Hello all! I am new to this community and have appreciated these forums greatly in the short time I have been lurking. There has been a lot of talk about conference realignment(s) and got me thinking “what is the point of conferences anyways?” Best I could come up with is the following:
Pros:
1. Collective bargaining for tv rights
2. Collective bargaining for post season
3. Ease of scheduling
But they come at a cost such as:
1. Making college football all about money
2. Making scheduling historic rivals difficult
3. Destroying parity
I believe we can get all the pros and remove all the cons with the following proposal:
1. Remove all conferences and instead use all the FBS teams to bargain together for tv rights where the “power divisions” get a much bigger share of the pie.
2. Organize by “regions” with an emphasis on geography and historic rivalries.
3. Allow relegation between “power” divisions and “group” divisions (more details below)
4. Limit regular schedule to 10 games with no conference/regional championships but expand playoffs to include 26 teams (more details below)
What would the regions look like to start?
Big East:
Power Division: (10 Teams)
BC
Cuse
Rutgers
Pitt
Penn State
Maryland
WVU
UVA
VTech
Notre Dame
Group Division: (10 Teams)
UMass
Army
Navy
Temple
UConn
ODU
Marshall
Buffalo
JMU
Liberty
Notes:
1. Each team’s schedule is the 9 other teams in their division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power division is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group division after each year for this respective region.
3. The top 2 teams in the power division gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
ACC
Power North: (6 Teams)
Wake
Duke
NC State
NC
Clemson
South Carolina
Power South: (6 Teams)
Georgia
G-Tech
FL State
Florida
Miami
UCF
Group Division: (9 teams)
App State
Charlotte
E. Carolina
Coastal
GA State
GA Southern
USF
FIU
Florida Atlantic
Notes:
1. Each power team’s schedule is the 5 other teams in their division and 4 teams from the other power division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power divisions (of both last place division members are tied and did not play head to head then determined by national ranking) is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group division after each year for this respective region.
3. The top power division winners gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
Big South:
Power Division (10 Teams)
Alabama
Auburn
Ole Miss
Miss State
LSU
Vandy
Tennessee
Kentucky
Louisville
Memphis
Group Division: (10 teams)
UAB
Troy
Souther AL
Souther Miss
LA Tech
UL Monroe
Louisiana
Tulane
Middle Tenn
Western KY
Notes:
1. Each team’s schedule is the 9 other teams in their division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power division is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group division after each year for this respective region.
3. The top 2 teams in the power division gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
Big 12 (stupid name but don’t know what else to call it
Power Division: (10 Teams)
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Ok State
Texas Tech
Baylor
Texas AM
Texas
Kansas
Kansas State
Nebraska
Group Division: (10 Teams)
Arkansas State
Tulsa
UTEP
N. Texas
TCU
SMU
Houston
Rice
Texas State
UTSA
Notes:
1. Each team’s schedule is the 9 other teams in their division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power division is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group division after each year for this respective region.
3. The top 2 teams in the power division gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
4. This group division is stacked compared to the others but by theory still easier to make the playoffs than playing in the power to start.
Big West: (6 teams)
Power North:
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State
Utah
Colorado
Power South: (6 Teams)
AZ
AZ state
Cal
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Group North: (7 teams)
Boise state
Wyoming
Co State
Air Force
UT State
BYU
San Jose
Group South: (7 teams)
Hawaii
Nevada
UNLV
New Mexico
NM State
Fresno
San Diego
Notes:
1. Each power team’s schedule is the 5 other teams in their division and 4 teams from the other power division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power divisions is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group divisions that correlate after each year for this respective region.
3. The top power division winners gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head. If both group division winners have identical regional records and didn’t play each other then national ranking determines.
4. Air Force plays Army and Navy every year and only has to participate in 8 regional games.
5. The rest of the group teams play everyone in their division plus remainder in the other divisions to get to 9 regional games.
Big:
Power division West (6 Teams)
Missouri
Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Power Division East (6 Teams)
Illinois
Purdue
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Group Division West (6 Teams)
Miami of Ohio
Northern Illinois
Ball State
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Western Michigan
Group Division East (6Teams)
Cincy
Toledo
Bowling Green
Ohio
Kent State
Akron
Notes:
1. Each power team’s schedule is the 5 other teams in their division and 4 teams from the other power division plus one OOC game. Same for group divisions.
2. The team that finishes last in the power divisions is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group divisions after each year for their respective region.
3. The top power division winners gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top one team from the group divisions. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
How would the playoffs work?
There would be a total of 26 teams with the #1 team from each region receiving a bye for the first round.
Automatic bids from Power: (12 teams)
-Top 2 teams from Big East
-Division Winners from each power ACC division
-Top 2 teams from Big South
-Top 2 teams from Big 12
-Division Winners from each Big West power Division
-Division Winner from each Big power division
Automatic bids from Group divisions (6 teams)
The highest rank group division winner from each region
Lastly there will be 8 at large bids for the highest ranked teams regardless of power or group rating to fill in the remaining bracket.
What would this solve?
1. Historic rivals play each other every year
2. Travel is focused on what geographically makes sense
3. Parity is in abundance as a power team that doesn’t do well is relegated and group teams have a shot to move up
4. The max amount of games able to be played in a season is 15 (same as today)
5. One or maybe even two losses in the regular season does not kill you
6. OOC is more limited, however, with playoffs there is plenty of opportunity to play teams you normally could never schedule.
7. No more silly bowl games or players sitting out as every post season game has meaning.
I know this is a lot and beyond a pipe dream to ever occur but thought it was an interesting thought exercise. Let me know your thoughts!
