How To Save College Football From Realignment Chaos

“Saving” is a relative term of course, but in my opinion there are some wonderful things in college sports that are at great risk of being destroyed if the major conference powers begin a realignment process that results in four “super-conferences” and continued support of the BCS format.  While I am an advocate of free-market enterprise the current trend of polarization among major college teams and conferences could result in “bankrupting” many outstanding football programs.

·With rising scholarship costs and operating expenses combined with diminishing endowments, shrinking donations, and a tougher economic environment for ticket sales; a great many athletic departments are faced with great pressure to gain long-term stability.

·Faced with Justice Department investigations into the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and possible anti-trust violations, major college football has very real threats to the way it operates.

·The consensus sentiment among athletes and fans alike is to have a champion that is determined on the field.

·Calling the BCS Title Game a championship for Division I-FBS is wholly inaccurate as out of 120 members in the division there is only a realistic chance of reaching that goal by twenty programs every season.  This is under threat of investigation  by the Federal Trade Commission under consumer protection laws.

A basic rule of any sports league should be that the championship process be representative of the league membership.  None of the practices, although supported by nearly all Division I member institutions are truly in keeping with the values and purpose of the NCAA as an organization.

Coaching Conundrum

The pressure for college football teams to perform “perfectly” every season has created such tremendous pressure among coaches, recruiters, and administrations that violations of NCAA rules have become so rampant that only the most grievous become public and investigated by the NCAA enforcement staff.

College football coaches receive record breaking salaries to produce results on the field, but limited repercussions for recruiting violations and academic performance.  While a school can face damaging sanctions on their scholarship numbers, the penalties are usually many years after the violations occurred and typically many years after the offending coach or coaches have left the school.

The NCAA must step in and exercise oversight so that the wolves no longer tend the sheep.  It is a systemic problem that post season football has been allowed to be controlled by a few elite conference officials and bowl game sponsors.  This voluntary hijacking has been around for so long that it has become “tradition”.  There are a great many traditions in our world that stand in the way of progress, while it may seem petty in the grand scheme of things, this is one of those traditions that needs to be overcome.

A New NCAA

My proposal for the NCAA will be to enforce stricter minimum standards for Division I-A university classification (yes that division naming will now be brought back into use).  This will mean that programs that cannot exceed minimum attendance standards will no longer be classified as Division I-A.  In addition the NCAA will mandate that exactly seven conferences form with exactly twelve members each, no more no less. Each conference must form into two divisions, and play a championship game to determine their champion.

Each conference champion will receive an auto-bid into the NCAA Division I-A Football Playoffs.  Any independent teams and all non-champion teams enter into a pool of at-large teams that are ranked in a format similar to the RPI in basketball. One team gets the at-large bid to form an eight team playoff field (this could be expanded in the future).

 Any conference will have the right to “withdraw” their champion from inclusion in the NCAA Football Playoffs (call this the “Rose Bowl Rule”).  However, the consequence is that no other conference member can be substituted for the withdrawn team or eligible for the NCAA Division I-A Football Playoffs for that season and said conference will lose their auto-bid status for a three-year period.  The additional at-large invitation will then be extended to the next highest ranking team among eligible conferences.

The NCAA will take open market bids for the TV package and then award a distribution payout of 1/14th to the conferences for each "share" that their team(s) earns.  The first round teams would equal eight shares, the second round four shares, and the championship game two more shares.  The payouts could be spread out over a several year period similar to basketball.

Conference Realignment

Realignment seems like a forgone conclusion at this stage.  Trying to minimize the damaging effects of major realignment on all division members should be the NCAA's goal.  By forcing conference membership to an exact number of teams, twelve, the idea is to create an "organic" realignment. Here is my best guess it to what it would look like:

The SEC and ACC retain the same membership roster.

The Big Ten and Pac-10 trigger some major re-alignment repercussions with their moves to reach twelve members.  After Notre Dame rejects the final Big Ten offer, they add Nebraska from the Big 12. In the tradition of Big Ten rivalry games, the Cornhuskers agree to create a rivalry game with the Hawkeyes called the Corn Cob Cup and then with the Badgers to battle for the Big Red Boot.

The Big Ten retains the conference name (altering the logo only); it then divides into the following divisions:

Superior Division	Memorial Division
Michigan	Ohio State
Michigan State	Penn State
Wisconsin	Nebraska
Minnesota	Iowa
Northwestern	Illinois
Purdue	Indiana

The conference championship game will initially be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN.  Each team will have a “locked” rivalry game with an opponent from the other division (the team parallel to them in the table).  Names for the two divisions can be finalized later.

