Mark Coyle is headed to Chicago after Saturday’s game to meet with fellow Big Ten ADs to determine football schedules for the 2023 season.

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DarrenTheGreek said:
If they are hell-bent on getting rid of divisions then they should move to 10 conference games, not 8. But they won't do that either.
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They can't go 8. That reduces the inventory to sell as part of the Big Ten TV contract.

If anything, going up to 10 means more to sell and helps accommodate the new additions.


But then the problem is that you can never play an away non-conf game without sacrificing a home game. Most P5 need 7 home games per year to maximize revenue.
 
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People seem to have some OCD obsession with playing every team in the conference every X years in football.

Let it go. It just doesn’t matter. As the conference grows, you’re going to play more of the other teams in it less often.
 

U2Gopher said:
I don’t see any real reason why the non-conference opponents have to or will change. They have already been set based on our playing a 9 game conference schedule and that is likely to continue. The meeting I believe is to most likely eliminate the divisions and to decide whether or not to stay at 9 conference games or switch to 8. It’s also to determine what type of rotational model to adopt within the conference scheduling.

Personally, I don’t like the 9 game league schedule because I don’t like the unbalanced home/away model. I’d rather play 10 league games than 8 but that isn’t even being considered. Eight league games, especially when USC, and for now UCLA join, doesn’t allow you to rotate thru the league and play everyone often enough for my liking. If we were to drop to 8 league games, I’d like some requirement that teams must play tougher non conference schedules.
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And MN has so many inevitably protected rivalries we'll go 5+ years without seeing teams at all. Could be up to 10 without seeing them at home. Would really be a bummer.

For context, we aren't schedule to go to Ann Arbor until beyond 2026. It's not even on the schedule. That's at least 9 years. And we still have 2 teams (or more) to add.
 
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Gophers_4life said:
They can't go 8. They reduces the inventory to sell as part of the Big Ten TV contract.

If anything, going up to 10 means more to sell and helps accommodate the new additions.
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The B1G going to 10 games is Greg Sankey’s wet dream. SEC will have 6 teams in the playoff every year, and the B1G will have 1 or 2.

Going to 8 (or even staying at 9) doesn’t necessarily mean less inventory. The B1G can manage to replace the loss of the 8 games with 8+ non-conference games that it owns broadcast rights to. These probably have to include a lot of neutral site games in order for the match-ups to be compelling.
 

mnsportsgeek said:
Why do they need to change next year’s schedule?
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Well, I hope they do since I wasn't looking forward to OSU, Michigan, and Michigan State as our crossover teams along with UNC away in a season where we will have an inexperienced QB leading the team. I believe Athan has the tools but mental confidence, poise, and judgement usually take a little time to develop.
 


Goldmember said:
The B1G going to 10 games is Greg Sankey’s wet dream. SEC will have 6 teams in the playoff every year, and the B1G will have 1 or 2.

Going to 8 (or even staying at 9) doesn’t necessarily mean less inventory. The B1G can manage to replace the loss of the 8 games with 8+ non-conference games that it owns broadcast rights to. These probably have to include a lot of neutral site games in order for the match-ups to be compelling.
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Good point, you are right. But it can't be done without TV partner buy-in, for sure. But you're right that it is possible, if they work it out.
 

I think you all have misconstrued the whole idea for the meeting. Really just a chance to smoke a cigar and tip a couple. Warren and his lackeys will decide the schedule.
 

Given that since the current East/West divisions have been in existence the imbalance between the two has increased, I would favor eliminating the divisions and playing a ten conference games schedule.
When was the last time a team from the East won the championship game?
How many times has OSU won the championship?
If the playoffs are increased to twelve or sixteen teams there is a good chance that three or four BIG teams could make the playoffs.
 

Interesting mailbag response about this topic today in The Athletic:

Any update on what dates the 12-team Playoff games will actually be played on? Is going to Week 0 and moving up conference title games a real possibility? How do you avoid NFL conflicts for the first-round games and the semis? — Eric, Chicago

Guess what Eric? The commissioners are meeting about this very topic this week — and the meetings are in Chicago. You could go ask them yourself!

