The Athletic: Where do bowls fit in CFP expansion? Is CFB turning into NFL lite? Our experts weigh in

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mnsportsgeek said:
I guess the other option is to just do a 1 week bye between championship week and the start of playoffs. Then NY6 bowls are no longer played on/around new year's, which isn't ideal but not horirble.
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I haven't been in college for a while, is it common for finals to occur between the 1st and 2nd weekend of December? Because if they occur between the 2nd and 3rd weekends, then your scenario is asking the players to concentrate on finals the same week that they are preparing for their playoff game. Hard no for me. Huge advantage to the southern schools that will just let someone else take players' finals.

I think what's being ignored here is that these athletes are supposed to be students and you just can't keep adding games to their schedules, no matter how much more money and interest it might generate.
 

gopherjay said:
Been to numerous bowls. It is opportunity to watch your team and have a good time out of town. Great for holiday TV. If it gets to the point where only post season is the CFP, it will be a shame. The CFP is a joke and after a few years of seeing the same teams, never the Gophers, it will get more boring. The CFP is boring now. Bowls are for the fans to see a variety of matchups.
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This is where people should start to think about the old adage, "you can't please everyone". Up until the CFP, college football was immensely appealing to us die-hards. Now the powers that be are trying to attract more "pro" kinda fans who are used to multiple rounds of playoff competition.

If they can't please everyone, but they still try to, they risk losing their base of die hards. It would be more prudent for them to alienate the newbies who get all warm and fuzzy thinking about a larger playoff.
 

College football on TV is popular but has a small fraction of viewers compared to the NFL which is very popular.
The popularity of college FB on TV is why the BIG is being showered with $$$ by TV providers.
I would guess one reason for the expanded playoff was to please the TV providers.
I always liked the bowl games and they do provide some extra practice time for the teams going to a bowl, some schools have fans that really like the bowls and turnout in good numbers for "their team".
I hope the bowls stay.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
I haven't been in college for a while, is it common for finals to occur between the 1st and 2nd weekend of December? Because if they occur between the 2nd and 3rd weekends, then your scenario is asking the players to concentrate on finals the same week that they are preparing for their playoff game. Hard no for me. Huge advantage to the southern schools that will just let someone else take players' finals.

I think what's being ignored here is that these athletes are supposed to be students and you just can't keep adding games to their schedules, no matter how much more money and interest it might generate.
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Then shift the bye to whenever finals are? Play the first playoff round at home venues, break for finals, then resume at neutral sites. Basketball gets by just fine with a week long finals break don't they?
 



Goldmember said:
Just extend the SEC homefield advantage to yet another round? No thanks.
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The SEC will have home field advantage at any neutral site. They’re the Mexican National team fans of Football. Where their team plays, they will go.

Consider yourself lucky the first round is at home venues, and the final will just be sec vs. sec most years anyways when you give 4 of them a shot every year.
 
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Play the bulk of the “bowl games” two weeks before the regular season starts.
In week 0 and week -1.
In northern cities.
 

gopherjay said:
Been to numerous bowls. It is opportunity to watch your team and have a good time out of town. Great for holiday TV. If it gets to the point where only post season is the CFP, it will be a shame. The CFP is a joke and after a few years of seeing the same teams, never the Gophers, it will get more boring. The CFP is boring now. Bowls are for the fans to see a variety of matchups.
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Very good point, and probably also why they need to expand past 4.

In college football, at the tip top, there is no such thing as parity. Whereas in the NFL, the teams making it to the conf championship games actually turn over at a reasonable rate.

CFP with the same damn 4 schools making it every year, is worthless. Variety interests the general public.
 

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