Pretty Please: Fix the Bowl System

A lot of the top athletes do have insurance policies that would pay out millions if they have a career ending injury.

 

You seem to think football is a "me" and me only sport...

 

No, I don’t. I think we need a true playoff system. Not 4 teams, not 12. Baseball and basketball are 64 team playoffs. They don’t play in meaningless games. Football is even worse because of the greater injury risk.

Fans aren’t loyal. We have people who would ditch Mertz in a second for a higher rated player even though he got hurt trying to get us a win. At least half of you here wanted to fire Billy after one year into his contract. Same fans want loyalty from everyone even if it puts them at risk so spare us with the holier than thou rhetoric.

 

This fan is as loyal and there's nothing holy or unholy about it, but I can't speak for others.

As far as these opt-outs goes, they're still just quitters. This is not the NFL with contract holdouts and collective bargaining, contract negotiations and all that I despise about pro sports. And there's nothing holding back these players from joining their teammates in a bowl game. All you need is the desire to play for something greater than yourself.

 

The issue is those 5 extra games will result in teams looking nothing like they did entering the playoff season. This isn't basketball where playing 10 games in 3 weeks is easy to do. The team that wins it all is the team that survives with a team of underclassmen.

 

Lotta empty seats at former outback bowl and citrus bowl even (J1 bowls).

 

The more teams we give a chance, have you noticed the more boring college football has gotten. I like baseball but it’s a day at the park. 10-12 games and literally 162 games in baseball. Every single play in football is like 17 games in baseball. No we shouldn’t have their system of playoffs.

 

What is the point of the bowl games? If I’m a kid with high NFL draft potential and the chance to realize my dream while also (in most cases) significantly upgrading my entire financial situation, tell me in a few short sentences why I should play in a non-playoff bowl game.

It’s also not “just about me” with a lot of these kids. They have parents and siblings that they plan on helping out as well.

 

How about a 64 team power conference with a 64 team playoff? Each playoff game is at a different bowl. That would leave 11 or 12 other bowls for the lower conference. JK< JK!!!

 

The CFP era so far has felt like an 8-team power conference with a 4-team playoff.

 

The top 20 or 30 teams have a goal to win national championship. The rest can play in their minor bowl games that they actually care about making it too. The army navy game is good and minor bowls with teams that have no aspirations of the national championship and the first place are good for those teams. Teams like FSU don’t make the playoff probably should just sit

 

I agree with what you are saying. But I have one sticking point. How do we fit the playoffs in the a football season?

A 32 team playoff will take 5 games to decide the championship. When you factor in the current 12 game season, the 1 game conference championship, those 32 teams will have played 13 games by the end of November or the first weekend of December. Now add in the 5 playoff games, the final two teams will have played 18 games.

Under the current setup of the bowl games on Christmas and New years day, the championship game would be played in late January or early February.

Is this too long of a season? Would a 8 or 16 team playoff be a better solution.

 

Interest in College Football is slowly dying since the portal, NIL and bowl opt outs have taken over the game!

What if you lost a large portion of your NIL money if you skip on bowl games? What if NFL teams were prohibited to draft players who skipped their bowl game, what if it became a really frowned upon thing?

 

The nil contracts aren’t allowed to be tied to a specific school, playing time, or performance. You could possibly do supplemental contracts based on the location of the bowl game, but that still wouldn’t make them play, just travel.

 

Interest in college football is not dying. People are just saying that because they are mad, but they will still watch. However, interest in the bowl games is dying… both from the players and the fans. You want to punish the players for not playing in the bowl games, but ignore the fact that they are right. The bowl games mean nothing and these post season exhibitions don’t typically exist in any other sport. Even the lowly basketball NIT is an actual playoff with a champion crowned at the end. The issue isn’t that players are opting out, it’s that there is no cost-benefit justification to play in the game if you have NFL draft potential. If they want to retain the bowls, put them at the beginning of the season and make them count for something.

 

If a player is willing to "opt out" of a "meaningless" bowl game, why isn't the prevailing logic to opt out also during the regular season if a team loses 2 or 3 games? Have they proven that injuries occur more frequently in bowl games than they do during the regular season?

If you pay the players, do you pay by the game? Or do you hold back a 3rd of the NIL salary based on the completion of a season if not on IR? NIL contracts and Injuries should be more transparent as public information like the NFL.

When will the big boys (say the top 48) of college football end the ruse of NIL as an inefficient concept of compensation? Admit they are running professional football teams and have standardized public contracts paid by the schools themselves and limited to ideas like soft salary caps. While under contract, players should have the ability to be traded or cut at the end of a season by their schools.

When does "Big Boy League" institute a draft to eliminate recruiting corruption? An exemption could be made to a student-athlete who have gpa and test scores within the median (25-75%) of the student body they wish to play for.

The only solution is for the CFP to go to a 48 team NFL Model.

 

NIL is not a salary, and cannot be based on performance or playing time.

 

I know the NCAA stance. But it is an imaginary nuanced fake rule. The NIL should be eliminated quickly.

 

Laws not just rules. This is the state’s stance. NIL will not be eliminated.

 

The games only don't count if you don't care about your teammates, school sponsor or fans. Student athletes usually do, but employees don't.