I have said for years that college football just needs to rip the Band-Aid off and form a new Super League that governs itself. No more SEC, Big Ten or ACC conferences. No "Power" or "Group Of" designations. Just break off and form a new, powerful, super league that not only creates outstanding matchups for itself and becomes a powerful media partner, but leaves alone the rest of college athletics so we can stop with the bastardizing of the college conference landscape.
College football has caused a lot of problems for conferences and schools in their non-football sports. Changing that would be another article, so let's just stick to this new football format.
HOW DID YOU COME TO DO THIS?
To do this, understand that right now we have a Power 4 conference setup in football, plus Notre Dame. That means there are currently 68 power schools that exist right now. I wanted my format to be just 56 schools, but I decided to be cautious and include 64 schools in my new Super League. That would involve creating eight divisions filled with eight schools.
-I attempted to create the divisions using historic conference ties as best as I could. Of course that is impossible with some conferences having more than eight members for a long time. But I did keep an eye on keeping current conference schools together.
-I only used the power schools. That means I left out Oregon State and Washington State. While they were in the Power 5 just two years ago, their future lies with the new Pac-12 being a Group of 6 conference, so I didn't include them.
-If you've done the math, you will understand that four current Power 4 schools will have to be let go. This was the hardest thing to do, which is why I didn't pare the league down to 56 schools. The four schools that didn't make the list? Cincinnati, UCF, Rutgers and Wake Forest. Cincinnati and UCF are newcomers to the power ranks, so they were a bit easier to leave out. Rutgers was difficult because they are the birthplace of college football, but they are kind of a power program just because of geography and no other reason. Wake Forest makes me the most sad. Unlike the other three schools, they've been part of a power conference for decades and decades. They've also been pretty good at times. But the small school nestled in North Carolina was the last team out. I'm sorry.
WHAT WOULD THE DIVISIONS LOOK LIKE?
So here are my eight divisions.
EASTERN DIVISION: Boston College, Maryland, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
This is the most unorthodox-ed division. It is sort of made up of scraps from the other leagues, but there is a purpose. For the most part, these are the eastern-most schools and all (but Maryland and Penn State) were once in the Big East conference (Notre Dame was for non-football). I put Notre Dame in here because they do associate as being an eastern program. They like playing a game each year in the New York area and they've had a nice Catholic rivalry with Boston College. Plus, shoving them into the traditional ACC (which they are aligned with now) or the traditional Big Ten would've caused more problems than it was worth. I did make the controversial move of bringing Penn State over as well. Penn State wanted to form an eastern conference before joining the Big Ten in the early 1990s. They are joined with geographic neighbors like Pitt, Maryland and West Virginia. Plus they give Notre Dame a great rival as a power program in this division.
So Notre Dame and Penn State are the heavyweights here, with Pitt and Boston College with rich histories. Virginia Tech and West Virginia have the ability to make some noise.
ATLANTIC: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia
The Atlantic Division is essentially the traditional old ACC, but cutting back a lot of the Big East influence of the 2000s. One difference is that Miami, who joined in 2004, sticks. Aside from leaving Wake Forest out of this entire thing, the toughest decision was leaving Virginia Tech out. Unless I was going to leave Duke out of the mix (and that was a strong consideration), the Hokies made the least sense of staying in this division. They did have ties to a lot of the programs in the Eastern Division, so it really was a no-brainer. Having said all of that, this division seems pretty standard.
As a football league, its like what the ACC truly wanted when they went all in on football 20 years ago. They have Clemson, Florida State and Miami as their traditional powers, while NC State, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia Tech fully capable of making a run in certain years.
