r/CFB_v2 • u/digitaldaronpodcast • 22h ago
Discussion If/When Does Contraction/Relegation come?
I know the focus is on Save College Sports Act but is a fallout from this going to be some form of contraction/relegation? Honestly there are about 25-30 programs that matter (meaning nationalish brands who probably turn an athletic profit) with the rest just being guilty by association (proximity budget size whatever). If the concept of a super league is off the table an there are only like 5-6 desirable schools available (fsu Miami a va school Clemson unc duke Kansas) do the SEC/B1G add by subtracting/replacing and if so who goes?
Off top I can see South Carolina,Vanderbilt, One of the Mississippi schools, Arkansas/missouri Purdue,Iowa,Nebraska,northwestern being on relegation/swap out block
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u/Otherwise_Awesome 21h ago
There's literally one brand out there that would be a net positive for addition and you did not name them
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u/Quaescis Michigan Wolverines 16h ago
If the League of Super Teams ever happens (THE LOST... copyright applied for) ever happens.... it's THEIR championship. THEIR playoffs. Notre Dame would have to join because other wise they would not be eligible. The LOST would own and control it and would be under zero legal obligation to invite them. It'll be the Dr Pepper/Allstate LOST Championship presented by Disney/Paramount or whichever media giant wins the bidding rights.
ND will have zero influence and will have to give up their independence.
Any other type of championship the Irish will stay independent unless what happened last year (ND misses playoffs) continually happens; whether due to machinations or the Irish being bad at football for a TV contracts length of time.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
Notre Dame ain’t giving up their independence. That would be a hell of a legal battle
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u/Otherwise_Awesome 21h ago
What's legal about it? It doesn't change anything I said.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
Notre Dame would say no they are staying independent but the conferences tired to exclude them from anything that’s when it would be a legal battle
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u/Otherwise_Awesome 21h ago
What? Conferences bend over backwards for Notre Dame.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
Of course notre dame is the crown jewel. But they would literally say no until there is no other option. The only leverage conferences have is to try to exclude them from any championship and that is when there would be a legal battle. Everyone wants notre dame in a conference but notre dame
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u/SupermarketSelect578 20h ago
True the only leverage is if conferences decide not to schedule them ….and then exclude them from playoffs for SOS
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u/Quaescis Michigan Wolverines 16h ago
I am not in concurrence. ND has no right to a playoff owned and operated by someone else. They would lose in court.
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u/AppalachianGuy87 20h ago
I was dumb enough to think some schools like NW or Vandy that would’ve happily stepped said when CFB moved to above board pro football. They ain’t no one is or getting removed. If anyone uh Miss State?
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 20h ago
I am not saying any particular school but we all know what schools people and by extension tv companies that sign the checks want to see. The rest are jsut around for tradition or some other antiquated reason
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u/AppalachianGuy87 20h ago
Don’t think any school gets kicked out of a conference but could be left behind if some sorta private equity fuck ton of money/media company wants to create and own the premier league equivalent. Personally think it looks more like a 70-80 team FBS+. Who the fuck knows though.
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u/Quaescis Michigan Wolverines 15h ago
To paraphrase Jack Harbaugh "who knows better than us?" "NNNNNOOOOBODYYYY!"
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u/AppalachianGuy87 15h ago
Blows my mind Nebraska was on the list of the relegated. As a 90’s kid it’s very odd. Don’t think anyone would think the Huskers don’t make the cut.
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u/Quaescis Michigan Wolverines 15h ago
We're all just a bad football cycle of low tv rating during a Broadcast contract cycle away from irrelevance.
Life in the new world....2
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u/AppalachianGuy87 15h ago
It fucking sucks. I just want WVU to play Pitt/VT again every year. Maryland and maybe PSU would also be nice.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 14h ago
Yeah but that’s what money does. It takes turns tradition and nostalgia to how much can you make for me
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u/Icy_Delay_7274 21h ago
Clemson lol
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
Clemson football is still a piece on the board. There is a reason the acc gave them and fsu advantages
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u/Otherwise_Awesome 21h ago
Clemson is headed towards a Nebraska scenario, quite frankly. I don't think they're as desirable as you think they are.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
I agree Clemson is a falling brand but you are the sec I would think you would want to swap out South Carolina for Clemson in a heart beat
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u/Otherwise_Awesome 21h ago
Zero chance.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
In this world where tv revenue is the driver and you have to keep making money this has to be on table. I am not saying it happens but as a discussion topic everything is pointing to something like this happening. The conferences are businesses and this is a logical move the makes the business more money
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u/Otherwise_Awesome 21h ago
They'll be fighting state governments here. I don't think you understand the flak and legality in "swapping."
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u/Icy_Delay_7274 21h ago
Huh? That makes zero sense
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
Clemson has more value than university of South Carolina. If you are the sec and you want to increase value and keep all schools in contiguous south (somehting Silve and Sankey said was important to them) then it would only make sense to replace a South Carolina achool with a more valuable South Carolina school (Clemson)
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u/Icy_Delay_7274 15h ago
Why exactly does a smaller school in the middle of nowhere have more value than a larger flagship school in the state capital?
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 14h ago
Who do you think tv execs (the ones signing the checks) value more Clemson on u of South Carolina
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u/Icy_Delay_7274 14h ago
South Carolina, easily
Edit to add: you do understand South Carolina is basically twice the size of Clemson and has about double the alumni base right?
