How To Fix College Football

[GophersInIowa]

If I were king of college football, some changes I would make:
- Get rid of conference championships and just go with 13 regular season games. 11 of 13 must be against P4. Ideally everyone plays 10 conference games.
- Keep playoffs at 12 teams, no need to expand. 4 conference champs and 8 at large.
- Have a playoffs for G5 schools only. If one of the G5 schools happens to be one of the top 12 teams in the country, then let them play in the main playoffs.
- Then have a second 12 team playoffs made up of top 12 P4 teams that didn't make regular playoffs. Similar to NIT in basketball. Have good prizes and money for team that wins to make sure most opt in to play.
- Contracts, NIL cap and player union to get things under control.

 

[Some guy]

They won't want to but will likely have to come to some concessions in a CBA

A CBA between who and who?

How is it implemented?
How do you get around state laws around public unions that are different state to state?


It’s very easy to say a CBA.
But
You can’t force anyone into a union
Different colleges aren’t one organization



Without congressional action there is a 0.0% chance of some sort of college football CBA

 

[btowngopher]

-Reestablish transfers having to sit out a year.
-Create 12 regional conferences of no more than 12 teams in a conference.
-12 team playoff of conference winners

 

[Whytetale]

How do we fix college football?
Proposed conferences
SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi St, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Memphis, Tulane
BIG 10: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan St, Minnesota, Ohio St., Penn St., Purdue, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Notre Dame.
SWC: Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, TTU, OKST, UNT, UTSA, Rice
Big 8: Colorado, Iowa St., Kansas, Kansas St., Missouri, Nebraska, Utah, BYU
ACC: Clemson, Duke, Florida St., Georgia Tech, Miami, NCST, UNC, Virginia, Wake Forest, South Carolina, UCF, USF
PAC-12: Arizona, ASU, Cal, Oregon, Oregon St, USC, UCLA, Washington, WAZZU, UNLV, Boise St., Fresno St., SDSU, New Mexico
BIG East: Boston College, Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse, Maryland, UConn, VA Tech, West Virginia,
MW: Nevada, SJSU, Hawai'i, NMST, Air Force, Colorado St., UTEP, Wyoming, NDSU, Montana St., Montana, Idaho, South Dakota St., Utah St.
Sun Belt: FAU, FIU, GASO, Troy, USA, Southern Miss, UAB, Jacksonville St., LA Tech, ULM, Louisiana, Kennesaw St.
Appalachian Athletic Conference: CCU, ECU, Charlotte, Appalachian St., ODU, Liberty, JMU, Georgia St., Delaware, Navy, Temple, Army.
CUSA- MTSU, WKU, SHSU, Texas St., Arkansas St., Missouri St., Marshall, Tulsa,
We're getting rid of UMASS.
Next up, NIL is limited to SPONSORSHIP'S. No athlete can get sponsorship's until their freshman year is over. Schools can't pay NIL unless if the kid walks on and can only make a max of $350,000 dollars if they walk on to get paid.
We're cutting bowl games. Fenway Bowl, Mayo Bowl, Snoop Dogg Bowl (sorry Snoop), XBox Bowl, Myrtle Beach Bowl, LA Bowl, Frisco Bowl, Salute to Veterans (I don't hate veterans but the bowl is useless), Pinstripe Bowl, and New Mexico Bowl.
I'll add a few back like the Bluebonnet Bowl, San Francisco Bowl, and Hall of Fame Classic.
Rename a few: Outback Bowl, Copper or Cactus Bowl, Sunshine Classic, Queen City Bowl.
Playoffs: 8 teams. The quarterfinals will include the Citrus/Sun bowl, Peach Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl. Semis will be Cotton and Sugar, the Championship will be the Rose Bowl. SEC, BIG 10, SWC, BIG 8, ACC, and PAC-12 are all guaranteed one spot to the winner of the conference. No conference championships except for the final spot between the lesser conferences. Point differential, SOS, and regular season record are all factored in to the choosing of the contender. It will be up to a computer to decide who goes so there is no complaint about human (SEC) bias possible.
I don't believe this is everything yet as I have not covered TV deals and FORCED non-con rivalries that have existed for over 2+ decades or literal proximity. No equity deals are allowed either.

I gave you the "like" for the amount of thought and effort you put into this post.

 

[fmlizard]

Without trying to get political, I'm not sure a salary cap is really socialism.

If a cap was instituted, it's not like Texas and Texas Tech and such would be forced to give us money to spend. They would just not be allowed to spend as much as they currently are.

It's not just a salary cap it's also revenue sharing, a draft system that gives the worst team the first picks, etc.

While Ohio State isn't directly cutting us checks we're netting out to gain some of their revenues

 

[Xerxes_]

I *think* the poster was referring to getting NIL under said cap.