SOUTHEAST: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Here is the part where things got a tad interesting -- how to break up the SEC. The SEC was a 10-team conference for a long time before adding two teams in the 1990s, and then ballooning to 16 teams today. In theory, breaking the SEC into two-eight team divisions seemed like an easy task ... and it should be. But remember that the SEC expanded west, so adding Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M means that an even split meant that some traditional western SEC schools would now be in the east. So, hello Alabama schools! Alabama and Auburn make the move to this Southeast Division to go alongside the traditional six SEC East schools. The good: it gives us that Alabama-Georgia boost everyone wants while keeping some great rivalries like Bama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia going. The bad: breaking those two schools away from LSU. Losing Alabama-LSU is a tough pill to swallow, but there are ways to keep that rivalry going, even if it would now be a non-division game. Plus, the realignment over the past 20 years has broken up so many rivalries that I cannot let something like this bring the division down.
The Atlantic Division is essentially the traditional old ACC, but cutting back a lot of the Big East influence of the 2000s. One difference is that Miami, who joined in 2004, sticks. Aside from leaving Wake Forest out of this entire thing, the toughest decision was leaving Virginia Tech out. Unless I was going to leave Duke out of the mix (and that was a strong consideration), the Hokies made the least sense of staying in this division. They did have ties to a lot of the programs in the Eastern Division, so it really was a no-brainer. Having said all of that, this division seems pretty standard.
As a football league, its like what the ACC truly wanted when they went all in on football 20 years ago. They have Clemson, Florida State and Miami as their traditional powers, while NC State, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia Tech fully capable of making a run in certain years.
SOUTHEAST: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Here is the part where things got a tad interesting -- how to break up the SEC. The SEC was a 10-team conference for a long time before adding two teams in the 1990s, and then ballooning to 16 teams today. In theory, breaking the SEC into two-eight team divisions seemed like an easy task ... and it should be. But remember that the SEC expanded west, so adding Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M means that an even split meant that some traditional western SEC schools would now be in the east. So, hello Alabama schools! Alabama and Auburn make the move to this Southeast Division to go alongside the traditional six SEC East schools. The good: it gives us that Alabama-Georgia boost everyone wants while keeping some great rivalries like Bama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia going. The bad: breaking those two schools away from LSU. Losing Alabama-LSU is a tough pill to swallow, but there are ways to keep that rivalry going, even if it would now be a non-division game. Plus, the realignment over the past 20 years has broken up so many rivalries that I cannot let something like this bring the division down.
SOUTHERN: Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M
The Southern Division is the SEC West without the Alabama schools, but it adds in Oklahoma and Texas to take their place. Plus, there is a twist. Missouri is now moved into another division altogether (more on that in a bit) so it opens up the ability to reunite Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Bedlam is back, baby! Again, It sucks to have to split LSU and the two Mississippi schools up from their longtime SEC brethren, but that's what happens when you make these types of decisions.
Football? Well LSU, Texas and Oklahoma are long time great programs with A&M right behind them. There really isn't a bad team here, historically speaking.
The Southern Division is the SEC West without the Alabama schools, but it adds in Oklahoma and Texas to take their place. Plus, there is a twist. Missouri is now moved into another division altogether (more on that in a bit) so it opens up the ability to reunite Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Bedlam is back, baby! Again, It sucks to have to split LSU and the two Mississippi schools up from their longtime SEC brethren, but that's what happens when you make these types of decisions.
Football? Well LSU, Texas and Oklahoma are long time great programs with A&M right behind them. There really isn't a bad team here, historically speaking.
GREAT LAKES: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin
Just like the SEC, I had a tough time breaking up the Big Ten. Probably a tougher time than you'd think. These eight are part of the "ten" in the Big Ten. Remember that I have already moved Penn State to the Eastern Division, which means the western most schools got bumped into a more midwestern division. Also, Northwestern was on the cut list had I only made a 56 team league, making some of the decisions a bit easier. It is difficult to keep Wisconsin here and move Minnesota away, but ... again ... something has to give.
This will be a lot like the old Big Ten with Michigan and Ohio State fighting for dominance. Can any of the other schools challenge them? All have at one time or another been able to be relevant in the Big Ten, so there is potential.