The Pac-10 pursues Texas and Colorado as the institutions that would add significant revenue potential and provide a cultural/political/academic “fit” with their current members.  The Longhorns invitation gets bogged down in the Texas Legislature as the fear of losing regular games against the Aggies, Red Raiders, and Bears is not a popular choice.  The Pac-10 moves on to their next candidate, the Utah Utes; who similarly gets rebuffed due a strong BYU faction that wants the two schools to remain in the same conference.  The conference members fail to get unanimous voting to drop Washington State in order to add Utah and BYU together (Stanford and Oregon State vote nay).  The third time is the charm for the Pac-10 as they snag the New Mexico Lobos as their 12th team (in a coin flip over Hawaii). Once complete, the new Pac-12 Conference divides into the following divisions:

Pacific Division	Western Division
Washington	California
Oregon	UCLA
Oregon State	Arizona
Washington State	Arizona State
Southern Cal	Colorado
Stanford	New Mexico

The conference championship game will be hosted in Phoenix, Arizona; at least until a modern NFL stadium is constructed in either Los Angeles or the Bay Area.  "Locked" rivalry games between UCLA-USC and Stanford-Cal would be a top priority, but the divisional breakdown ensures all members of annual access to California and biennial access to southern California recruiting grounds.

Soon after Nebraska and Colorado inform the Big 12 of their intention to depart, the conference invites BYU and Utah.  The first offers are extended to Arkansas and LSU, but the Razorbacks and Tigers reject the offer immediately in favor remaining with the SEC.  The conference then realigns the divisions:

Big 6 Division	Southwest Division
Oklahoma	Texas
Missouri	Texas A&M
Kansas	Brigham Young
Oklahoma State	Texas Tech
Kansas State	Utah
Iowa State	Baylor

Simultaneously the Big East Conference football playing members then cede from the "basketball" schools and undergoes an expansion to get to twelve members by inviting East Carolina, Central Florida, Memphis, and Southern Miss.  Those schools are chosen for their larger fan-bases, large metropolitan locations (for some), and either current or historic success in football or basketball.   Southern Miss was chosen over Marshall and others due to consistent football success, ticket sales, and a opening a new market. 

The conference retains their name, and divides into geographic divisions:

North Division	South Division
Rutgers	Louisville
Pittsburgh	South Florida
West Virginia	Central Florida
Syracuse	East Carolina
Connecticut	Memphis
Cincinnati	Southern Miss

The Big East elects to place their conference championship game in the centralized location of the Music City, Nashville, TN.

After all of that dust settles, the remaining programs out west begin dialogues to form into the seventh auto-bid conference.  Notre Dame, Navy, and Army all have elected to remain independent at this time and Air Force decides on joining them as independents with the possibility of a TV contract that would benefit all three military academies getting more national exposure and greater potential to have Notre Dame on their schedule.  With greater schedule flexibility, the Falcons decide that the freedom of being an independent outweighs being involved in an “auto-bid” conference.

The new western super-conference will be an amalgam of former MWC, WAC, and Conference USA members and will adopt the Western Conference name.  The members then divide along geographic lines:

Western Division	Central Division
Boise State	Wyoming
Fresno State	Colorado State
San Diego State	Texas Christian
Hawaii	SMU
UNLV	Houston
UTEP	Tulane

The final choice for the 12th member would be between Tulsa, Rice, and Tulane with Tulane getting the final choice.  The Western Conference will have the highest ranked team, according to NCAA RPI standards, play host in the championship game.  This can be addressed in the future to determine if a neutral site championship game is feasible.

That leaves 88 schools in NCAA Division I-A for football with all other programs being relegated to Division I-AA (Formerly Division I-FCS).  None of the MAC and Sun-Belt schools along with Marshall, Tulane, UAB, Rice, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State, Nevada, Idaho, Utah State, and New Mexico State could realistically succeed as independents in Division I-A, but that would certainly be an option for any of them.  With those schools dropping down divisions that would now cause major realignment among I-AA conferences, with a total of approximately 157 programs in that division now.

Post Season and Bowl Games

Now that the NCAA has guided conference realignment via policy establishing a post-season playoff, it also creates new legislation that protects and values the traditional bowl game institutions.  In the past, the NCAA has granted licensing for any post-season bowl game who could meet very minimum standards. This devalues the post-season bowl experience and will not be practical in a college football environment that includes a post-season playoff for Division I-A.

So, the new rules for college football bowl games will require that each bowl game seeking licensing must maintain a minimum paid gate attendance of at least 40,000 and have an executed agreement to be televised on a national broadcast or cable network, in addition to a $2 million line of credit facility or guaranty bond.  The minimum payout for a conference or independent program participation will be $1 million cash, this payout can be classified as a donation to that school’s general scholarship fund.  Said payout cannot include the value of any minimum ticket allotments or discounted ticket prices and must be increased to cover the costs of any mandatory travel and lodging contracts for airfare hotel rooms and/or meals.

In addition to the above bowl game requirements, the eligibility of NCAA Division I-A programs will be strictly limited to only include teams with a winning record.  One win per season against Division I-AA opponents can be included in that calculation.  No more than four automatic selection agreements can be contracted with each conference in any one season (this is in addition to the playoff auto-bid).  Each bowl game and conference is free to determine their own selection procedures and order of priority. No more than twenty such bowl games will be licensed in any given season.

