We're in The Dream Team era of college sports

Remember Olympic basketball? Prior to 1992, NBA players were banned from Team USA, which back then consisted of only college athletes. Meanwhile, other countries were allowed to form national teams with the best players from their respective professional leagues.



Eventually Team USA lost to the Russians, and it triggered the creation of The Dream Team, perhaps the greatest collection of sports talent ever assembled. It was a spectacle unlike anything the world had seen… and then the audience drifted. By 2004 and 2008, gold medal games that once drew 25 million viewers were pulling barely 6 million. The stars had gotten much bigger, but the emotional investment was gone. It took a decade to fully manifest.



What made college sports unique wasn't the talent, it was the attachment. Fans spent years tracking a recruit before he ever set foot on campus. They suffered through his growing pains, celebrated his breakouts, and had an emotional investment in his journey.



And now NIL and the transfer portal are dismantling the conditions that made that possible. When rosters turn over like a free agent market, there's no one to invest in. Sure you can pay better talent, but the storytelling dies. The tradition frays.

And we as fans, slowly and quietly, start to care a little less each year.