First and 10: Good luck getting SEC to play ball on 16-team CFP
1. I don’t want to get on a soapbox, but …
At this point, I’m not sure what’s worse: that they keep shoveling it, or that everyone keeps buying it.
So now we’re at 16 — as in, let’s try to expand the Playoff to 16 teams. Maybe even as soon as 2023 or 2024.
You read that right, 2023 or 2024.
Only there’s one teeny-weeny problem: the boogeyman has all the leverage.
And good luck getting him to play.
“The whole thing is incredibly transparent,” an SEC athletic director told me this weekend. “We don’t need 16. We had 2 (teams) in 4 last year. It works well for us.”
It doesn’t, however, work well for others.
Over the last week, officials from the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 — the erstwhile “Alliance” — proclaimed the changing landscape of college football needs a 16-team Playoff.
The same Alliance that in February scuttled a 12-team expansion because (take your pick):
— The process was moving too quickly, ignoring any number of issues that affect (and stress) student-athletes.
— There was too much “uncertainty” in such a dramatic move.
— Student-athletes shouldn’t be playing a 17-game season.
— Television shouldn’t have a hand in dictating conference expansion in college football.
Five months later, they’re zeroing in on 16 teams despite — the doozy of all doozies — their claim that the SEC pursued the original 12-team Playoff expansion to increase access for its expanding conference.
All it took was the Big Ten stabbing its partners in the back a few weeks ago to expose the charade for what it was. Once USC and UCLA announced they were joining the Big Ten — and once it financially destabilized the Pac-12 and, by proxy, the ACC and Big 12 — the tide shifted to more Playoff teams equals more Playoff revenue.
As soon as possible.
But the boogeyman isn’t going to just give in and agree and move forward with 16 teams. The boogeyman knows what unfolded over the last 11 months, and why.
The boogeyman remembers the presidents of Washington State and Penn State in 2019 asking the College Football Playoff management committee to come up with an expanded format to increase access. The working committee — of which SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was asked to be part of — came up with a 12-team format that was initially embraced by all before Texas and Oklahoma asked to join the SEC.
It was there that the Alliance was birthed, kicking and screaming and eventually scuttling Playoff expansion not because of what’s best for the game or student-athletes, but out of spite.
Now the Alliance wants 16 teams. Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff, whose conference was left to die on the vine by the Big Ten, says it could happen before the contract expires after the 2025 season.
But there’s a snag in the plans: any change to the current format must be unanimous among the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame.
The same procedural step that allowed Alliance to block the 12-team proposal. That means one “no” vote can end any discussion.
Hello, spite.
Spite in the hands of the most powerful conference in college football is a dangerous thing. It’s also a powerful thing.
If the rest of college football wants a 16-team Playoff before the end of the current deal, the SEC wants something(s) in return. At the top of that list:
— All 16 teams at large, no automatic qualifiers.
— Texas and Oklahoma are SEC members, free and clear from the Big 12, on the first season of any expanded Playoff. In other words, if an expanded Playoff is approved for 2024, Texas and OU will be in the SEC in 2024.
Anything short of that, no deal.
“They played a dangerous hand when they pulled that (Alliance) stunt,” a media rights industry source told SDS. “Do they think those SEC presidents are just going to forget it?”
2. A deeper problem
There are multiple obstacles to clear before a 16-team Playoff comes to fruition, and we haven’t even addressed how it fits in a 1-semester calendar with as little impact as possible to academics.
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Online sports betting has come or is coming to a number of SEC states down south. Residents of states where legalized sports betting exists can bet on things like the Heisman race, SEC football games each week and more... all right from their mobile device.
But there’s one obstacle that can’t be seen, and may be the biggest of all: the SEC presidents have had enough.
Enough of their colleagues blaming them — and the man who speaks and works for them, Sankey — for the changing landscape of college sports. The move of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, numerous presidents and athletic directors in FBS said publicly and anonymously, was the Jenga piece that tumbled everything.
