It's hard to measure the viability of this or even how soon it will take effect, but it's an interesting proposition that could perhaps help ASU, for example. This is from John Canzano:
College Sports Tomorrow” went public this week with a plan it thinks should replace the NCAA and College Football Playoff.
Per The Athletic:
The current CST outline would create a system that would have the top 70 programs — all members of the five former major conferences, plus Notre Dame and new ACC member SMU — as permanent members and encompass all 130-plus FBS universities.
The perpetual members would be in seven 10-team divisions, joined by an eighth division of teams that would be promoted from the second tier.
The 50-plus second-division teams would have the opportunity to compete their way into the upper division, creating a promotion system similar to the structure in European football leagues. The 70 permanent teams would never be in danger of moving down, while the second division would have the incentive of promotion and relegation.
Some thoughts…
• I’m intrigued by the concept. It solves some of the glaring problems facing college athletics and offers a measured, rational solution to the unsustainable mess forming in college athletics. Also, the relegation element incentivizes schools to invest in football or quit bellyaching. If you want to matter, you invest. If you don’t, you don’t.
• I’m skeptical that the SEC and Big Ten will embrace any changes to the system unless they’re squeezed into submission by the lawsuits lining up out there.
• The CST outline would bring Oregon State and Washington State back into the fold as top-tier members. It offers a hopeful solution for those schools. It also would separate football from other college sports, harness NIL, and embrace college football players as employees.
• The 20-person group that is driving the CST pitch includes Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud, West Virginia president Gordon Gee, and Brian Rolapp, a top executive in the NFL’s league office. According to The Athletic, the lead organizer is Len Perna, chairman and CEO of the search firm TurnkeyZRG.
• I need to know more about the potential involvement of private equity firms. I’ve spoken with a few firms that are currently on the sideline, salivating, stretching out, hydrating, and waiting for cash-strapped schools and conferences to wave them into action. Does anyone else have questions?
• Bob Thompson, the retired Fox Sports Networks president, offered on social media that he thinks 80 teams is “way too many.” Thompson suggested, “The top 48 moving up and out from the current model would generate as much TV revenue as the top 80 because the matchups would be consistently better.”
• The ACC took a meeting with the CST folks, per the report. The Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 did not, however, out of respect for their TV partners. You need no further proof that television is in charge of college athletics.
• It’s unlikely that anything will happen until the current TV deals expire. The Big Ten (2030) and SEC (2034) are contractually bound. So are the Big 12 (2031) and ACC (2036).
• It’s possible those deals could be unwound somehow, I guess. Or if Florida State and Clemson are successful in litigating their way out of the ACC, it could cause chaos. As one conference commissioner told me: “If the lawsuits prevail it hurts all leagues as it may make our bylaws moot.”
• I reached out to Washington State President Kirk Schulz on Thursday to ask what he made of the “College Sports Tomorrow” proposal. After all, it includes a home for WSU and Oregon State. Schulz told me he was still digesting it.
He told me: “We do need to have some of these conversations — and I am glad to see these ideas out in the open. Presently, if the Big 10 and SEC do not support something — not sure how it happens.”
College Sports Tomorrow” went public this week with a plan it thinks should replace the NCAA and College Football Playoff.
Per The Athletic:
The current CST outline would create a system that would have the top 70 programs — all members of the five former major conferences, plus Notre Dame and new ACC member SMU — as permanent members and encompass all 130-plus FBS universities.
The perpetual members would be in seven 10-team divisions, joined by an eighth division of teams that would be promoted from the second tier.
The 50-plus second-division teams would have the opportunity to compete their way into the upper division, creating a promotion system similar to the structure in European football leagues. The 70 permanent teams would never be in danger of moving down, while the second division would have the incentive of promotion and relegation.
Some thoughts…
• I’m intrigued by the concept. It solves some of the glaring problems facing college athletics and offers a measured, rational solution to the unsustainable mess forming in college athletics. Also, the relegation element incentivizes schools to invest in football or quit bellyaching. If you want to matter, you invest. If you don’t, you don’t.
• I’m skeptical that the SEC and Big Ten will embrace any changes to the system unless they’re squeezed into submission by the lawsuits lining up out there.
• The CST outline would bring Oregon State and Washington State back into the fold as top-tier members. It offers a hopeful solution for those schools. It also would separate football from other college sports, harness NIL, and embrace college football players as employees.
• The 20-person group that is driving the CST pitch includes Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud, West Virginia president Gordon Gee, and Brian Rolapp, a top executive in the NFL’s league office. According to The Athletic, the lead organizer is Len Perna, chairman and CEO of the search firm TurnkeyZRG.
• I need to know more about the potential involvement of private equity firms. I’ve spoken with a few firms that are currently on the sideline, salivating, stretching out, hydrating, and waiting for cash-strapped schools and conferences to wave them into action. Does anyone else have questions?
• Bob Thompson, the retired Fox Sports Networks president, offered on social media that he thinks 80 teams is “way too many.” Thompson suggested, “The top 48 moving up and out from the current model would generate as much TV revenue as the top 80 because the matchups would be consistently better.”
• The ACC took a meeting with the CST folks, per the report. The Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 did not, however, out of respect for their TV partners. You need no further proof that television is in charge of college athletics.
• It’s unlikely that anything will happen until the current TV deals expire. The Big Ten (2030) and SEC (2034) are contractually bound. So are the Big 12 (2031) and ACC (2036).
• It’s possible those deals could be unwound somehow, I guess. Or if Florida State and Clemson are successful in litigating their way out of the ACC, it could cause chaos. As one conference commissioner told me: “If the lawsuits prevail it hurts all leagues as it may make our bylaws moot.”
• I reached out to Washington State President Kirk Schulz on Thursday to ask what he made of the “College Sports Tomorrow” proposal. After all, it includes a home for WSU and Oregon State. Schulz told me he was still digesting it.
He told me: “We do need to have some of these conversations — and I am glad to see these ideas out in the open. Presently, if the Big 10 and SEC do not support something — not sure how it happens.”
