playoffs pulled 34.1 million viewers. This is surprising because the professional games should be filled with more action and skill than the college level, but the viewership is extremely close in numbers.
College sports are more entertaining because the players have more passion when they play. The reason why the games are so intense and filled with passion is because they have to prove that they deserve to play at the professional level. Players are under the pressure to perform well in college, so they can be drafted by a professional team.
On this same note, pro players don’t play with the same passion because they’ve already reached the level that the college athletes are trying to reach. Pro players are trying to get a lucrative contract while college players are literally playing for their future.
The notion of resting players comes into play as well, and this is especially prominant in the NBA. It is understandable if players just come off of injury and they’re being held out for precaution, but just resting someone for no reason is just straight unfair. People are buying tickets to see star players like Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James play, but they’re not even suiting up for the game.
College sports doesn’t allow the resting of players just for resting them. If people buy tickets to see their favorite college players, they get to actually see them play instead of seeing them ride a bench in their street clothes. The only way they are not playing is if there is an injury, which is a situation that is handled much differently.
Personally, I love watching college sports rather than professional sports. College sports draw me in because these people are around my age, and I could possibly do the same things. They bring me hope that maybe I would be able to play somewhere near that level.