In all seriousness, this is their most urgent priority, as they need to be able to tell ESPN what exactly they’ll be asking them to pay for. Note, the schedule for the final two years of the current contract, in 2024 and 2025, might differ from what they end up doing in 2026 and beyond, when they’re starting from scratch and have more flexibility.

That Week 0 concept, for example, is very much on the table but would be difficult to pull off on two years’ notice given every school in the country will need to adjust their schedules, and every conference will have to move their title games.

First round: It will be the third weekend in December, ideally with three games on Saturday, but that will depend on whether the CFP is willing to go head-to-head with the NFL’s Saturday games. Mind you, those games have recently been on NFL Network, not CBS/FOX, so is it really that big a conflict? Still, I could see one on Thursday night (which itself is an NFL conflict), one on Friday night and two on Saturday.

Quarterfinals: The goal is a New Year’s Day triple-header and a primetime Jan. 2 game, but the Rose Bowl’s contract will complicate that in 2024 and 2025. Also, don’t laugh, but even the Citrus and Outback bowls’ contracts lock them into their early New Year’s windows, so the parties involved would have to reach some compromises. If not, you may have a dreaded Dec. 31 game.

Semifinals: There’s currently no good answer here. The two games will have to be squeezed around NFL wild-card weekend, which now runs from Saturday to Monday. You could either play prime-time games Thursday and Friday or one Friday night and the other Saturday at noon or 12:30 ET. (The first NFL game is at 4:30.) However, in the Week 0 scenario, these games could move up to Jan. 1 which seems infinitely more desirable. [I added the emphasis here - G4L]

Championship game: The third Monday in January, after the NFL divisional rounds. Good news for all the Monday night complainers: They’ve moved this year’s game up a half hour to 7:30 p.m. ET, and I assume that will continue.
 



They may indeed have to push the start of the regular season (for everyone) up to "Week 0" (weekend before Labor Day weekend).
 

Gophers_4life said:
They can't go 8. That reduces the inventory to sell as part of the Big Ten TV contract.

If anything, going up to 10 means more to sell and helps accommodate the new additions.


But then the problem is that you can never play an away non-conf game without sacrificing a home game. Most P5 need 7 home games per year to maximize revenue.
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If no divisions, I see 10
 

Gophers_4life said:
They may indeed have to push the start of the regular season (for everyone) up to "Week 0" (weekend before Labor Day weekend).
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The two weeks before Labor Day are ideal expansion territory for college football. It’s a total dead-zone for sports.

But Thanksgiving weekend requires more football programming than any time of the year, besides bowl season. The CCGs just aren’t enough games. I can’t see conferences/networks agreeing to move their “rivalry week” games away from Thanksgiving weekend.
 

Plato said:
Given that since the current East/West divisions have been in existence the imbalance between the two has increased, I would favor eliminating the divisions and playing a ten conference games schedule.
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Getting rid of divisions is a horrible idea. Division races are at least 25% of the interest in the sport. All you have to do is listen to some college football talk on XM, radio or podcasts to realize how much interest they drive.

The imbalance is the direct result of Nebraska’s program collapsing at the same time that Wisconsin has become less of a player in the league and Ohio State moved far ahead of the pack in national recruiting. Adding USC and UCLA to the West will close that gap.

10 games is suicide. Not only do extra conference games eliminate playoff candidates, they also eliminate games the league can broadcast (because the non-con games the league has to give up are generally much more than 50% at home).
 
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Goldmember said:
The two weeks before Labor Day are ideal expansion territory for college football. It’s a total dead-zone for sports.

But Thanksgiving weekend requires more football programming than any time of the year, besides bowl season. The CCGs just aren’t enough games. I can’t see conferences/networks agreeing to move their “rivalry week” games away from Thanksgiving weekend.
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I don't think that value gets "lost" moving from T-Giving to the weekend before. It's still all there.

You're also fighting NFL games T-Giving.

With CCG's you have, at a minimum, 5 very compelling games -- 10 games overall -- that can play on Black Friday and Saturday, between the NFL on Thur and Sun.


But you could easily end up being right. Guess we will see what they do!
 

