Yes
I do.
No
I don’t.
College football has long been more than a Saturday afternoon sporting event for millions of Americans. It is a tradition built around rivalries, universities, marching bands, packed stadiums and generations of families cheering for the same teams.
President Donald Trump has also made his appreciation for college football highly visible, regularly connecting himself with a sport that commands enormous audiences across much of the country.
Trump’s claim that he helped make college football “great again” is therefore likely to generate strong reactions from both supporters and critics.
The sport has undergone dramatic changes in recent years. Conference realignment has reshaped traditional rivalries, the College Football Playoff has expanded the national championship picture, and changes involving athlete compensation and the transfer system have fundamentally altered how programs build their teams.
At the same time, college football remains enormously important culturally and economically. Major games routinely fill stadiums with tens of thousands of fans, while television audiences make the sport one of America’s most valuable entertainment properties.
Trump has frequently appeared at major sporting events and has received considerable attention when attending college football games. His connection with the sport also fits naturally with his broader “Make America Great Again” political message, which often emphasizes American traditions and institutions.
Supporters may believe Trump’s public enthusiasm for college football has helped put additional attention on the sport and the traditions surrounding it. Others may argue that presidents have relatively little influence over whether college football succeeds and that the sport’s popularity is primarily driven by players, coaches, universities, conferences, broadcasters and generations of loyal fans.
There is also a broader debate about whether today’s college football is actually better than it was in previous decades. Some fans enjoy the expanded postseason and rapidly changing competitive landscape. Others miss regional conferences, long-standing rivalries and a simpler era of college athletics.
Ultimately, whether Trump deserves any credit for college football’s current popularity depends heavily on what Americans believe a president can realistically contribute to the sport.