MIDWEST: Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska
The Midwest Division merges the two western most traditional Big Ten schools with some of the mid-plains Big 12 schools. It just made sense. So Iowa and Minnesota come to a division with Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State. Former Big 12 schools Missouri (SEC) and Nebraska (Big Ten) also come into the mix. The sorta outlier here is Louisville. They really don't fit anywhere perfectly. They aren't as geographically in tune here, but they shoving them into the Great Lakes division didn't make sense either. But Louisville was recently in the Big East and now in the Atlantic Coast Conference, so making geographic sense isn't something the Cardinals care about. They could form a nice rivalry with Missouri, I guess.
Football? This is wide open. We all know how those Big 12 schools battle it out every year, and now they have Iowa, Minnesota and welcome back Mizzou and Nebraska. Louisville has been a wildcard in any division they've played in, so this is likely the NFC South of the college football divisions.
Just like the SEC, I had a tough time breaking up the Big Ten. Probably a tougher time than you'd think. These eight are part of the "ten" in the Big Ten. Remember that I have already moved Penn State to the Eastern Division, which means the western most schools got bumped into a more midwestern division. Also, Northwestern was on the cut list had I only made a 56 team league, making some of the decisions a bit easier. It is difficult to keep Wisconsin here and move Minnesota away, but ... again ... something has to give.
This will be a lot like the old Big Ten with Michigan and Ohio State fighting for dominance. Can any of the other schools challenge them? All have at one time or another been able to be relevant in the Big Ten, so there is potential.
MIDWEST: Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska
The Midwest Division merges the two western most traditional Big Ten schools with some of the mid-plains Big 12 schools. It just made sense. So Iowa and Minnesota come to a division with Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State. Former Big 12 schools Missouri (SEC) and Nebraska (Big Ten) also come into the mix. The sorta outlier here is Louisville. They really don't fit anywhere perfectly. They aren't as geographically in tune here, but they shoving them into the Great Lakes division didn't make sense either. But Louisville was recently in the Big East and now in the Atlantic Coast Conference, so making geographic sense isn't something the Cardinals care about. They could form a nice rivalry with Missouri, I guess.
Football? This is wide open. We all know how those Big 12 schools battle it out every year, and now they have Iowa, Minnesota and welcome back Mizzou and Nebraska. Louisville has been a wildcard in any division they've played in, so this is likely the NFC South of the college football divisions.
CENTRAL: Baylor, BYU, Colorado, Houston, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah
The Central Division is made up of the hodgepodge of Big 12 schools that is mainly Texas and mountain based. Baylor, Houston, SMU, TCU and Texas Tech used to run together in the old Southwest Conference, so a Texas tussle would be fun again. All but SMU (ACC) currently play in the Big 12, so it works. BYU, Colorado and Utah all have joined the league over the last couple of seasons so there is some familiarity.
Football should be fine. BYU has had its moments ... as has Utah. TCU was in the national title game a few years ago. Baylor and Colorado have produced Heisman trophy winners this century while Texas Tech gave us Patrick Mahomes. SMU won the ACC's regular season title last season and Houston ... well ... it's Houston.
The Central Division is made up of the hodgepodge of Big 12 schools that is mainly Texas and mountain based. Baylor, Houston, SMU, TCU and Texas Tech used to run together in the old Southwest Conference, so a Texas tussle would be fun again. All but SMU (ACC) currently play in the Big 12, so it works. BYU, Colorado and Utah all have joined the league over the last couple of seasons so there is some familiarity.
Football should be fine. BYU has had its moments ... as has Utah. TCU was in the national title game a few years ago. Baylor and Colorado have produced Heisman trophy winners this century while Texas Tech gave us Patrick Mahomes. SMU won the ACC's regular season title last season and Houston ... well ... it's Houston.