The SEC’s desire for more left everyone with less.
“Every single conference would’ve done the same thing we did in accepting Texas and Oklahoma,” Sankey said.
A year later, look at the narrative:
— Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren spoke last week of being “bold” and “creative” in response to “a changing landscape” — or as we call it in the real world, a remarkably ballsy move that destabilized his Alliance partner, the Pac-12.
— ACC commissioner Jim Phillips decried the state of college sports during Media Days, saying there needs to be a “healthy neighborhood — not 2 or 3 gated communities.” Nearly 5 months ago, he wanted a “complete review” of all things college football. Now he’s interested in a 16-team Playoff.
— The Pac-12 is dealing with Stanford, Cal, Oregon and Washington, SDS sources say, refusing to sign any new media rights deal built by Kliavkoff because they’re waiting future Big Ten expansion decisions. It should come as no surprise that Kliavkoff, desperate to keep his conference together and alive, is pushing 16 as soon as possible.
The SEC, meanwhile, has dominated the current 4-team Playoff and has twice had 2 teams among the 4. It has won 5 of 8 Playoff championships and 3 straight — and 12 of 16 national titles since 2006.
The SEC has a new, exclusive media rights deal with ESPN beginning in 2024 that will — after it’s adjusted to add Texas and Oklahoma — guarantee each school nearly $100 million annually.
Translation: The SEC doesn’t care what the Playoff looks like. It does, however, care how we got here.
Despite all the bickering and bantering at the surface level among the conferences for decades (see: the infamous Jim Delany letter extolling Big Ten academics vs. “SEC speed”), there was unity at the presidential level.
That all changed over the last year. That leads to issues of trust, which leads to impasse in negotiations, which leads to status quo until the end of the current Playoff contract.
Unless, that is, the boogeyman gets his way.
3. The move to 16, The Epilogue
Let’s not bury what’s important: money. That’s what an expanded Playoff is all about.
Multiple industry sources told SDS over the last year that a 12-team Playoff would fetch as much as $1.2 billion annually. A 16-team Playoff — which eliminates byes for the top 4 seeds and increases the number of tournament games played from 11 to 15 (think content) — is a financial game-changer with multiple media partners (think NFL playoffs).
Understand this: Power 5 presidents know pay for play is coming, and they’re searching for every possible revenue stream to support it (and not crush their athletic departments in the process).
So a 16-team Playoff more than likely will surpass the 12-team format. There also is a desire to reward the top teams in the country and not impact regular-season games, so a 14-team Playoff with 2 byes is also a possibility.
While the SEC won’t walk away from that type of financial impact, there’s a reason Sankey floated the “blue skies” idea of an SEC Playoff. If they don’t get what they want, they can walk and hold their own Playoff.
Which Playoff will demand more revenue and generate the greater television ratings, you ask?
The one whose conference has produced 12 of the last 16 national champions.
4. Surging forward
It has taken all of 30 days for the panic to subside in the state of Florida.
Gators coach Billy Napier is beginning to show his recruiting chops.
Over the last 5 days, Napier and his staff finished a torrid month of July by landing commitments from four 4-star recruits. In each commitment, Florida beat SEC rivals and in the process raised its team rank in the 247Sports composite from No. 28 to No. 12.
The commitments of WRs Aidan Mizell (over Alabama and Georgia) and Andy Jean (Texas A&M, Miami) and DBs Jordan Castell (Alabama) and Ja’Keem Jackson (Auburn, Penn State) have calmed the nerves of the anxious on social media. It had gotten so bad, former Florida players were actively preaching patience for a coach who had yet to coach a down of football.
More important, the strong July showed elite recruits still on the board considering Florida — CB Cormani McClain (No. 3 overall), RB Cedric Baxter Jr. (No. 48), OT Monroe Freeling (No. 62), DT Kelby Collins (No. 70) — a surging program winning head-to-head battles it didn’t in years past.
