The College Football Playoffs Killed Bowl Season

Sit down, kids, and I'll tell you a magical tale about the most wonderful time of the year.

It used to come every year around the middle of December and would stay with us until after the new year, filling all the good little boys and girls with cheer.

It had nothing to do with Christmas, either.

No, this was a time called Bowl Season, and it was perfect.

Nearly a month of fun football matchups featuring any team worth their salt, and it perfectly coincided with school and work winding down for the holidays.

And now it's dead, a completely dormant time of year featuring a shell of what Bowl Season used to be.

READ: On-Field Sponsorships The Latest 'Necessary Evil' Of College Football

It started when Notre Dame – be it fair or unfair – was snubbed from the College Football Playoff.

The Fighting Irish felt slighted, so they said "The hell with your bowl invitation" and decided to spend the holiday season in the frozen confines of South Bend, Indiana.

Since then, a couple of Big 12 teams that kicked the season off in the exotic locale of Dublin decided to take their ball and go home as well.

This won't be the last time you see prominent brands opting out of Bowl Season, and it would appear as the CFP continues to expand, we will find an easy culprit.

We were called alarmists when NIL and the advent of a playoff would cause players to opt out after a certain number of losses, but even the most conspiracy theorist-minded college football fans couldn't have seen this one coming.

Forget players opting out. How about entire teams saying "thanks, but no thanks?"

I love college football more than almost anything in this world, so it pains me to see another tradition get snuffed out in the name of turning more of a profit.

It's a cold world and seeing one of my favorite college football traditions go the way of the dinosaur has me even more cynical than I've already been.

Hold your favorite parts of college sports tight, folks, before they disappear soon.