The current "cap" doesn't have much teeth when you can use NIL to get around it.

I'm not sure you can put a cap against how much an individual can earn through endorsements. That would be challenged in court and lose. Likely wouldn't make it to court.

I agree that college football is broken but the only realistic option to control NIL in my opinion is to do what the NFL and NBA does.

Any 3rd party payments to players can't be tied to a franchise. State Farm can pay Mahomes as much as they want but they can't contract him to play for Kansas City.

But that kind of thing would likely have to be collectively bargained.

 

[Random Guy 12]

If I were king of college football, some changes I would make:
- Get rid of conference championships and just go with 13 regular season games. 11 of 13 must be against P4. Ideally everyone plays 10 conference games.
- Keep playoffs at 12 teams, no need to expand. 4 conference champs and 8 at large.
- Have a playoffs for G5 schools only. If one of the G5 schools happens to be one of the top 12 teams in the country, then let them play in the main playoffs.
- Then have a second 12 team playoffs made up of top 12 P4 teams that didn't make regular playoffs. Similar to NIT in basketball. Have good prizes and money for team that wins to make sure most opt in to play.
- Contracts, NIL cap and player union to get things under control.

I like the part in bold. have a secondary playoff using some of the existing Bowl games in some form. Keeps more fans and players engaged with something to play for. Renews interest in some of these bowl games. Some prize money helps keep players and coaches engaged.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Without congressional action there is a 0.0% chance of some sort of college football CBA

And if it's coming from congress, even "CBA" isn't the right term, as it wouldn't have been "collectively bargained" for.

Like you said, it's easy to say...but....

 

[GopherTheJugular]

It's not just a salary cap it's also revenue sharing, a draft system that gives the worst team the first picks, etc.

I'll agree on the revenue sharing angle, but I'll add that it's a requirement that the teams have OTAs, training camp, preseason games, they all play 17 regular season games, and over the course of time, they roughly all play in the post-season too.

I don't think it would work so well if the NFL just let some teams choose to not play, but still gave them a share of the money.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

I like the part in bold. have a secondary playoff using some of the existing Bowl games in some form. Keeps more fans and players engaged with something to play for. Renews interest in some of these bowl games. Some prize money helps keep players and coaches engaged.

I hate to sound disagreeable lol, but I disagree. Do fans stay engaged when their team misses March Madness and heads to the NIT? Maaaaybe one or two die-hards, but I think most people care more about their March Madness bracket than they do about how their team is doing in the NIT.

As for prize money, how much can you provide to incentivize someone already making at least $75K (what's reported our players get) to play in another tourney when some are thinking portal, draft etc. Even a million bucks divided among an entire team doesn't really move the needle anymore, and I doubt a second-tier playoff could even pay out that much per game.

At some point you just gotta end the season and move on.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

I'm not sure you can put a cap against how much an individual can earn through endorsements. That would be challenged in court and lose. Likely wouldn't make it to court.

While I agree with this, I still think that's what the original poster meant, an NIL cap. Otherwise his post doesn't make any sense.

 

[MaxyJR1]

A CBA between who and who?

How is it implemented?
How do you get around state laws around public unions that are different state to state?


It’s very easy to say a CBA.
But
You can’t force anyone into a union
Different colleges aren’t one organization



Without congressional action there is a 0.0% chance of some sort of college football CBA

Won't happen over night. It's likely why the schools would have to set their league first and work from there.

 

[Ski-U-Ham]

The Pop-Tarts bowl and surrounding silliness is one of the best things to happen to college football in the last decade. We need more fun things like this.

How about a little credit to the Mayo Bowl for the bath in Duke's? I think we need more condiment/ sauce baths. Ketchup, mustard, relish, ranch...

 

[Random Guy 12]

I hate to sound disagreeable lol, but I disagree. Do fans stay engaged when their team misses March Madness and heads to the NIT? Maaaaybe one or two die-hards, but I think most people care more about their March Madness bracket than they do about how their team is doing in the NIT.

As for prize money, how much can you provide to incentivize someone already making at least $75K (what's reported our players get) to play in another tourney when some are thinking portal, draft etc. Even a million bucks divided among an entire team doesn't really move the needle anymore, and I doubt a second-tier playoff could even pay out that much per game.

At some point you just gotta end the season and move on.

Not exactly the NIT. If it was the next 16 teams it would be #13 thru #28. It would give some life to bowl games that are possibly on their way out. Reality is that they are probably just going to expand the CFP anyway so it wont matter. 16, 24, 32 who knows where it will end up. A lot of people have said they like the FCS format with 24

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Won't happen over night. It's likely why the schools would have to set their league first and work from there.

And could you explain what work that work be? Like @Some guy said, it's easy to say, not at all easy to do (impossible if you ask me and him).

