Expand the Playoff... and here's how

[dualthreat]

I'm going to try and condense this as best as I can. Please read all before responding.

- Every team plays 12 regular season games
- No conference championship games
- Every conference declares a conference champion based on regular season results

-Playoff Selection Show the Sunday after Thanksgiving
-24 Team playoff
-Power 5 Conference Champions automatic Top 8 seed (First Round Bye)
-Group 5 Conference Champions automatic Top 16 seed
-14 At-large spots
-Teams will be seeded according to AP Top 25 Poll (Or playoff poll)

First Round games the Saturday following the Selection Show (16 seed vs 24 seed, 15 seed vs 23 seed... etc) This year it would be December 5th
Higher seed hosts the game
Second Round games the following Saturday. This year it would have been December 12th
Top 8 seeds host the game

Regional Finals played at large local stadium (ie: Bank of American Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, etc). This year it would be played on Dec 19th

Semi Finals Jan 2nd
Finals (sometime the following week, like it has been) Both semi and finals played in rotating venues that compete for bids, like super bowl etc.

NO more Bowl games. (Only Top 24 teams play in post season, the other bowls suck anyway)
NO more Opt-Outs. Every team is competing for a National Championship, this likely solves the opt out issues that will only get worse with the current set up
NO more "we didn't want to be there anyway"
Very likely only 4 teams play more than 14 games. This is key. With first round byes, the top 8 seeds won't be playing a ridiculous number of games
Conferences may have multiple co-champions, but the conference must select 1 as their auto-representative.

I have been thinking on this a lot and love this set up. It is very similar to what has worked so well for the FCS for years. There is a TON of money to be made with this and fans will not have to travel very far to see their team play (until the semi finals and finals).

 

[beentherebefore]

I'm going to try and condense this as best as I can. Please read all before responding.

- Every team plays 12 regular season games
- No conference championship games
- Every conference declares a conference champion based on regular season results

-Playoff Selection Show the Sunday after Thanksgiving
-24 Team playoff
-Power 5 Conference Champions automatic Top 8 seed (First Round Bye)
-Group 5 Conference Champions automatic Top 16 seed
-14 At-large spots
-Teams will be seeded according to AP Top 25 Poll (Or playoff poll)

First Round games the Saturday following the Selection Show (16 seed vs 24 seed, 15 seed vs 23 seed... etc) This year it would be December 5th
Higher seed hosts the game
Second Round games the following Saturday. This year it would have been December 12th
Top 8 seeds host the game

Regional Finals played at large local stadium (ie: Bank of American Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, etc). This year it would be played on Dec 19th

Semi Finals Jan 2nd
Finals (sometime the following week, like it has been) Both semi and finals played in rotating venues that compete for bids, like super bowl etc.

NO more Bowl games. (Only Top 24 teams play in post season, the other bowls suck anyway)
NO more Opt-Outs. Every team is competing for a National Championship, this likely solves the opt out issues that will only get worse with the current set up
NO more "we didn't want to be there anyway"
Very likely only 4 teams play more than 14 games. This is key. With first round byes, the top 8 seeds won't be playing a ridiculous number of games
Conferences may have multiple co-champions, but the conference must select 1 as their auto-representative.

I have been thinking on this a lot and love this set up. It is very similar to what has worked so well for the FCS for years. There is a TON of money to be made with this and fans will not have to travel very far to see their team play (until the semi finals and finals).

I like it and it seems smart from a competition standpoint....so it probably and sadly has no chance.

 

[acoustimac]

Money talks And that’s the primary reason it likely won’t happen. Players miss school, bowl games lose money regionally as well as the spnsors, costs skyrocket, more players get hurt, etc. that’s the downside.

A buddy of mine proposed a major realignment of schools into regions versus conferences. Six regions with #’s 1 and 2 going to playoffs. Four at large to create a sixteen team playoff. There would be no power five or group of five to worry about.

 

[Darius Bieber]

The FCS, D2 and D3 are able to do it fairly easily every year, not sure why FBS couldn't acclimate to it... But tradition takes precedence I suppose.