5. The Weekly 5
The most intriguing win total lines for the 2022 season, from our friends at Fan Duel:
1. Auburn: 5.5. They’re begging you to take the over.
2. Arkansas: 7.5 Look at that schedule. Hogs could be better in 2022, and fall short of last year’s 9-win season.
3. Kentucky: 7.5. If UK wins at Florida in Week 2, the over is a lock.
4. Florida: 7. It’s all on QB Anthony Richardson. He plays to expectations, Gators hit the over. He doesn’t, and woof.
5. LSU: 6.5. Brian Kelly’s first team at Cincinnati won 10 games. His first at Notre Dame won 8.
6. Your tape is your resume
An NFL scout evaluates a draft-eligible SEC player. This week: Ole Miss TB Zach Evans.
“He got lost in that (coaching) shuffle at TCU, and because the turf toe (injury) forced him to miss the last month of the season. But he really played well last year, and his production would’ve been much greater. He’s got a nice burst, but doesn’t have elite speed. Really good vision on inside and outside runs, and makes quick plant and cut decisions. He’s deceptively strong; the first hit is not bringing him down. He’s solid as a receiver. Get him in open space, that’s the key to everything. He’s average to bad in pass protection, but that can be cleaned up. Get a full season in him for the first time in 3 years, and let’s see the total package.”
7. Powered Up
This week’s Power Poll, and 1 big thing: best camp competition.
1. Georgia: DE Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins vs. Tramel Walthour vs. Mykel Williams.
2. Alabama: OT Tyler Steen vs. JC Latham vs. Tommy Brockermeyer.
3. Texas A&M: QB Max Johnson vs. Haynes King.
4. Kentucky: LT Deondre Buford vs. Kiyaunta Goodwin.
5. Arkansas: TB Dominique Johnson vs. Rocket Sanders vs. Rashod Dubinion.
6. LSU: QB Myles Brennan vs. Jayden Daniels vs. Garrett Nussmeier.
7. Tennessee: LT Jeremiah Crawford vs. Gerald Mincey.
8. Mississippi State: S Collin Duncan vs. Jackie Matthews.
9. South Carolina: TE Jaheim Bell vs. Austin Stogner.
10. Florida: CBs Jaydon Hill vs. Avery Helm vs. Jalen Kimber.
11. Ole Miss: QB Luke Altmyer vs. Jaxson Dart.
12. Auburn: QB Zach Calzada vs. T.J. Finley vs. Robby Ashford.
13. Missouri: QB Brady Cook vs. Tyler Macon vs. Jack Abraham vs. Sam Horn.
14. Vanderbilt: WR Quincy Skinner Jr. vs. Gamarion Carter vs. Daveon Walker.
8. Ask and you shall receive
Matt: If we’re looking for the best possible conference, why not just kick Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri and Vanderbilt out of the SEC, and add Florida State, Miami, Clemson and North Carolina? Chris Doughty, Atlanta.
Chris:
The easy answer is you’re talking about 3 founding members (Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt) who are part of the original fabric of the conference, and another university that fit in the last round of expansion in 2012.
While it may seem easy to just swap universities to find the best 16 — and I’m not saying Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Missouri would be the 4 jettisoned — you’re losing the history and tradition of what makes the conference unique. And believe it or not, there is conference life beyond football (though expansion is directly tied to the No. 1 sport).
The last 3 baseball national titles were won by Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. If you want to know what life in the SEC is like (football and other sports), spend a weekend in Oxford and Starkville and soak it in. It lives and breathes SEC culture. There’s genuine value to that.
There’s no question Clemson, FSU, Miami and North Carolina are better brands and properties. But there are 2 guarantees moving forward with SEC membership: the league won’t run off any member, and it won’t hold any member to a media grant of rights deal.