PACIFIC: Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington
This was by far the easiest division to create, though a bit heartbreaking. The Pacific Division is made up of the 8 power schools that made up the old Pac-10 conference. Leaving Washington State and Oregon State out was tough, but they were left behind for a reason and aren't considered power programs anymore. If, for some reason, there was a bump to, say, 70 schools in this thing with 10-team divisions then I can see those two coming back.
Football? Hey, it's the Pac-10 band back together.
WHAT'S THE REGULAR SEASON SUPPOSED TO BE?
As you can tell, every team will play the other teams in their division. ALL of them. So they will have seven division games. Here's a big change, however -- your total win-loss record determines who the division champion is. There is no more "conference record" like we have now. Just like the divisional record is only used for tiebreakers in the NFL, that's really the only use for it here. Since everyone in the division will play each other once, the head-to-head will be the main tiebreaker. Of course, if there are more than two teams with the same total record, the division record factors in.
The schedule would be 13 games long with one bye week nestled in for everybody in the middle of the season. For this explanation, let's use the 2025 calendar. The season can start in late August (Saturday August 23rd with Week 1. Week 14 ... the final week ... would take place on November 22nd.
So we have 7 conference games that will be played pretty much like we see it now. The schedule makers (yes, the Super League office will create the schedule and not the schools themselves) will fill out the rest of what the schedule looks like. There will be some sense made to keep some regional matchups intact with this division change (like Florida-LSU, Ohio State-Penn State, Florida-Florida State, Clemson-South Carolina, etc). and then four other non-division games. I'm sure the Super League would love to see different regions face off against each other, so we will see Michigan play Georgia, USC play Texas, and Notre Dame-BYU. Gone are cupcake games against FCS schools and Group of 5 opponents. If you want to play one of them, then schedule a preseason game against them. Every game will be power vs power.
I'd like to see every team play six home games and six road games with at least one game at a neutral site. College football is such a great thing to see with neutral sites. Whether those are rivalry games like Texas-Oklahoma in Dallas or Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville ... we can also schedule some non-conference games like we currently have.
Look back at how great Week 1 of this current college football season was with great top 10 showdowns. And then how crappy Week 2 was with big schools rolling up cupcakes. That's gone. Sure, there will be some duds mixed in (just like the NFL) but at least they are power opponents.
SHOW ME AN EXAMPLE OF A SCHEDULE
Okay. Let's use Florida State as an example (* denotes division game).
W1 at Duke*
This was by far the easiest division to create, though a bit heartbreaking. The Pacific Division is made up of the 8 power schools that made up the old Pac-10 conference. Leaving Washington State and Oregon State out was tough, but they were left behind for a reason and aren't considered power programs anymore. If, for some reason, there was a bump to, say, 70 schools in this thing with 10-team divisions then I can see those two coming back.
Football? Hey, it's the Pac-10 band back together.
WHAT'S THE REGULAR SEASON SUPPOSED TO BE?
As you can tell, every team will play the other teams in their division. ALL of them. So they will have seven division games. Here's a big change, however -- your total win-loss record determines who the division champion is. There is no more "conference record" like we have now. Just like the divisional record is only used for tiebreakers in the NFL, that's really the only use for it here. Since everyone in the division will play each other once, the head-to-head will be the main tiebreaker. Of course, if there are more than two teams with the same total record, the division record factors in.
The schedule would be 13 games long with one bye week nestled in for everybody in the middle of the season. For this explanation, let's use the 2025 calendar. The season can start in late August (Saturday August 23rd with Week 1. Week 14 ... the final week ... would take place on November 22nd.
So we have 7 conference games that will be played pretty much like we see it now. The schedule makers (yes, the Super League office will create the schedule and not the schools themselves) will fill out the rest of what the schedule looks like. There will be some sense made to keep some regional matchups intact with this division change (like Florida-LSU, Ohio State-Penn State, Florida-Florida State, Clemson-South Carolina, etc). and then four other non-division games. I'm sure the Super League would love to see different regions face off against each other, so we will see Michigan play Georgia, USC play Texas, and Notre Dame-BYU. Gone are cupcake games against FCS schools and Group of 5 opponents. If you want to play one of them, then schedule a preseason game against them. Every game will be power vs power.
