FC/OT: The Athletic's 28 Team College Football Premier League....

[Midnighter]

Interesting and maybe inevitable idea - Mandel basically proposes a 28 team college football premier league with four divisions of seven teams each - link below (believe this is free). Article notes how many ADs are already talking about separating football from everything else. Once schools start spliting revenue with players, they're going to need to find new ways to make money - how about stop splitting TV deal checks with Vanderbilt or Northwestern to start?

Lots taken into account when deciding who made the cut, but one was TV viewership. Below are the top members of the '4 Million' club - teams with the most TV games viewed by 4 million or more people since 2015 but excluding 2020:

Here’s the top 10 list from 2015 through 2022 (excluding 2020), with help from Sports Media Watch:

• Alabama: 50
• Ohio State: 46
• Michigan: 40
• Georgia: 30
• Auburn: 23
• Florida: 22
• Notre Dame: 21
• Tennessee: 21
• LSU: 20
• Penn State: 20

Teams that made the cut (and assigned divisions):

The College Football Federation

DIVISION A	DIVISION B	DIVISION C	DIVISION D
Michigan	Iowa	Alabama	LSU
Michigan State	Nebraska	Auburn	Oklahoma
Miami	Oregon	Clemson	Oklahoma State
North Carolina	UCLA	Florida	TCU
Notre Dame	USC	Florida State	Texas
Ohio State	Washington	Georgia	Texas A&M
Penn State	Wisconsin	Tennessee	Utah

These 28 — which include 11 Big Ten, nine SEC, four ACC, three Big 12 and Notre Dame — would feed into a 12-team Playoff, with the top two in each division plus four wild cards qualifying.

College Football Premier League: 28 teams survive in standalone football product

My best guess is a breakaway would occur somewhere in that 2030 to 2034 range. It's just a matter of who will or won't be included.

theathletic.com

 

[psuro]

Well, I cannot fully read the article before it tries to get me to pay, so......since it is a Premier League, is it safe to assume that teams can be relegated or elevated, like the Premiership?

....asking for a bloke....

 

[Midnighter]

Well, I cannot fully read the article before it tries to get me to pay, so......since it is a Premier League, is it safe to assume that teams can be relegated or elevated, like the Premiership?

....asking for a bloke....

Not really; he actually says this would be called the College Football Federation.

Will there be promotion and relegation, like in the EPL?

In theory, that would be fun. In practice, in the college model, a $30 million to $50 million shortfall from one year to the next would not mean shedding star players’ salaries; it would mean cutting the entire lacrosse program.

 

[Bob78]

Great starting point for a meaningful discussion of how to re-org college football without the NCAA's interference. Just as Chip Kelly advocates for an all-independent, 2 divisions of 1A football, big changes in the sport brought on by the big media intrusion are needed asap. All of these ideas have some merit and need some polishing, but the powers-to-be need to get the discussions going. We fans will benefit, but ultimately and more importantly, so will the players, coaches, and maybe even the schools themselves.

My point to the above would be that 28 is too few, and too restrictive to the growth of the sport. To get to 12 playoff teams, I'd like the 12 to be the top maybe 20% max, so 60 is a more workable number. The outliers from this 28 will be strengthened in short time and will be more viable competitors soon enough. If there is a true "earn in, fall out" approach, the other 70 teams can fight it out for the 4 or 5 interchangeable positions each season. The other 70 can play and decide their own Championship, a stride or two behind the Big Boys Championship. TV can hold a Saturday in January double-header Championship Day to decide a Group A and Group B Champion from the present-day 1A world.

The discussion on this should be lively and interesting and intriguing, if only the powers allow for courageous and creative thinking to come to the front, and from other sources than simply the media rights holders. Coaches, ADs, former players, some prominent (and non-idiot) on-air talent would all have great thoughts and ideas to add and to work through. We would see some great leaders emerge who have probably been told to be quiet and go stand in the corner up to now.

 

[Monty2007]

I don't follow soccer but only know perphially that there's some type of demotion based on records. But I see this subject come up again and again by many and I just don't see it happening in the current structure, NCAA or not. In the list above, there's 11 B10 schools. So someone's will have to explain how they're going to convince the other 7 schools that it's in their best interest to walk away from the current league setup. In this setup, I just don't see the other 7 college presidents saying Yes please send down to the minors.

 

[Midnighter]

I don't follow soccer but only know perphially that there's some type of demotion based on records. But I see this subject come up again and again by many and I just don't see it happening in the current structure, NCAA or not. In the list above, there's 11 B10 schools. So someone's will have to explain how they're going to convince the other 7 schools that it's in their best interest to walk away from the current league setup. In this setup, I just don't see the other 7 college presidents saying Yes please send down to the minors.

Um, you *tell* them they're not included. Done and done.

 

[Monty2007]

Um, you *tell* them they're not included. Done and done.

So just ignore the conference bylaws. Then the only ones making money will be the lawyers with all the lawsuits.

 

[Midnighter]

So just ignore the conference bylaws. Then the only ones making money will be the lawyers with all the lawsuits.

Yes. Schools wanting to go indy for football simply do so once the current contracts are up. Or pay to leave. A vote from the Rutgers president isn’t going to stop OSU from doing what it wants.

 

[Monty2007]

You may be right but I just don't see RU, MD etc going down willingly. To much $$$ at stake.

 

[BobPSU92]

Not really; he actually says this would be called the College Football Federation.

Will there be promotion and relegation, like in the EPL?

In theory, that would be fun. In practice, in the college model, a $30 million to $50 million shortfall from one year to the next would not mean shedding star players’ salaries; it would mean cutting the entire lacrosse program.

Federation? Make it so.

 

[BobPSU92]

You may be right but I just don't see RU, MD etc going down willingly. To much $$$ at stake.

Want to be included? Win more.

 

[WestSideLion]

I think this type of model is inevitable. But the number of programs included will be larger….maybe 40. There is too much political haggling involved to get to 28 teams. You’d have state and national legislators proposing bills out the wazoo.

 

[Nits74]

Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma State can go. Not sure what they add. Arizona and /or Arizona State, Colorado could be possible replacements.