9. Numbers
41. The Georgia offense — yep, the offense — led the SEC last year with 41 plays of 30-plus yards from scrimmage.
So while the focus is on how Georgia will replace NFL players from last year’s defense (the defense won’t be the problem in 2022), it should be how the Dawgs will replace the wildly underrated TB duo of Zamir White and James Cook, and WR Jermaine Burton.
Cook and White combined for 6 rushing plays of 30-plus yards and 12 of 20-plus yards. Burton had 4 plays of 30-plus yards and 6 of 20-plus.
Those, everyone, are explosion plays that make life a lot easier for a quarterback.
Kenny McIntosh and Kendall Milton will get the first shot at replacing White and Cook, but don’t count out freshman Branson Robinson. One Power 5 coach who recruited him last year told me, “I could watch his tape all day. Those guys don’t come along that often.”
10. Quote to note
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman: “Change happens. It just depends on if you’re willing to deal with the change, or are you going to fight the change? For us, we’re willing to do whatever we can to make our football team the best.”
At this point, adding more teams to the SEC looks a lot like just adding more football bottom feeders. Besides, nearly every SEC baseball team would be at the top of every other conference. The point of expansion is to add more quality opponents and national media coverage, so adding any more teams from the southeast US seems pretty silly.
With power in football being a fluid thing, it gets me to wondering if Miami, FSU, VT or someone else will someday emerge as a force and the SEC ends up losing out on those criteria you mentioned.
I could definitely see VT or UVA or Pitt being viable options but what do we actually get with an FSU or Miami? A name brand that is just trying to stay relevant?
There is more to it than that. Just because a school doesn’t expand the footprint, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good move. If the ACC collapses, the Big 10 will want several of those schools. If the SEC is smart, and I believe they are, they aren’t letting the Big 10 into SEC territory.
That’s definitely true. But why wouldn’t the ACC just expand and cherry pick the BIG12 AAC and Sunbelt to try to keep up?
I’m sure they will try something, but there isn’t much value available to them.
You think people wouldn’t tune in from across the country to watch say Clemson play UGA with an SEC championship spot on the line?
I’m not saying that. But I don’t think adding any teams from states like Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, or Mississippi would be beneficial. Nobody would say no to NC or Clemson joining the big dogs. I’d even take VT or Pitt or Boston College, or Virginia. But why take Miami or FSU?
I agree FSU makes no sense. Regionally, they are in an area that overlaps with UGA, BAMA and LSU as well as UF. Also, they suck and have no class. They would bring nothing to the conference at all and would suck money away from the rest of the teams.
LSU over a lock or a sucker bet? Seems like a low number.
Intelligent question. With a whole lot of sports media and their assorted talking heads dissing the Tigers would they also put their mouth and real money in the same place? With several teams on the ascent the SEC will be a lot of fun to watch. On LSU, I say take the “over” bet.
At 6.5, I’d say the over is a safe bet.
Seems pretty low. They won 5 games in 2020 with an all SEC schedule and a team in turmoil. Last year was a dumpster fire and they still won 6 games and effectively forfeited the bowl game.
They have 3 out of conference games that are certain wins so they only have to go 4 and 6 against the rest assuming a bowl game. All games except maybe two should be toss ups at worse, talent should be better than last year considering all of the injuries, and definitely coaching upgrade, so I would take the over.
Still feels like at some point CFB will evolve into a couple Super Conferences.
Institutions such as Vanderbilt, Miss schools, and most the ACC will form leagues of their own for football. Perhaps they can remain for non revenue sports. Assuming they still exist.
separation, creation into another league would require a good bit of work, strong, good communications and harmony amongst many. what have you seen to date that suggests such is practical?
as a side, do you really see institutions, such as vanderbilt and the miss schools as you stated, or other lower tier teams of the big 10 walking away from their current payout situations? the ADs and presidents of those institutions may publicly state that they’re in the business of wanting and working towards winning titles, but privately, they’re looking at their P&Ls and are fearful from taking any steps which may disrupt their current revenue streams.