Goldmember said:
Division races are at least 25% of the interest in the sport.
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In my opinion, this would only be correct in the sense that they are the lead-ins/decide who goes to the CCG.

That "race" (to the title game) would still exist in divisionless.
 

Gophers_4life said:
I don't think that value gets "lost" moving from T-Giving to the weekend before. It's still all there.

You're also fighting NFL games T-Giving.

With CCG's you have, at a minimum, 5 very compelling games -- 10 games overall -- that can play on Black Friday and Saturday, between the NFL on Thur and Sun.


But you could easily end up being right. Guess we will see what they do!
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I think it would be a really tough sell to move Championship week to Thanksgiving week. Most fans have plans that weekend. Getting to a regularly scheduled Home game is one thing. Expecting the fan base to travel on short notice to a neutral site during a Holiday week...seems like a stretch.
 

Goldmember said:
People seem to have some OCD obsession with playing every team in the conference every X years in football.

Let it go. It just doesn’t matter. As the conference grows, you’re going to play more of the other teams in it less often.
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Part of it is "guarantee recruit X from Indiana that he will play in front of his family at least once" but does any recruit really care about that in the transfer portal era?
 

Goldmember said:
Getting rid of divisions is a horrible idea. Division races are at least 25% of the interest in the sport. All you have to do is listen to some college football talk on XM, radio or podcasts to realize how much interest they drive.

The imbalance is the direct result of Nebraska’s program collapsing at the same time that Wisconsin has become less of a player in the league and Ohio State moved far ahead of the pack in national recruiting. Adding USC and UCLA to the West will close that gap.

10 games is suicide. Not only do extra conference games eliminate playoff candidates, they also eliminate games the league can broadcast (because the non-con games the league has to give up are generally much more than 50% at home).
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Putting USC and UCLA in the West and moving Purdue to the East makes the balance better. I hope they do that.
 

I got some video of Coyle walking into the meeting:

mcman-wwe.gif
 

Goldmember said:
People seem to have some OCD obsession with playing every team in the conference every X years in football.

Let it go. It just doesn’t matter. As the conference grows, you’re going to play more of the other teams in it less often.
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Are you actually saying it is bad that fans of a team in a conference want to play the rest of the teams in the conference? Is this a real take or are you just being trolling?
 

4 divisions of 5 teams each is the only way to save this.

I have no interest in playing in an enlarged division with two teams from California.
 

Ope3 said:
I think it would be a really tough sell to move Championship week to Thanksgiving week. Most fans have plans that weekend. Getting to a regularly scheduled Home game is one thing. Expecting the fan base to travel on short notice to a neutral site during a Holiday week...seems like a stretch.
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I think people will adjust. For most fan bases it would be a once in a few years at the most situation.

For me personally, it would be easier as I'd already be off Thursday-Sunday anyways.
 

Ope3 said:
I think it would be a really tough sell to move Championship week to Thanksgiving week. Most fans have plans that weekend. Getting to a regularly scheduled Home game is one thing. Expecting the fan base to travel on short notice to a neutral site during a Holiday week...seems like a stretch.
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You mean Championship Championship week, right?
 



Dave H said:
Are you actually saying it is bad that fans of a team in a conference want to play the rest of the teams in the conference? Is this a real take or are you just being trolling?
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It’s not that it’s bad. It’s just a silly expectation.
The more teams that are added to a conference the less often each pairing will meet.
 

Yeah and the more annoyed people will be.
 

Ope3 said:
I think it would be a really tough sell to move Championship week to Thanksgiving week. Most fans have plans that weekend. Getting to a regularly scheduled Home game is one thing. Expecting the fan base to travel on short notice to a neutral site during a Holiday week...seems like a stretch.
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This is a valid point.

All the same -- TV rules the day.
 


Governor Sibley said:
4 divisions of 5 teams each is the only way to save this.

I have no interest in playing in an enlarged division with two teams from California.
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20 teams with 4 locked-in games is a good way to do it.

Can be done well with either 9 or 10 conf games per year.

9 -- you can cycle through the remaining 15 teams with the remaining 5 conf games every 3 years
10 -- you can cycle through the remaining 15 teams with the remaining 6 conf games twice every 5 years
 

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