 

[MaxyJR1]

And could you explain what work that work be? Like @Some guy said, it's easy to say, not at all easy to do (impossible if you ask me and him).

Simply going off the premise that the current system is broken and how do they get to something manageable. They have as CSC foundation that schools are choosing to ignore or not sign.

I'm the first to say I really don't understand what is all going on, it just seems that some sort of league needs to be formed where the participants agree to the rules. Don't know how we get there of if I'll be above ground when that happens.

 

[Random Guy 12]

Simply going off the premise that the current system is broken and how do they get to something manageable. They have as CSC foundation that schools are choosing to ignore or not sign.

I'm the first to say I really don't understand what is all going on, it just seems that some sort of league needs to be formed where the participants agree to the rules. Don't know how we get there of if I'll be above ground when that happens.

I think the NCAA is eventually going to get shoved out of college football. That's probably not a bad thing.

 

[Some guy]

Won't happen over night. It's likely why the schools would have to set their league first and work from there.

Let’s say you set up a league

There is still no reason for people to CB in a way that restricts their compensation or freedom to transfer

The NFL has a salary cap. There is no cap on NIL in the nfl…it wouldn’t hold up in court

 

[disco]

I think the NCAA is eventually going to get shoved out of college football. That's probably not a bad thing.

It will for a top level of the game. Lower levels will probably still be under the NCAA. Not enough money for those levels to organize themselves.

 

[disco]

There is no cap on NIL in the nfl…it wouldn’t hold up in court

There isn't a cap, but, if say, Zygi Wilf wanted to circumvent the cap by giving Justin Jefferson a no-show job managing a building he owns, I'm pretty sure the league would have something quite severe to say about that. There should be a way to prevent things like that and still hold up in court.

 

[Slim Tubby]

There isn't a cap, but, if say, Zygi Wilf wanted to circumvent the cap by giving Justin Jefferson a no-show job managing a building he owns, I'm pretty sure the league would have something quite severe to say about that. There should be a way to prevent things like that and still hold up in court.

Sadly, NBA Commissioner Nosferatu Silver hides in his coffin while Bannon and the Clippers did just that for Kawai Leonard.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Let’s say you set up a league

There is still no reason for people to CB in a way that restricts their compensation or freedom to transfer

The NFL has a salary cap. There is no cap on NIL in the nfl…it wouldn’t hold up in court

Are people just handing money to pro athletes for jollies? No because they want something out of it. Either endorsement, throwing of a game or fixing, etc.

College they do it to get them to go to a school. Overtime with CB and satisfied wages, will boosters still be out there just giving money away to players with no return? I feel it will slowly go away with some teeth in proving that there is actually NIL being done in return for the payments.

Add contracts and buyouts and at least there is a system to it all.

Interesting enough I'm starting to see more and more Gophers showing up in endorsement commercials and that seems to be in line with what NIL and CSC is looking for.

 

[Kitzmann57]

-Reestablish transfers having to sit out a year.
-Create 12 regional conferences of no more than 12 teams in a conference.
-12 team playoff of conference winners

Courts have ruled time and time that players don't have to sit out, if transfering. It's like you or me don't have to sit out if we leave a teching job at Edina and want to teach at Anoka. I don't agree with the courts, but that's their ruling.

 

[GophersInIowa]

I hate to sound disagreeable lol, but I disagree. Do fans stay engaged when their team misses March Madness and heads to the NIT? Maaaaybe one or two die-hards, but I think most people care more about their March Madness bracket than they do about how their team is doing in the NIT.

As for prize money, how much can you provide to incentivize someone already making at least $75K (what's reported our players get) to play in another tourney when some are thinking portal, draft etc. Even a million bucks divided among an entire team doesn't really move the needle anymore, and I doubt a second-tier playoff could even pay out that much per game.

At some point you just gotta end the season and move on.

I would guess a tournament like that could easily have a total prize of something like $25M or more. The regular playoffs has a total payout of $116M but it just goes to the conference to be given to the schools instead of the players. Say half of the $25M goes to the winning team, that would be around $120,000 per player (out of 105). T

That reminds me of another change I would make. Portal doesn't open until after all the games are done.

 

[Some guy]

Are people just handing money to pro athletes for jollies? No because they want something out of it. Either endorsement, throwing of a game or fixing, etc.

the solution is for people to stop giving their own personal money to pay the salaries of these universities employees. Yes

College they do it to get them to go to a school. Overtime with CB and satisfied wages, will boosters still be out there just giving money away to players with no return? I feel it will slowly go away with some teeth in proving that there is actually NIL being done in return for the payments.

Add contracts and buyouts and at least there is a system to it all.

Interesting enough I'm starting to see more and more Gophers showing up in endorsement commercials and that seems to be in line with what NIL and CSC is looking for.