Create a super league of 40 - 60 teams. Rosters are filled via draft and free agents. The Draft: It will last between 10 and 20 rounds which means 400 -1200 players get drafted. The worst team which is determined by record, head to head competition and strength of schedule gets the first pick. The next worst team gets the second pick etc,etc. If a player isn't drafted they can play for a lower division team or perhaps get signed as a free agent. When a team drafts a player that team has the rights to the player for two years. If a player doesn't want to play for a team that drafts him he has to either sit out for two years or play in a lower division for two years. Players can't transfer for two years except in cases of family emergency or issues of that kind of importance. After that they can transfer once a year until their eligibility runs out. All of the drafted players get paid and they get paid either the same amount or according to how high they are drafted. They can sign NIL contracts too and player's agents are allowed. There are four divisions with division championships (maybe) and a 16 team playoff. What's your opinion of this concept and are there things you would add to it?
No draft needed. 32 teams of the top programs that are financially viable. 2 conferences, 4- 8 team divisions. The players can still be student athletes that are recruited and go to programs they want to. I would reduce scholarships to 65 tops. So there isn't a need to transfer for playing time. The best play the best every week. 12 team playoff of the top teams regardless of division. If there are ties than look at SoS. One media contract with the money evenly split among the 32 teams. Bonuses for playoffs.
Dude, put the egg nog down and give your liver a rest. Why not just eliminate college football and allow high school players to jump straight to the NFL? No school loyalty is the end of college football. There, I said it. What it is now becoming is NFL Lite. Oh, it will continue. Players and coaches will be paid, sponsors will buy ad space, and fans will buy tickets to fill stadiums, but what was special about college football will disappear. Just another television sports option of overpaid athletes renting a jersey for a season. Now, that I think of it, maybe I will have some of that egg nog.
What was special about college football has basically disappeared. My version should get under the table payments and ridiculous NIL payments to freshmen pretty much go away and i consider that to be at least a start to making college football more respectable.
"What was special about college football has basically disappeared." As much as I hate to agree, it has. Some new structure will not get it back, certainly not with a draft. It lost it's regional identity and school affiliation. When I was in school, you could identify with a big time football player who was riding a scooter around campus; IDK how current students view a guy that is getting paid seven figures, lives off campus, eats in the football only facility, and threatens to transfer. As college football as it has been fades away, we will see how the student body reacts to it, because that will show you who the fans will be in twenty years. If economics drive the game day experience to be a fund raising exercise for boosters and alumni only, students will find some thing else to do on Saturdays... For the rest of their lives.
The NCAA painted itself into a corner. They should work with the NFL to remove the requirement for players to have been out of high school for at least three years and using up college eligibility. That would never happen because NCAA would be losing a billion dollars of revenue.
How does this make it better lol. For all the bellyaching about college football changing, the regular season and actual playoff games have been great. The biggest scandals have been the FSU and Georgia playoff omissions, Michigan cheating, decommits, and the portal. We need more, not less, of what we saw last night in the playoffs. The players are letting us know that the bowl system sucks and doesn’t incentivize risking a pro draft position. People whining about players not wanting to sacrifice for their alma mater wouldn’t sacrifice a damn thing that really meant anything to them for those athletes… let’s keep it real. If you donate money to NIL, you likely already have enough money. At least I hope you do and aren’t spending your rent money on being a booster. Ain’t nobody here risking their livelihood to “help the team” or its players. That doesn’t mean you don’t love the school. They need to expand the playoffs (even more than 12 teams), and reign in the decommits and transfers, but a complete overhaul isn’t necessary.
Personally, love this. Weed them out early. Get kids who want to be there. Something like baseball would be 100% better than this free-for-all nonsense.
Best chance is what 96Gatorcize suggested. A 32-team, fully professional Super League. What's left then becomes far more like what college used to be. NIL will still be legal and a factor, but not nearly as much of one. I'm guessing Super League would be its own entity, outside of NCAA scrutiny/oversight, and NCAA would govern what's left. I'm guessing there would be a lot of top schools attracted to the idea of opting out of that Super League and I'd hope UF is one of them. Schools who still value academics like UNC, PSU, even Michigan are programs that might see the benefit in staying in the lower division, which would now be free to set its own (presumably more restrictive) rules. And that's the rub. What if the lower division is just as if not more popular than the Super League (which would just be NFL lite)?
Depends on whether you think the SL would be more popular. I think both systems would be popular. The SL with the jock-sniffing crowd (and alums of those schools) and what remains with the rest of us. In a way it's the perfect solution, which is why it won't happen as one or the other will want ALL the money.
I think it depends. You'd be looking at two completely separate systems. Not to mention, SL wouldn't even need booster money as it could run purely off the TV money (theoretically). It's all a matter of perception really. If boosters see the value of the "Championship" division, then they'll spend. However, with all the big names going to the SL, the burden wouldn't be that high in terms of NIL (which would, obviously, still be legal at all levels). Second division (let's call it "real college football") would be very similar to Baseball in application. Guys would certainly move, but rules could be implemented like baseball that would make it more predictable. Again, rub will be money. SL investors will want all the money for themselves and won't want to share with a competing system. And what if the second league (which would look a lot more like the college football we know) is more popular and sucks up a large portion of the money? SL scumbags won't like that. Key here is your SL opens the door to a return to more traditional ways as we now have a pro path whereas we didn't before. I believe a lot of the arguments and rulings are based on this lack of a path, which would no longer be an issue.
It does depend like you say. But the majority of the schools in your real football league already don't have strong booster donations, think bottom P5 teams and the G5 schools. The G5 schools have weak media deals already that won't get any stronger because they won't be playing any SL teams. But there will definitely be a place for the RCFB it will just resemble the FCS of today.
I agree. Most of the big money and hype would be for the SL, especially in the first few years. A lot of that would depend on who stays and who goes. If some of the bigger schools stayed back, that could change the metrics some and allow for a better media package. FWIW, booster money was probably going away anyway with the retirement, etc. of the boomers and what I'm guessing would be an unwillingness on the part of X, Millennials to donate in those kinds of numbers. But I'm not sure that matters as the 12-team playoff will probably generate more than enough TV money to make up for it.
Now I could get onboard on with this. Let the football factories go be that, while the universities still interested in the concept of student/athlete would have a more fitting league.