NCAA To Vote on Autonomy for Power Conferences on August 7th

[tril]

ridiculous. collegiate sports should remain collegiate sports. these power conferences are getting way too powerful. This will not be good for collegiate sports if enacted.

[Perfect Zero]

You know, I really believed at one time that we would see four 16 team conferences as time came along, but I guess that's not going to happen. However, I do believe now more than ever that we are going to see a "Premier League" type split at the top. The economics are just too good to keep with the other conferences that have latched on at the bottom.

I have a lot of theories on this, and since they are long winded I'll keep them in spoiler text, but I think we are seeing the end of the old system right now.

Spoiler

I would not be surprised if this is the end of the NCAA being over the top five conferences at all. The NCAA just cannot fight the winds of change, especially since they didn't root the major problems out years ago. If they would have A) Forced a playoff years ago (which was well within their rights) and B) switched to the Olympic structure for athletes to make money off their own individual talents (autographs, appearances, etc...). Because the NCAA was late to the party, they are now looking at the end of their reign.

I think that athletes earning money is inevitable, and I would expect this within the next few years. I hope that the universities don't actually pay for them, but that they can make funds like in the Olympic method (otherwise I'm owed back pay for my research into the new federal system of the Russian Federation). I still think transfer rules will still be in place to the benefit of the schools, but the whole structure is going to change.

I would not be shocked to see the new playoff simply move to the new league and expand since the new league will be more streamlined. I would expect coverage to be in depth, with networks going hand over fist to get rights for all of the different conferences (that's double true with ESPN, FS1, NBCSN, CBSSN, etc...).

It's an exciting time to be a fan of the game, but there are going to be changes for the better or worse. The old days of college football are dead, and we stand at the edge of the new horizon.

Quote: Originally Posted by Cam Fan

Love your NCAA articles.

Agreed, MMChrisS can write some really good stuff.

[SpartyParty11]

College football is over as we know it. We will now be watching NFL minor-league football

[OReilly10]

Quote: Originally Posted by tril

ridiculous. collegiate sports should remain collegiate sports. these power conferences are getting way too powerful. This will not be good for collegiate sports if enacted.

yup.

While this may pave the way for video games to be sold... it kind of ruins the sport/league/organization for me. I like the fact that there are 130 FBS teams. The gap between those teams in the power conferences and mid majors is/was continuing to blur.

[Peacefrog]

Quote: Originally Posted by OReilly10

yup. While this may pave the way for video games to be sold... it kind of ruins the sport/league/organization for me. I like the fact that there are 130 FBS teams. The gap between those teams in the power conferences and mid majors is/was continuing to blur.

They're scared of that very thing happening. Kansas State and Florida, two of the power 5's biggest teams in recent years, both lost to FCS opponents last season, as well as Michigan's very close games against weaker teams from the non-BCS conferences. In order to maintain their "power conferences" image, they can't risk their teams losing to these little schools. "If our teams are going to lose, might as well have them lose to one another. That way, we can keep claiming superiority without having to prove it."

College Football needs a bracket-style tournament, to keep it fair. Have them play 6 conference/rival games, then start the tourney in place of the second half of the season. From there, where teams get knocked out of the tourney decides which bowl games they end up in.