I'd like to see every team play six home games and six road games with at least one game at a neutral site. College football is such a great thing to see with neutral sites. Whether those are rivalry games like Texas-Oklahoma in Dallas or Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville ... we can also schedule some non-conference games like we currently have.
Look back at how great Week 1 of this current college football season was with great top 10 showdowns. And then how crappy Week 2 was with big schools rolling up cupcakes. That's gone. Sure, there will be some duds mixed in (just like the NFL) but at least they are power opponents.
SHOW ME AN EXAMPLE OF A SCHEDULE
Okay. Let's use Florida State as an example (* denotes division game).
W1 at Duke*
W2 Mississippi State
W3 Wisconsin (Atlanta)
W4 at Clemson*
W5 at Virginia*
W6 Miami*
W7 North Carolina*
W8 BYE WEEK
W9 at NC State*
W10 at Maryland
W11 Iowa
W12 at Utah
W12 at Utah
W13 Georgia Tech*
W14 Florida
If you notice, there isn't a non-conference season that leads into a conference season like we're accustomed to. The schedule has division games mixed in just like we have in the NFL. There are 7 division games that will flip each year to where the game is played. I'd like that the "rivalry game" would coincide with this scheduling so that we have four home and four road games between your division and rival opponent. We continue the Florida State-Florida rivalry like always as one of the six non-division games. In this scenario, the Seminoles will host Florida, Mississippi State and Iowa while traveling to Maryland and Utah. They also play Wisconsin at a neutral site. Their bye week is in Week 8.
That means they will play 13 power teams and no cupcakes. No games against MAC foes like Kent State. No games against FCS teams like East Texas A&M. What I'd like to be the norm is scheduling games against teams like that for the preseason.
Notice that Florida State travels to different parts of the country. This example has them in Utah. The next year they could go to a Pacific or Midwest school.
WHAT DOES THE POSTSEASON LOOK LIKE?
First off: there are no more conference championship games. It already looks like college football right now will be trending away from that. It's a money grab, but adding more playoff rounds would fill that gap immediately.
That's why the 24-team format that the Big Ten is currently floating around makes sense here. Is that too many? Well, it means that 37.5% of the Super League gets into the postseason. For reference, 43.7% of the NFL's teams reach the playoffs. So having a five-round playoff is doable.
The eight division champions are guaranteed a spot in the playoff, along with 16 at-large teams. Here's another twist: Unlike the NFL, we will continue to have rankings and a selection committee to determine who those at-large teams are. I know, I know! I wanted this to look a lot like how a professional league looks, but having that one nugget of the college system still feels right. With so much range in what schedules look like, it seems appropriate to keep this part of the tradition.
Seeding will be based on those rankings. So the top eight ranked teams will get first round byes, while seeds 9 thru 24 will begin the first round of the playoffs. Those games will be played on campus over a two day period. Four games on Friday and four more on Saturday. I wouldn't be against having two games on Friday night and six games that overlap on Saturday (something like how the NCAA Tournament is). You could have Friday games at 6pm ET and 9:30pm ET (provided a west coast team was hosting a game) and then Saturday games at noon ET, 3:30pm ET, 7pm ET and 10:30pm ET ... with two games mixed in at 5pm ET and 8:30pm ET.
Now, remember we are using the 2025 calendar for this exercise and that I had the final week of the regular season on November 22nd ... the week before Thanksgiving. That gives us a great treat to have college football playoff games on all day Friday and Saturday since most people would be off to watch them.
The second round would see the top eight seeds hosting the winners of those games in a bracket-style format (no re-seeding). That round could be scheduled just like the first round with games on Friday and Saturday. That would be December 5th and 6th.