First, money will create the “goodwill” you seek. Secondly, those smaller schools will not be invited to the party. Lastly, this isn’t over the next three/four years. The new SEC, B1G, and ACC contracts will all expire in the mid 30s. Although, what if I had told you a short 18 months ago that TX and OK were members of the SEC? That USC and UCLA were in the B1G? That a QB would sign to play at TN for $10M? That high profile players would move freely between institutions? That players in the B1G were forming an “association” to negotiate? I could on, but you get the point. Changes are happening at warp speed. So, it may happen sooner than later.
ha. i get your point. maybe surprisingly, but i would have more scoffed at the idea of tx and ok joining the sec than any of the other situational scenarios you listed.
back to these schools pulling away or being cut from current ~$55M annual payouts, i think you’re discounting how much resistance would be put up to such a drastic move….from either side, perspective. it’s one thing for a collective or a foolish donor to shell out seven figures to an individual player or potentially ~$30M to the team as a whole, as what some of these HCs are suggesting is needed to compete, but these same donors and/or collective aren’t likely to make-up for the lost $55M by an institution in either breaking away or getting cut from their current payout situations. also, if certain flagship or public institutions were about to get cut-out of such a payday, you don’t think local politicians would get involved and create a whole another layer of obstacles, red-tape, etc?
Well, I would never underestimate what the gov’t might do or not do. But Cali hasn’t found a way to stop UCLA from leaving the PAC12.
If somebody like ESPN or Amazon (who cannot find a way to spend all their profit) comes along and says, hey, we’ll pay you guys 100 trillion (facetious) to allow us to broadcast your conferences. But we are not interested in watching Bama beat Vandy 62-0. We want Saturday afternoon and evening games matching Bama/UGA, Auburn/TN, OSU/TX and such.
You probably said the same thing about the politicians not getting Virginia Tech into the ACC over Syracuse in 2004…oh, wait…
Nice of you to admit to your embarrassing defeat on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader!
The arrogance and stupidity of the Georgia fans is incredible. After 40 years of miserable performance between the 1981 and 2021 national championship, they feel they can decide which schools can be allowed to exist in the college football universe. Can tell you this pal, University of Washington would have kicked Georgia’s butt most of those 40 years. However, we never felt we needed to eliminate schools from college football. You Georgia morons are simply trying to destroy the sport.
How is the weather off planet anyway?
At least Washington doesn’t live in trailer homes!
Washington has a football team?
When compared to yours, yes.
I look at who is pushing for a 16 team format and say no thanks.
An 8 team format seems to be the more intuitive way to go IF we’re going to expand. Only after that proves successful should we add more.
Agree 100%. 8 is a great starting point. No automatic bids to get in. Your play should speak for itself. Teams will need to schedule better opponents if they want to look more impressive. The biggest thing that I like with the expanded playoff is a regular season loss won’t end your season. College football is the only sport (that I can currently think of) where a loss could mean your season is over. Even if you’re an elite losing to an elite near the end of the season. That has shown to be costly for some teams already.
Yeah, I think 8 is the perfect number. With or without aq’s (preferably without).
The top eight teams. All six of the New Year’s 6 bowls can be used for the quarterfinals and semifinals. None of them have to be meaningless.
And if they just have to have aq’s, the Power 5 conference champs, highest ranked Group of 5 champ, and two at large spots.
How many more teams do you need?
More than the number of wins your team provides, that’s for sure!
not looking to be adversarial necessarily to what the big 10 is trying to push and maybe my perspective is jaded on account that i’m fortunate to be rooting for a team that has been consistently in contention to make a 4-team playoff, but a 16-team playoff is bad for the game and destroys the meaningful impact of the reg season as a whole. i could get behind an 8-team playoff, but that’s it.
Scared to lose to Eastern Michigan in a 16-team scenario?