All of the above guidelines are subject to change at any time, particularly if the NCAA Division I-A Football Playoff field is expanded by any number.

For the first season there will be a grand-fathering in of bowl game licensing that will be extended to the following:

Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange, Capital One (Citrus), Cotton, Outback, Chik-fil-a (Peach), Alamo, Gator, Holiday, Champs Sports, Pinstripe, Sun, Libery, Music City, Insight, Independence, Las Vegas, and Meineke Car Care Bowls.

These twenty bowl games will host a total of forty teams which, in addition to the NCAA Division I-A Football Playoffs field of eight, gives 48 out of 88 Division I-A programs that will experience post-season competition.

Playoff Format

The NCAA Football Playoffs will be played at each of the top seeded team’s home stadiums for the first round, to be held one week after the conference championship games have been completed.  The NCAA pays for all team travel expenses for the visiting teams and staff for all rounds of the playoffs.

Rounds two and three will be played at neutral sites pre-determined before each season begins.  These host locations will be contracted for three-year terms, and cannot be located in cities with licensed bowl games.  The NCAA will attempt to place teams into the nearest neutral site game as possible to provide as convenient access possible for fans.

For the first three-year term, the following sites will be host cities:  Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX; Fedex Field in Washington, D.C.; and Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver, CO.  The sites will rotate on a seasonal basis to host the NCAA College Football Championship Game, with the first year title game being held in Houston; followed by Washington and Denver in the following two seasons.

Second round playoff games will be held two weeks after the first round games have been completed and the championship game will be held two weeks after the second round games.  No college football bowl games can be scheduled for the same date and time as any playoff games, and a one hour window before and after shall be blocked as well.

Future playoff site candidates can be contracted based on a bidding process that will determine the overall benefit to the student athletes, the promotion and execution of each individual game.  The following criteria will be utilized to determine those future sites:

·One site must be from each time zone region:

• EAST - Eastern Time Zone
• Central - Central Time Zone
• West - Combined Mountain, Pacific, and Hawaii/Alaskan Time Zones

·The stadium must have total seating capacity of at least 60,000.

• The stadium lease must be open for all the dates during the three year contract.

·The surrounding region must have suitable quantity and quality of lodging facilities.

·The stadium and lodgings must all be within 90 minute access of a major airport.

·The specific stadium and metropolitan area may not be host to a Division I-A bowl game.

Conference Autonomy

While it may seem these sweeping changes have been the result of a centralized control, there is still a great deal of respect for institutional autonomy and philosophical differences (one of the NCAA’s core values).  Each member institution still has the right and ability to align itself with a conference of their choice, become independent, or compete at a different classification level.  Every conference still has absolute control over which institutions comprise their membership, how they market their regular season home games, and their post-season bowl lineup.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are all steps that should be taken to ensure the continued success of major college football within the NCAA and the protection of the academic mission of all parties involved.  This proposal creates open access for all Division I-A programs and reinforces that the NCAA, member institutions, and collegiate conferences operate in a fashion that protects their non-profit status as it relates to post-season collegiate football.

By creating an avenue for teams to obtain the national championship through a process of becoming division champions followed by conference champions, the NCAA would relieve the pressure on coaches and athletes to be “perfect” in every game.  Teaching our student-athletes to be successful must allow for them to persevere and overcome hardship. Protecting the institutions and student-athletes from a high-pressure “win at all costs” attitude would lead to better oversight and greater opportunities to further the mission of the universities and the NCAA.

By removing the external control of declaring a national champion in major college football, the NCAA and its members ensure that they maximize the value and passion of coaches, athletes, alumni, and fans of the sport.  With the NCAA now in control of the purse strings for the Division I-A Football Playoffs, it can fund a more effective monitoring and enforcement program with substantial punitive sanctions for offending institutions and coaches.

The NCAA’s stated core purpose is:

 “Our purpose is to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.”

And one of its Core Values is:

“An inclusive culture that fosters equitable participation for student-athletes and career opportunities for coaches and administrators from diverse backgrounds.”

The membership of the NCAA that field division I-FBS football programs need to start taking those values and that core purpose literally and support the NCAA to govern a fair, equitable, and sportsmanlike format that supports an inclusive post-season to the greatest sport in collegiate athletics.

Left alone, the super-power conferences could be driving college football into an elite aristocracy that monopolizes everything in college football that should be protected and shared.  I understand that Eastern Michigan University is not on the same level athletically as the University of Michigan, nor am I advocating that they should be treated the same.  The Wolverines and other major college football powers will always sell more tickets, receive more donations, and get more national airtime on television; none of that will change.  But there is a sanctity that can be achieved for everyone by implementing an inclusive playoff system for major college football.

While I am not so naïve as to believe that the NCAA is an infallible institution, it is at least a representative one.  That is much more than can be said for the current BCS-cartel that effectively controls college football right now.