The Athletic: Which 15 Teams Would Form College Football’s “Super League”?

[Drew]

I started by making the list of the 15 programs that likely would be included in a college football Super League. I chose the 15 that I thought would deliver the most viewers across the widest swath of football-loving geography. Success factored in, but it wasn’t the primary driver. This is the part that drives people crazy about the current system of Power 5 and Group of 5 conferences, and it would only be magnified here.

Here are the 15 programs, listed in alphabetical order. Prepare for many, many hurt feelings.

Alabama

Auburn

Clemson

Florida

Georgia

LSU

Michigan

Nebraska

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oregon

Penn State

Texas

USC

College football Super League? Alabama, Notre Dame, Nebraska and a lot of hurt feelings

Although it sounds enticing, the game’s long-term health actually depends on NIL and ensuring the Arkansas of the world keep caring.

theathletic.com

 

[CL82]

What? No UConn?

 

[UConnJim]

Let's imagine that the 15 teams listed are in a conference that plays 14 games against each other. That would mean about half of the above listed schools would have below 0.500 records. Do you think their fans would be happy with that and donate and turn out for games? The reason those college teams are popular is that even in the worst years, they can go 8-4.

What I think could happen is that football conferences will stay the same and the media contracts will be only for conference games. Individual schools would then contract out their individual non-conference games. The most attractive games would get high payouts. Thus, it would be up to the school if they wanted a big media payday by playing Alabama out of conference (and risk a loss) or get a small media payday for playing an FCS school out of conference (and probably win).

 

[freescooter]

I Would quibble with a few of the selections. Oregon? Seriously? But this ignores the fact that these things change over time. From the early 1990s until 2007 Alabama was pretty forgettable, for example. Arguably except for maybe 2 years between Bryant’s retirement and hiring Saban they were just another team. And when was the last time Nebraska was must see tv? It is entirely imaginable that Alabama returns to mediocrity upon Sagan’s retirement in a few years. Or Texas really. Any relationship between their view of themselves and reality is purely coincidental. I also agree that any of the listed teams having a prolonged losing streak will be disasterous.

 

[Chin Diesel]

5 SEC
4 B1G
2 Big 12
2 Pac 12
1 ACC
1 Indy

I'd say Oregon, Nebraska and Auburn are the weakest of the 15. And I only say Auburn because they are right between Georgia and Alabama and really don't add to the map. They're the biggest overlapper on it.

 

[uconnfan68]

I started by making the list of the 15 programs that likely would be included in a college football Super League. I chose the 15 that I thought would deliver the most viewers across the widest swath of football-loving geography. Success factored in, but it wasn’t the primary driver. This is the part that drives people crazy about the current system of Power 5 and Group of 5 conferences, and it would only be magnified here.

Here are the 15 programs, listed in alphabetical order. Prepare for many, many hurt feelings.

Alabama

Auburn

Clemson

Florida

Georgia

LSU

Michigan

Nebraska

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oregon

Penn State

Texas

USC

College football Super League? Alabama, Notre Dame, Nebraska and a lot of hurt feelings

Although it sounds enticing, the game’s long-term health actually depends on NIL and ensuring the Arkansas of the world keep caring.

theathletic.com

That would guarantee I wouldn't be watching any more college football.

 

[huskysupporter]

There has to be better options than Oregon and Nebraska. Especially Nebraska.

 

[Chin Diesel]

There has to be better options than Oregon and Nebraska. Especially Nebraska.

Agree. Who would you replace those two with to get back to 15? Or would you cull the list down to 12?

 

[SubbaBub]

Never happen. You'd never get the SEC and B1G (11 team version) to abandon enough teams to leave room for anyone else let alone get down to 15.

Big 10 block that will never separate: Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State. (You can debate if dropping Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, or Minnesota is possible under enough financial incentives. I don't think so, but that group of 6 in unbreakable. Nebraska, MD, and Rutgers are on their own but won't be dropped unless the conference splits.

SEC block that will never separate: Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and I'd add South Carolina and Vanderbilt for confederate solidarity because getting the SEC to believe there is greener grass elsewhere is a tall hurdle on its own.

That's 15 minimum and we haven't discussed Texas, OU, ND, FSU, Clemson, or any west coast teams.

The P5 can and will likely eventually punt the NCAA or neuter it enough (almost there) to effectively control every aspect of college football. That is a pool of 60+ teams and that's the way they power schools within the P5 want it. The problem with a 15-20 team super league is that someone is finishing in the bottom half.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

that I thought would deliver the most viewers across the widest swath of football-loving geography.

That being the case.... Nebraska can't be in there. I would put in Miami instead. They have a larger national appeal.

Ironically...Miami has more appeal nationally than locally.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Florida state over Miami and Nebraska. What has Nebraska done since osbourne left?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Florida state over Miami and Nebraska. What has Nebraska done since osbourne left?

What has FSU done since Bowden left?

 

[Hogoff]

What has FSU done since Bowden left?

Won a national championship. No?

 

[traitor71]

Won a national championship. No?

Yeah, it's more like what have they done since Fisher left. They were sliding at the end of his tenure, but the wheels have come completely off for them since then.

 

[bobbyinaz]

maybe this belongs on the Conference Realignment board but,

What would these 15 schools do with all of their non football sports if this happened?

Why would the B1G let Ohio State or Penn State keep their other 20+ sports in the conference while the football programs are playing in some Super League making $100MM/year?

Do these schools then play all of their 20+ sports in this Super League or do they make all other sports club teams? What about the Title IX ramifications with all of this?

The more likely outcome is that the P5 breakaway for all sports and run their own championships under some sort of Super League structure. While the football money is big, the hoops money is HUGE. The NCAA get nearly a billion dollars for March Madness. That's the real carrot.

