by Jeffrey Schaffer

Created on: October 23, 2009   Last Updated: October 26, 2009

While college football is exciting and enjoyable, pro football is more popular because of the concentration of talent, parity, and the scheduling.

Because the NFL has only 32 teams at present, there is a higher concentration of talent at the pro level than at the collegiate. With the hundreds of college teams at every level across the country only a handful of them manage to even be drafted into the NFL. The players of even the worst pro teams were all at one point the stars of college play. With such a concentration, the quality of football is superior and the games become more exciting.

Not only are all the top college players are brought into one league, but because of free agency and the draft, it is easier for pro teams to rebuild and improve their teams. This provides for greater parity, which makes the results of the pro season more unpredictable. In college programs, football programs have far less flexibility on who they sign and bringing in players from other colleges. Bigger name programs can attract better high school talent, leaving lesser programs with less talent. This means that elite programs can compete at a higher level, but most colleges have less of a chance to rise in the standings. If a team tries to improve its program, it has to wait for a few years for newer students to come out of high school. While in the NFL, not only are worse teams given higher draft spots, but free agency means that veteran help is usually easy to come by; all it takes is a competent General Manager to scout and sign talent and a team can turnaround iin a year.

The final, major difference is in their scheduling and ranking. For college football, standing is determined by the BCS, which as an official power ranking, not just measuring wins and losses, but by point spread and competition. Therefore closer, more exciting games can hurt a team by the closer point spead, while a blowout can place them higher. In the NFL, wins and losses are fairly black and white, one point here or there can mean the difference between getting into the playoffs or staying home for the winter. This means that each game and each play is overall more important for the success of the team.

The playoffs for each should be included as well. In college, the final BCS rankings determine which Bowl game a team will play in and against whom. This has created numerous controversies when teams have similar win-loss records and the BCS must qualify the wins in order to determine ranking. The ever increasing number of bowl games has also deminished the quality and meaning of the college football postseason. In contrast, the NFL postseason is determined by winning which cuts the controversy by having clear cut tie breaking procedures in place. The one-and-out format means that as the postseason progresses the games take on greater stakes, and every play becomes meaningful. It is what has allowed the Super Bowl to become the cultural phenomenon that it is today.

Therefore, while college football is fun because of the rivalries and local support, the overall quality, parity and clear postseason standings make the pro level much more popular.

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