16 may be a bit much but a 12-team playoff I think would be a good compromise and feels right. Definitely need more than 4, 6, or 8 teams, that would just feel like a half measure and what’s the point?
I think when the dust settles, there will be a 12 team playoff.
Myles Brennan will start for LSU. Rocket Sanders for Arkansas. Austin Stogner for USCe. Brady Cook at Missouri. Zach Calzada at Auburn. Luke Altmyer at Ole Miss. Tyler Steen at Bama. Those are a few of my picks.
Take the over on LSU. They will reach 9-10 wins. Take the over on Auburn to reach 6-7 wins. Arkansas should reach 9 wins. Kentucky should reach 8 wins, maybe 9. I think Florida reaches 7-8 wins.
JC Latham vs. Tommy Brockermeyer were 2 of the highest rated O-linemen in their cycle. They are going to be a force to deal with. Steen is going to have to really up his game from last season. I think with the change in the coach, the O-line is going to be vastly improved this season.
Brad Davis is a good OL coach. Like you with Bama,I hope this group I’m much improved. With the two transfers and freshmen starting or pushing the veterans, my hope is it makes this group much better.
Got whatever you want to put down taking LSU 9 and under, pipe dream LSU gets to 10 wins. 1st year coach in the SEC West, who has had no success in his career against SEC schools. Take off the blinders, Kelly and LSU in for a rude awakening. Better hope you beat Auburn, and don’t finish last! Working off of pure hope, there is absolutely nothing down in LSU that projects to a 9-10 win season this year that is realistic. Put me in retirement on 9 under!
It reflects very poorly on the SEC presidents if they are making decisions based on spite instead of smarts. I actually doubt very much spite will be a deciding factor. People don’t rise to the level of University President by being petty and spiteful. I believe most of them are big picture folks who shake off the personal stuff. In the end, trust will come in the form of a contract.
A 16 team playoff is ridiculous, especially if there are automatic bids. A 12 team playoff is too much, but better than 16 teams. I think 8 is fine and won’t add too many games to the season and won’t run the risk of diluting regular season games like a 16 team playoff almost certainly would.
I don’t see the reasoning for a 16 team playoff. Sure it’s about money, but there is no chance the bottom 8 could win the Championship. I believe 8 is the best bet. I think in a good year it would be hard to find 8 teams with a “real shot” at the title. Look at the number of top players that sit out of bowl games (glad the Cats don’t have that problem) afraid to get hurt. Do you think star players looking to get drafted would play in those games from the bottom 8 seeds? Especially if it’s a gauntlet of SEC teams they would play. I think 8 is plenty. Hey, I’m a Kentucky fan and a 16 team playoff would give us a way better chance to get in, but it doesn’t feel right being watered down.
They way teams 3 and 4 have been getting blown out in round one , jumping to 12 or 16 makes no sense to me. However, that could change in the coming years if teams like A&M, Oregon, USC, Miami, and FSU get up to the elite level there is a chance that they could actually make the finals. But still 12 or 16 is letting some underserving teams in just so they could get some payout.
I think the only way expansion makes since is to add 4 teams to make it 8, same criteria as we currently have. The new first round should be an additional home field game for the top four which in my opinion would be better than a bye. I am all for adding good home games to schedules. If a 5-8 team can beat a top 4 at home then they deserve to advance. The round of 8 would be played 2 weeks after the Conference Championships’ Saturday and the current round of 4 would remain on the existing schedule.
The more playoff spots there are the more parity would eventually spread out. The Playoffs are already recruiting kids as much or more than coaches are. Give them more choices. I know the thought of parity scares the living daylights out of narrow-sighted SEC folk like Matt Hayes, Finebaum and the like, and it’s how we get write up like this one giving the impression the SEC is scared of a large playoff, but it would actually grow the sport in the long view. No sport has ever shrunk or grown less by expanding their playoffs.