The quarterfinals would be the following week (December 12th and 13th). Now, I would prefer to have these games played on campus at the higher seeded team's home -- but I'm not against using a rotating "bowl" format like the CFP is currently using. I just think this round should be on campus. You can have one game on Friday night at 8pm ET and Saturday games at noon ET, 4pm ET and 8pm ET.
The semifinals could be made to be at neutral sites. No more bowls, but bid out sites. Kind of like the NCAA Tournament's regionals are at four different sites, this could be held in two places ... like what we do now. Those games would be played on Saturday December 20th. The national championship game is also neutral ... and it can be played on New Year's Day.
Of course there is the little issue of finals week, but now you are only disrupting a few schools and not the 80+ schools playing in bowls like you do right now. Having the title game on New Year's Day is a great way to honor a piece of tradition while also moving out of the way before the NFL playoffs start.
ANY OTHER NOTES?
Yes. College football's new Super League would have its own commissioner. Just like the NFL. And instead of dealing with several conference commissioners, that new commissioner governs over the schools themselves. Rules are more unified, as are the punishments. I'm sure there will be a point where the players unionize, which will bring on collective bargaining and further oversight.
There will also be the way you watch college football on television. Instead of SEC games on ESPN and Notre Dame on NBC and Big Ten games on FOX ... we have full blown rights sold just like the NFL does. As you are aware, the NFL has Sunday packages for CBS and FOX, Sunday Night Football package for NBC, Monday Night Football package for ESPN/ABC, Thursday Night Football package for Amazon Prime, and several offshoots for other streamers like Netflix and YouTube. You all know that broadcast rights have led us to the point where the Pac-12 broke up to catch Big Ten money and to find survival rooms in the Big 12 and ACC. It's why we have 18-team conferences now. So imagine what the consolidation of this inventory could do.
With 64 schools -- or 32 games on non-bye weeks -- this Super League has twice the inventory that the NFL does. While it may be difficult to go against the NFL on Thursdays, there is still a lucrative package to be sold for that date. Fridays would also pull a nice number. And we could have an NFL-style setup on Saturdays, where NBC, ESPN/ABC, FOX and CBS all have games going simultaneously all day long. There is no "Saturday Night Football" on just one network ... and games don't stop at 11pm. But one network may pay more money for the top choice of games that Saturday while the others slot in a tier system. The money then is shared (just like the NFL) among all schools and not just the ones in the SEC or Big Ten. The Dallas Cowboys' share of broadcast rights is the same as the Jacksonville Jaguars. So will Ohio State and Pitt.
W14 Florida
If you notice, there isn't a non-conference season that leads into a conference season like we're accustomed to. The schedule has division games mixed in just like we have in the NFL. There are 7 division games that will flip each year to where the game is played. I'd like that the "rivalry game" would coincide with this scheduling so that we have four home and four road games between your division and rival opponent. We continue the Florida State-Florida rivalry like always as one of the six non-division games. In this scenario, the Seminoles will host Florida, Mississippi State and Iowa while traveling to Maryland and Utah. They also play Wisconsin at a neutral site. Their bye week is in Week 8.
That means they will play 13 power teams and no cupcakes. No games against MAC foes like Kent State. No games against FCS teams like East Texas A&M. What I'd like to be the norm is scheduling games against teams like that for the preseason.
Notice that Florida State travels to different parts of the country. This example has them in Utah. The next year they could go to a Pacific or Midwest school.
WHAT DOES THE POSTSEASON LOOK LIKE?
First off: there are no more conference championship games. It already looks like college football right now will be trending away from that. It's a money grab, but adding more playoff rounds would fill that gap immediately.
That's why the 24-team format that the Big Ten is currently floating around makes sense here. Is that too many? Well, it means that 37.5% of the Super League gets into the postseason. For reference, 43.7% of the NFL's teams reach the playoffs. So having a five-round playoff is doable.
