Ohio State's Gene Smith calls for big changes to major college football

[History Geek]

That's how I see it. It's 30-40 programs. If the BiG grabs some of the marque programs in the PAC (say USC, etc.) it will divide north-south (SEC-BiG). Most of the ACC, PAC and certainly the remnants of the Big12 will be left out. That scenario probably works in UCONN's favor to get back to competitive football at a collegiate level while the 30-40 programs play in that rarified air of full professional athletics.

This is what I forsee too. That’s why we have to be on par with the tier below the uber 30-40. Those should be our peers if we don’t blow it.

 

[RioDog]

Serious question. Does a super league maintain the current level of CFB interest? I don't know. I pretty sure it wouldn't in hoop.

Posted on this in the Swarbrick "Collegiate Athletics in Name Only" thread. It applies hear:

"I can't see how such a sea change won't result in the destruction of athletics for the schools that choose to go that route. Does anyone believe that a de-facto pro team with naming rights sold to a university is going to hold the same allure to fans as a team of student-athletes from the ole' Alma Mater? As thin as the veil of amateur student athlete status is, especially in college football, it's still the reason I watch college athletics and not pro leagues. Does that make me a romantic fool? Maybe, but I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that. I'd also be willing to bet that those who feel like I do represent a financially significant proportion of the total fan base, especially in those states with NFL franchises. Why waste your limited resources supporting a farm league team when you have the real McCoy? "Those who tie sports to the university in name only" will become sad ghosts of their former selves, farm teams for the League. Farm leagues are fun in baseball and futebol, but they don't make the kind of money that the 'Bamas and ND's of the world are looking for. The culture of the sport will be destroyed and the goose that laid the golden egg along with it. JS is as smart guy, and there could many reasons for him to say the things he did in the interview. I'm also a smart guy, and old enough and successful enough to trust my intuition when it's barking at me.

Could it be wishful thinking that doesn't want to see the end of what, for me, is the most entertaining level of the most entertaining team sport ever conceived? Maybe. And there is a sea change coming to college athletics; I just think that Swarbrick's vision of it is wrong, and I'll believe it when I see it."

 

[hoopsfan22]

Problem with P5 is there are only maybe 30 teams that can make money. The other 35 in the P5 look up to others as meal tickets.

If the p5 is going to really split, they should jettison Vandy's Kansas, Duke, Wake, for example -- from the big money.

I think a subset of the current P5 teams makes the most sense. Maybe the top 4 or 5 biggest most marketable/valuable name brands from each league. In the B1G for example that would be OSU, Michigan, Penn State, and then I guess Wisconsin and Nebraska? You do that with the rest of the P5 conferences and you end up with a very nice 30-ish team super league that keeps all of the football money to themselves and every week of the season would be a slate of huge matchups. And men's basketball would likely follow. You could view it as creating a new division above D-I.

 

[huskymedic]