If college football is moving toward the nfl, how can people say, no automatic qualifiers? Why would anyone want to see half of the SEC in a 12 or 16 team playoff? Multiple conference champs should get in. There will never be 12 or 16 worthy championship contenders. The unworthy might as well be conference champs.
Yes, but it’s hard to imagine a conference champ not ranked in the top 16. No?
I agree, but some folks will only feel comfortable with a AQ’s. Asking folks to trust a committee at this time seems like it would be a stretch.
8- is a good number
The lack of an aq is a boon for the sport. The top 4 teams get to play #s 16, 15, 14, 13 and should easily blow them out. Then the harder to figure out if their deserving teams (5 thru 12) will all get to play each other to figure out who actually deserves to be in the playoffs. Then every once in a while we’ll get to see a Cinderella ranked 12 or 13 make a run. It’s good for national viewership and it’s good for more major bowls to stay relevant.
That makes no sense. If a 12 or 16 team playoff is dominated by one or two conferences, much of the rest of the fan bases will simply tune out.
Like they do now?
I’m talking participation, not titles.
As originally proposed. 12 playoff format is better than 16.
Keep The SEC as is.
Looking forward to the day when Sooners and Longhorns come to Athens, Rocky Top and The Swamp and The Plains and T-Town, The Grove and etc etc etc
ONe thing that everyone seems to be ignoring is the wear and tear on the players in an expanded playoff. A team like Alabama or Georgia would play 12 regular season games, SEC championship game, then if either one gets to the National Championship, an additional 5 games. These are 18-22/23 year old young men, not professional ath letters; and the wear and tear on them over a potential 18 game season should be considered.
Next time I should proof read before posting.
I still totally agree with you. If they are going to add this many games, they need to cut some from the regular season.
I would cut the regular season down to probably 9-10 games, with the goal for each SEC team to play every other SEC team home and home every five years. I would eliminate the conference championship and just choose the champion based on the regular season. Certainly, there is money left on the table with this idea, but I guess it comes down to how much money is enough? Also, I would look at some revenue sharing with the non Power 5 schools if the regular season is reduced. For many of these schools, their beat downs by the Power 5 teams they play cover a significant portion of their annual budget. JMO. FWIW.
16 team playoff. As you so noted Matt, $ is the key.
Disney/ESPN and not the SEC will decide whether or not there will be a 16 team playoff. Whether there are 16 teams that can truly contend for a CFB title is as irrelevant as whether 68 teams can realistically compete for a CBB title.
The SEC has a lot of CFB power but the true power resides with Disney/ESPN and FOX. And the other corporations that would line up to pay big money to broadcast the playoff games.
Anyone who believes otherwise does not understand that CFB has sold its soul to corporate media and it’s all about the money, period.
Actually, Disney/ESPN won’t. My previous comment is lost somewhere in the outer rim of moderation, so forgive me for the doubleton. A mixture of FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, and Amazon will decide what happens. Money Talks.
No disagreement here my friend. Corporations will be in control and from the powers-that-be POV the more the merrier because that = more $.
The Big Ten is always smart when dealing with media partners – you always want multiple networks to bid for the product. Rejecting the original 12 CFP is mainly to stop ESPN from being the ONLY network for the CFP content.
The SEC leaders need to learn from the Big Ten academics.
Chris from Atlanta; my braggadocio Georgia friend, when I commented to him about Burton leaving Athens replied, ‘let him go. We’ve got 4 who can replace him. We won’t miss him a bit.’ Blah, blah, blah. We’ll see.
Hayes always name drops without actually identifying who he talked to. I’m calling BS on these “quotes”.
Money wins. My take is that 16 will be a starting point, and it will probably end up at around 12. If you look at the SEC by 2025 will programs like Texas, Oklahoma, A&M, Old Miss, etc be satisfied with limited access to a National Championship or expanded access? When you consider playing an SEC schedule, and not get your shot annually, teams will want that increased..