The eight division champions are guaranteed a spot in the playoff, along with 16 at-large teams. Here's another twist: Unlike the NFL, we will continue to have rankings and a selection committee to determine who those at-large teams are. I know, I know! I wanted this to look a lot like how a professional league looks, but having that one nugget of the college system still feels right. With so much range in what schedules look like, it seems appropriate to keep this part of the tradition.
Seeding will be based on those rankings. So the top eight ranked teams will get first round byes, while seeds 9 thru 24 will begin the first round of the playoffs. Those games will be played on campus over a two day period. Four games on Friday and four more on Saturday. I wouldn't be against having two games on Friday night and six games that overlap on Saturday (something like how the NCAA Tournament is). You could have Friday games at 6pm ET and 9:30pm ET (provided a west coast team was hosting a game) and then Saturday games at noon ET, 3:30pm ET, 7pm ET and 10:30pm ET ... with two games mixed in at 5pm ET and 8:30pm ET.
Now, remember we are using the 2025 calendar for this exercise and that I had the final week of the regular season on November 22nd ... the week before Thanksgiving. That gives us a great treat to have college football playoff games on all day Friday and Saturday since most people would be off to watch them.
The second round would see the top eight seeds hosting the winners of those games in a bracket-style format (no re-seeding). That round could be scheduled just like the first round with games on Friday and Saturday. That would be December 5th and 6th.
The quarterfinals would be the following week (December 12th and 13th). Now, I would prefer to have these games played on campus at the higher seeded team's home -- but I'm not against using a rotating "bowl" format like the CFP is currently using. I just think this round should be on campus. You can have one game on Friday night at 8pm ET and Saturday games at noon ET, 4pm ET and 8pm ET.
The semifinals could be made to be at neutral sites. No more bowls, but bid out sites. Kind of like the NCAA Tournament's regionals are at four different sites, this could be held in two places ... like what we do now. Those games would be played on Saturday December 20th. The national championship game is also neutral ... and it can be played on New Year's Day.
Of course there is the little issue of finals week, but now you are only disrupting a few schools and not the 80+ schools playing in bowls like you do right now. Having the title game on New Year's Day is a great way to honor a piece of tradition while also moving out of the way before the NFL playoffs start.
ANY OTHER NOTES?
Yes. College football's new Super League would have its own commissioner. Just like the NFL. And instead of dealing with several conference commissioners, that new commissioner governs over the schools themselves. Rules are more unified, as are the punishments. I'm sure there will be a point where the players unionize, which will bring on collective bargaining and further oversight.
There will also be the way you watch college football on television. Instead of SEC games on ESPN and Notre Dame on NBC and Big Ten games on FOX ... we have full blown rights sold just like the NFL does. As you are aware, the NFL has Sunday packages for CBS and FOX, Sunday Night Football package for NBC, Monday Night Football package for ESPN/ABC, Thursday Night Football package for Amazon Prime, and several offshoots for other streamers like Netflix and YouTube. You all know that broadcast rights have led us to the point where the Pac-12 broke up to catch Big Ten money and to find survival rooms in the Big 12 and ACC. It's why we have 18-team conferences now. So imagine what the consolidation of this inventory could do.
With 64 schools -- or 32 games on non-bye weeks -- this Super League has twice the inventory that the NFL does. While it may be difficult to go against the NFL on Thursdays, there is still a lucrative package to be sold for that date. Fridays would also pull a nice number. And we could have an NFL-style setup on Saturdays, where NBC, ESPN/ABC, FOX and CBS all have games going simultaneously all day long. There is no "Saturday Night Football" on just one network ... and games don't stop at 11pm. But one network may pay more money for the top choice of games that Saturday while the others slot in a tier system. The money then is shared (just like the NFL) among all schools and not just the ones in the SEC or Big Ten. The Dallas Cowboys' share of broadcast rights is the same as the Jacksonville Jaguars. So will Ohio State and Pitt.