Will the P5 get a billion dollars for their hoops tournament? No, but they're not getting that now. The NCAA syphons off a large chunk of that as it is. The NCAA pays out less that half that billion to its "member" schools and then keeps the rest.


Yes everyone will say "but the great allure to the casual fan is the Cinderella aspect of March Madness". The P5 could care less about that. What if they get $300/MM a year to run a 32 team tournament? Would they take that? What if they decide to include run a 48 team tournament that includes 32 P5 schools and then the top 16 non P5 teams in a given year (i.e. Gonzaga, a couple Big East teams, a couple AAC teams)? What would that money be?

The P5 is going to break away because that's the only way for them to significantly increase their revenues. It's just a matter of when and what it eventually looks like

 

[uconnbill]

Won't ever happen but than again we are playing online

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio St
4. LSU
5. Michigan
6. Texas
7. Oklahoma
8. Texas A&M
9. Georgia
10. USC
11. Oregon
12. Penn St
13. Miami
14. Florida
15. Wisconsin

 

[freescooter]

The list would look different depending on when it gets put together. There was a similar concept maybe 10 years ago. The two teams everyone agreed had to be part of the national conference were Miami and Florida State. I believe there was also talk of Virginia Tech which was a regular top 5-10 ish team at the time. Now that seems crazy. Like Texas A&M will next time this discussion comes up. Florida wasn’t included.

I used to think the P5 would break away, but I‘m not so sure any more. Because really they get what they want the way it is now. Plus what DO you do with women‘s sports, for example? Title IX still exists, so you can’t ignore that. And in order to run this new P5 entity you would need to create some form of central administration that in the end would likely look very much like the current NCAA. Because here’s the thing. The NCAA rule book didn’t get to be a 6 inches thick on day 1. As with any entity like that, it grew in reaction to events. Just go look through you town zoning code sometime. You will find stuff that makes no sense. Here is what will happen. The University of Somewhere did something the rest of the schools didn’t like, gave their star a chauffeured limo and put him up at the Ritz Carlton, that the others thought gave US an unfair advantage, so the reaction is “let’s make a rule so US doesn’t do that any more, or and just to make sure they don’t try to get around it, let’s make it so they can’t buy him Uber rides either. Oh and we should maybe put in there that you can only stay at a Holiday Inn or lesser hotel”. As I said, go to your town zoning code and try to figure out why there’s some crazy rule about parking or keeping goats or something. The end result is the P5AA. or look at the NFL and all it’s rules and it’s staff and offices...50 years ago it was a challenge for the commissioner to get money for a second full time secretary. The rules for playing the game were about all they had control over and those weren’t that controversial. There was no tuck rule. In the 1930s FDR had fewer staff members in the White House than most big city mayors. Bottom line is that the P5 won’t go because they will end up in the same place, only instead of splitting the costs by 350, they’ll be slitting it by 60.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Chin Diesel]

Never happen. You'd never get the SEC and B1G (11 team version) to abandon enough teams to leave room for anyone else let alone get down to 15.

Big 10 block that will never separate: Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State. (You can debate if dropping Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, or Minnesota is possible under enough financial incentives. I don't think so, but that group of 6 in unbreakable. Nebraska, MD, and Rutgers are on their own but won't be dropped unless the conference splits.

SEC block that will never separate: Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and I'd add South Carolina and Vanderbilt for confederate solidarity because getting the SEC to believe there is greener grass elsewhere is a tall hurdle on its own.

That's 15 minimum and we haven't discussed Texas, OU, ND, FSU, Clemson, or any west coast teams.

The P5 can and will likely eventually punt the NCAA or neuter it enough (almost there) to effectively control every aspect of college football. That is a pool of 60+ teams and that's the way they power schools within the P5 want it. The problem with a 15-20 team super league is that someone is finishing in the bottom half.

I don't think anyone actually thinks this would happen.

It's more an exercise in opinion of team's with the biggest national names and strongest regional appeal.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Won't ever happen but than again we are playing online

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio St
4. LSU
5. Michigan
6. Texas
7. Oklahoma
8. Texas A&M
9. Georgia
10. USC
11. Oregon
12. Penn St
13. Miami
14. Florida
15. Wisconsin

You have to pull the U off of there. Just a dead, buried name. More dead than Nebraska. Or at least equally as dead as Nebraska. We're approaching 30 years since those two had their nat'l championship battles.

 

[huskymedic]

The College Football Super League (he explains his rationale in article):

1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Clemson
4. Florida
5. Georgia
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Notre Dame
9. Ohio State
10. Oklahoma
11. Oregon
12. Penn State
13. Southern California
14. Texas
15. UCLA

 

[huskysupporter]

Agree. Who would you replace those two with to get back to 15? Or would you cull the list down to 12?

One of either Miami or Florida State. Possible both instead of Oregon and Nebraska. I think Nebraska has no hope of becoming an elite team again while Miami and FSU absolutely can.

 

[uconnbill]

The College Football Super League (he explains rationale in article):

1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Clemson
4. Florida
5. Georgia
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Notre Dame
9. Ohio State
10. Oklahoma
11. Oregon
12. Penn State
13. Southern California
14. Texas
15. UCLA

I'd take UCLA out for Penn St as they need a Northeast school and Penn St has a ton of NYC area grads

 

[huskymedic]

I'd take UCLA out for Penn St as they need a Northeast school and Penn St has a ton of NYC area grads

Penn State is already listed @ #12?

 

[UConnJim]

I think the next step is to give schools media control of their out of conference games. This would allow the top schools to make more money and it would help schools like Clemson to be better able to keep up with the SEC schools without breaking up the conferences.