Thanks all!
Pros:
1. Collective bargaining for tv rights
2. Collective bargaining for post season
3. Ease of scheduling
But they come at a cost such as:
1. Making college football all about money
2. Making scheduling historic rivals difficult
3. Destroying parity
I believe we can get all the pros and remove all the cons with the following proposal:
1. Remove all conferences and instead use all the FBS teams to bargain together for tv rights where the “power divisions” get a much bigger share of the pie.
2. Organize by “regions” with an emphasis on geography and historic rivalries.
3. Allow relegation between “power” divisions and “group” divisions (more details below)
4. Limit regular schedule to 10 games with no conference/regional championships but expand playoffs to include 26 teams (more details below)
What would the regions look like to start?
Big East:
Power Division: (10 Teams)
BC
Cuse
Rutgers
Pitt
Penn State
Maryland
WVU
UVA
VTech
Notre Dame
Group Division: (10 Teams)
UMass
Army
Navy
Temple
UConn
ODU
Marshall
Buffalo
JMU
Liberty
Notes:
1. Each team’s schedule is the 9 other teams in their division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power division is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group division after each year for this respective region.
3. The top 2 teams in the power division gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
ACC
Power North: (6 Teams)
Wake
Duke
NC State
NC
Clemson
South Carolina
Power South: (6 Teams)
Georgia
G-Tech
FL State
Florida
Miami
UCF
Group Division: (9 teams)
App State
Charlotte
E. Carolina
Coastal
GA State
GA Southern
USF
FIU
Florida Atlantic
Notes:
1. Each power team’s schedule is the 5 other teams in their division and 4 teams from the other power division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power divisions (of both last place division members are tied and did not play head to head then determined by national ranking) is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group division after each year for this respective region.
3. The top power division winners gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
Big South:
Power Division (10 Teams)
Alabama
Auburn
Ole Miss
Miss State
LSU
Vandy
Tennessee
Kentucky
Louisville
Memphis
Group Division: (10 teams)
UAB
Troy
Souther AL
Souther Miss
LA Tech
UL Monroe
Louisiana
Tulane
Middle Tenn
Western KY
Notes:
1. Each team’s schedule is the 9 other teams in their division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power division is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group division after each year for this respective region.
3. The top 2 teams in the power division gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
Big 12 (stupid name but don’t know what else to call it
Power Division: (10 Teams)
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Ok State
Texas Tech
Baylor
Texas AM
Texas
Kansas
Kansas State
Nebraska
Group Division: (10 Teams)
Arkansas State
Tulsa
UTEP
N. Texas
TCU
SMU
Houston
Rice
Texas State
UTSA
Notes:
1. Each team’s schedule is the 9 other teams in their division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power division is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group division after each year for this respective region.
3. The top 2 teams in the power division gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
4. This group division is stacked compared to the others but by theory still easier to make the playoffs than playing in the power to start.
Big West: (6 teams)
Power North:
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State
Utah
Colorado
Power South: (6 Teams)
AZ
AZ state
Cal
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Group North: (7 teams)
Boise state
Wyoming
Co State
Air Force
UT State
BYU
San Jose
Group South: (7 teams)
Hawaii
Nevada
UNLV
New Mexico
NM State
Fresno
San Diego
Notes:
1. Each power team’s schedule is the 5 other teams in their division and 4 teams from the other power division plus one OOC game.
2. The team that finishes last in the power divisions is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group divisions that correlate after each year for this respective region.
3. The top power division winners gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top team from the group division. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head. If both group division winners have identical regional records and didn’t play each other then national ranking determines.
4. Air Force plays Army and Navy every year and only has to participate in 8 regional games.
5. The rest of the group teams play everyone in their division plus remainder in the other divisions to get to 9 regional games.
Big:
Power division West (6 Teams)
Missouri
Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Power Division East (6 Teams)
Illinois
Purdue
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Group Division West (6 Teams)
Miami of Ohio
Northern Illinois
Ball State
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Western Michigan
Group Division East (6Teams)
Cincy
Toledo
Bowling Green
Ohio
Kent State
Akron
Notes:
1. Each power team’s schedule is the 5 other teams in their division and 4 teams from the other power division plus one OOC game. Same for group divisions.
2. The team that finishes last in the power divisions is replaced by the team that finishes first in the group divisions after each year for their respective region.
3. The top power division winners gain automatic bids to the playoffs along with just the top one team from the group divisions. This is determined by regional winning percentage then head to head.
How would the playoffs work?
There would be a total of 26 teams with the #1 team from each region receiving a bye for the first round.
Automatic bids from Power: (12 teams)
-Top 2 teams from Big East
-Division Winners from each power ACC division
-Top 2 teams from Big South
-Top 2 teams from Big 12
-Division Winners from each Big West power Division
-Division Winner from each Big power division
Automatic bids from Group divisions (6 teams)
The highest rank group division winner from each region
Lastly there will be 8 at large bids for the highest ranked teams regardless of power or group rating to fill in the remaining bracket.
What would this solve?
1. Historic rivals play each other every year
2. Travel is focused on what geographically makes sense
3. Parity is in abundance as a power team that doesn’t do well is relegated and group teams have a shot to move up
4. The max amount of games able to be played in a season is 15 (same as today)
5. One or maybe even two losses in the regular season does not kill you
6. OOC is more limited, however, with playoffs there is plenty of opportunity to play teams you normally could never schedule.
7. No more silly bowl games or players sitting out as every post season game has meaning.
I know this is a lot and beyond a pipe dream to ever occur but thought it was an interesting thought exercise. Let me know your thoughts!
Thanks all!