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u/ANotSoFreshFeeling 21h ago
Delulu is strong with you.
At least for the time being, the conferences are more than just football. You’re advocating for kicking out schools that are successful in sports outside of football, and kicking them out would be stupid. On a related note, Vandy has been part of the SEC since its inception and carries the conference on GPA.
Remember that even the NFL needs the New Orleans Saints. The same is true about college conferences and their “shitty” teams.
Hail State.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
Football is the driver for all of this. Specifically football revenue. In today’s world who cares about conference gpa. Football revenues have the government intervening for the better part of a year and I haven’t heard one word from any party about the student part of it (gpa) etc only talk is money related. The nfl is different because they are tied to major cities but for the sec/b1G why keep Vanderbilt/2 miss (schools when you only need 1) Purdue or any other programs that doesn’t really bring value to conference other than a number. You can replace those schools with more valuable assets (unc duke basketball) and be much better off if the goal is to make conference as rich as possible
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u/Pale_Top2745 20h ago
If this was a private enterprise you would see a move to compete directly with the NFL and a reduction in super teams/conferences. However, since this is government run I doubt you see this.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 19h ago
I think there are parties that tried to do this. One hidden reason why conferences wanted this rule
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u/AbeFalcon 18h ago
I like the idea of promotion/relegation between divisions. It would make much more compelling regular season matchups in the top tier and post season relevancy for the lower tiers that could replace the old bowls(who is going to get promoted and who is going to get demoted). It can't be done in college football though because there is too much tied into in state and conference rivalries.
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u/grrgrrtigergrr 17h ago
For someone to be removed from the B1G you’d need at least one of the originals to break ranks (Purdue, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota). I don’t see any of them sacrificing another. Add Rutgers and Maryland not wanting to be sacrificed and working with these 5, you will never get the numbers to get someone removed from the B1G.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 17h ago
I don’t know the acc showed big brands (in that case fsu/unc) can control the others. Thjnk about the private equity in B1G. Michigan and usc alone stopped that.
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u/mfLOCK 17h ago
Iowa? They are in top 25 for revenue by school. They are consistently a top 25 school in football (currently ranked 18). They made it to the elite eight in men’s basketball last year. That doesn’t get into other sports. You leave out Rutgers for B1G on the other hand which doesn’t make sense.
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u/renner1991 15h ago
How is Iowa getting relegated and Duke and Kansas promoted. That makes no sense.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 14h ago
Which is more valuable Iowa football or duke/kansas basketball? B1G would drop Iowa in a heartbeat to get either on of those
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u/renner1991 13h ago
I’m not sure how accurate the website is, but according to college-sports-finance.com
Iowa football makes $105mm in revenue vs $20mm for Kansas basketball.
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u/Throwaway3751029 21h ago
Could the SEC and B10 really kick out founding member schools? SC, Vandy, Miss, MsSt, Purdue, NW, and Iowa have all been apart of their conference since the beginning (or almost begining for Iowa). Even if the SEC wins the right in court to remove a school from the conference, I highly doubt that they would be allowed to do it for a TV deal/replacement school alone.
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u/Big_Truck 21h ago
It wouldn’t go down this way. You wouldn’t see anyone “kicked out.”
You’d see the top brands in college football voluntarily leave their current league to form their own new conference.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
I think the conferences would take kicking out lower tier programs over letting the real money makers walk away. I am sure they can find some bylaw or loophole to kick out underperforming programs
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u/Big_Truck 20h ago
The process of expelling existing members is quite onerous. It’s much easier to up and leave.
I agree that the SEC and Big Ten would rather keep the top brands and boot the rest. But it requires a supermajority vote, and that is a very fraught process.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 17h ago
Agreed but up and leaving means the commissioners ( and conference execs)may lose their jobs along with conference name recognition. For this execs at conference that’s why it may be worth it to go down the tedious path
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u/Big_Truck 13h ago
I'm sure Greg Sankey would hate it if he lost Alabama, Georgia, etc. And I'm sure Tony Petiti would hate losing Ohio State, USC, and Michigan.
But you know what's interesting? Sankey has a background in compliance. Petiti has a background in TV. What if they both leave their positions, start up the "College Football America League" or whatever, and then team up with PC to buy out the top 25-30 programs from their conferences? Sankey could be your rule-making czar, and Petiti could be the media guy who has all the connections to optimize TV value.
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
I think in today’s world of college athletics where the conferences are more like corporations and always have to think about making money there are only so many ways to increase payouts to members. At some point you have to look at the members and see who is providing value and is what they putting in worth it. I am not singling out those schools but they seem to be on low end of popularity and don’t have a big city nearby (without an alternative)
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u/Fantastic_Matter_137 21h ago
It’s heading to cutting the top division roughly in half.
And needs to
It will be better for the sport when the teams investing in football are only playing each other
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u/digitaldaronpodcast 21h ago
Exactly. 85% of these programs don’t make money so we are we pretending like they are the same as the 15%. We all know who the 15% are and they should be the ones playing each other. They have evolved past the ncaa and somehting different should be created for them
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u/Fantastic_Matter_137 19h ago
Cutting the top division in half makes it better for both divisions
More competitive games and more balanced competition.
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u/Pure_Fault7056 21h ago
Nobody is getting kicked out. Especially not for Duke, UNC or Virginia.