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

[huskymedic]

-> "FBS are the schools that offer 85 scholarships or more. There is a clear distinction with the investment that those schools make, and everybody else. So to me, when you take 130 schools, as opposed to the 352, those 130 schools who have the same mission and the same investment level, and you can create your own rules - your recruiting rules, your personnel rules and your calendar of what football looks like."

"You don't touch anything else. The basketball tournament stays the same, your olympic sport competitions stay the same, the NCAA still manages your academics and the eligibility center. But for those schools, we can create our own rules and have our own commissioner or executive director"

"To me, that's a model that allows us to decentralize intercollegiate athletics with those schools that are making the same investment in football, because at the end of the day, that's what annoys us."

Smith goes on to talk about how he loves other sports, using synchronized swimming as an example, but politicians aren't making rules for the sake of swimming and the folks that should be making decisions about major college football should be those with the most skin in the game. <-

 

[uconndogs]

I don't believe for one minute that Ohio State intends to stop where Mr. Smith indicates in this piece. They want football autonomy to make as much money as possible. Once they get that, basketball will follow for the simple reason that there is big money in that as well.

It's professional athletics in every sense of the term.

 

[bobbyinaz]

The problem with this is "they" say they want to include all 130 FBS football schools but when they start creating the rules for this group they will essentially price the 65 non P5 schools out of the market.

 

[uconndogs]

The problem with this is "they" say they want to include all 130 FBS football schools but when they start creating the rules for this group they will essentially price the 65 non P5 schools out of the market.

That's what he's setting the stage for and at the end of the day I fully expect it to be less than 65. This is about one thing and one thing only.......money. The largest most "valuable" programs will grab as much of the pie as they possibly can. I think the BiG has to make a move and when they do, I think it's going to be huge.

 

[ktuck911]

more pushing of the envelope going on...

 

[uconnfan68]

-> "FBS are the schools that offer 85 scholarships or more. There is a clear distinction with the investment that those schools make, and everybody else. So to me, when you take 130 schools, as opposed to the 352, those 130 schools who have the same mission and the same investment level, and you can create your own rules - your recruiting rules, your personnel rules and your calendar of what football looks like."

"You don't touch anything else. The basketball tournament stays the same, your olympic sport competitions stay the same, the NCAA still manages your academics and the eligibility center. But for those schools, we can create our own rules and have our own commissioner or executive director"

"To me, that's a model that allows us to decentralize intercollegiate athletics with those schools that are making the same investment in football, because at the end of the day, that's what annoys us."

Smith goes on to talk about how he loves other sports, using synchronized swimming as an example, but politicians aren't making rules for the sake of swimming and the folks that should be making decisions about major college football should be those with the most skin in the game. <-

This is where I stop watching, or caring about, anything to do with FBS schools and football. If I had a vote in the NCAA, they'd be out for all sports, not just the ones they want to keep to themselves.

 

[gtcam]

ALL P5 talk disguised as we care about the 130 schools. Wink Wink

 

[Exit 4]

Ah, whatever

 

[noeynox]

Ah, whatever

With you here. No sense wringing our hands.

 

[Exit 4]

With you here. No sense wringing our hands.

At some point I don't care. In the current present of 2022, I want to compete and hopefully have a fun season... but looking out 8-12 years, hard to see where its all going. I don't blame NIL, it had to happen. I don't really blame anyone, its all the natural evolution of competition. The blackholes of football power continue to grow.

 

[JohnFSilver]

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.

 

[Chin Diesel]

TL;DR.

What he is saying is NIL isn't as an advantageous of an environment for OSU as the way before NIL was for OSU.

 

[SubbaBub]

I fail to see the distinction of the current model. The P4 does what they want the rest cry for some scraps and everyone moves on.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[shizzle787]

TL;DR.

What he is saying is NIL isn't as an advantageous of an environment for OSU as the way before NIL was for OSU.

Definitely not in basketball. All a mid-major school needs is one donor with some cash to throw around and you can grab two studs and win the Missouri Valley and get a 4 seed. In many ways, NIL will result in more parity in college basketball. College football will probably see less.

 

[Waquoit]

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.

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.

 

[giddyup]

The problem with this is "they" say they want to include all 130 FBS football schools but when they start creating the rules for this group they will essentially price the 65 non P5 schools out of the market.

Exactly. More disingenuous posturing to push the ball down the field to a 64 team cash cow. What they don’t get is the 300 schools (plus hundreds more at D2and D3) create the nationwide Saturday pastime and keep eyes watching all day and night. The “ investing” line is such total bull crap. They spend a lot more because they can due to obscene rev. shares nobody else gets. These clowns are so bad for the sport. They are going to destroy it.

 

[freescooter]

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.

I think it doesn’t. It becomes the USFL or the International League. College football is more like baseball than the NFL in that it’s appeal is much more regional. People in Michigan aren’t going out of their way to watch Texas A&M-Mississippi any more than folks from New York are staying up late to watch Cincinnati at Arizona. If the NFL decided to play a couple of Saturday games, super league or not, college football would return to its 1950s ways.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

-> "FBS are the schools that offer 85 scholarships or more. There is a clear distinction with the investment that those schools make, and everybody else. So to me, when you take 130 schools, as opposed to the 352, those 130 schools who have the same mission and the same investment level, and you can create your own rules - your recruiting rules, your personnel rules and your calendar of what football looks like."

"You don't touch anything else. The basketball tournament stays the same, your olympic sport competitions stay the same, the NCAA still manages your academics and the eligibility center. But for those schools, we can create our own rules and have our own commissioner or executive director"

"To me, that's a model that allows us to decentralize intercollegiate athletics with those schools that are making the same investment in football, because at the end of the day, that's what annoys us."

Smith goes on to talk about how he loves other sports, using synchronized swimming as an example, but politicians aren't making rules for the sake of swimming and the folks that should be making decisions about major college football should be those with the most skin in the game. <-

The incentive here is, don’t concentrate on your studies, just concentrate on making money for yourself and your school. I think Gene Smith is crazy, if you listen to him what’s to prevent the NFL from creating it’s own “G” league? Maybe the next Labron James will be a football player.

 

[shizzle787]

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.

If it included the AAC and MWC in football, yes. Nobody cares about the MAC, Sun Belt, or C-USA. However, there are several programs in the AAC that are nationally recognized, and the MW represents an area of the country with minimal P5 football. If those two leagues make the cut, so will UConn.

 

[uconndogs]

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.

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.

 

[billybud]

You can't put all of the great athletes on the field using just a few programs...there will be some leakage as athletes vie for playing time.

Example...Last season, FSU's DE Jermaine Johnson had transferred from Georgia so he could see the field in his senior year. He was awarded conference defensive player of the year and was drafted in the first round of the 2022 draft....

But saying that...a few great athletes sprinkled in a team is different from fielding a team comprised of all elite athletes.

 

[uconndogs]

No sit portal access, NIL and possibly increased scholarship limits will all but assure talent is highly concentrated. Yes, there will be some leakage, but we all know that football requires lots of depth.

 

[Waquoit]

If it included the AAC and MWC in football, yes.

I doubt a super league would include them. I doubt a super league would contain teams like Vandy and BC.

 

[Exit 4]

Next up, The BIG seeks to add junior varsity programs so that kids on the bench get field time too. I kid - until it happens in decade.

 

[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]