 

[dualthreat]

Money talks And that’s the primary reason it likely won’t happen. Players miss school, bowl games lose money regionally as well as the spnsors, costs skyrocket, more players get hurt, etc. that’s the downside.

A buddy of mine proposed a major realignment of schools into regions versus conferences. Six regions with #’s 1 and 2 going to playoffs. Four at large to create a sixteen team playoff. There would be no power five or group of five to worry about.

Bowls lose money so a playoff won't happen? I'm not following

 

[dualthreat]

I'm a fan of bowls. At least, I used to be. They aren't what they used to be. Players with NFL aspirations have shown they are generally disinterested in playing in them. A lot of players, fans, and coaches still love playing football so there is still a demand, but that demand is diminishing.

I posted on here recently that we should go back to the old system. As I think more about it, that was more about the general distaste for the current playoff system than anything. Right now, outside of the Top 4 teams, ESPN barely acknowledges anyone else exists.

Give us a playoff that spreads the love and the interest in the game to fans beyond the top 4 teams (who are almost always the same every year). That's why I think 24>8. If you're going to do it, do it right.

 

[Al_4_State]

8 team playoff with/built around bowls is the best.

Bowl games rock. Who doesn't want to have football on TV every freaking night around the holidays?

5 P5 champs. 3 at large. Include at least one G5 every year. Hard to find much grievance with that.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I have always been partial to this idea...

P5 champions have auto-bids
Highest G5 school (at some minimum floor in the rankings, like say #15) has an auto-bid
Remaining slots are at-large bids open to anybody (e.g., Notre Dame)
Strict limit of two teams per conference
First four games at home sites for top four seeds right after conference championships
First-round winners (four, obviously) "flow" into what amounts to the current system
Four first-round losers can still play in bowl games, either generally or against one another
This system would heavily emphasize winning your conference -- good
Seeing is still very important because of the first-round home game

This year, that would have looked like this...

#1 Alabama (SEC champion)
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
#8 Oregon (Pac-12 champion)

#4 Notre Dame (at-large)
South Bend, Indiana
#5 Texas A&M (at-large)

#3 Ohio State (Big Ten champion)
Columbus, Ohio
#6 Oklahoma (Big 12 champion)

#2 Clemson (ACC champion)
Clemson, South Carolina
#7 Cincinnati (highest G5)

 

[dualthreat]

8 team playoff with/built around bowls is the best.

Bowl games rock. Who doesn't want to have football on TV every freaking night around the holidays?

5 P5 champs. 3 at large. Include at least one G5 every year. Hard to find much grievance with that.

I think you're posting with your heart by reminiscing on bowl games of yesteryear. Bowl games don't have the appeal they once did and it's trending downward. The main storylines from this bowl season are who didn't play and who even cared to be there.

There's plenty of teams like Iowa State that are up and coming that love to play, but those teams are fewer and farther in between anymore.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

Just pick the 4 teams after the bowls.

 

[isucy86]

Not a fan of any playoff with more than 8 teams, unless conference championship games were eliminated (which are a big money maker for the conference office). Then I could see a 12 team playoff with the top 4 teams getting a first round bye.

The awesome thing about college football is that every game counts. Just like we saw this past season the ISU v. Louisiana mattered.

By including 24 teams, about 1/3 of the P5 schools would make the playoffs.

• With 24 teams, maybe five G5 teams would be considered for the playoffs in any year.
• There will be 4 loss teams that make the playoff.

IMO there is a HUGE difference between the top 4-5 teams in college football and teams ranked 15 and lower.

An expanded playoff would make money for the BCS, but it might come at a cost for schools if game ticket sales suffer. Also, there is the possibility that TV ratings would decline for regular season games, which could impact media rights fees.

I don't have a huge issue with the 4 team playoff structure as there are only a handful of really ELITE teams in any year. But I do think we will see an 8 team playoff when the next BCS Playoff TV deal is negotiated. The driving force will be each Power 5 conferences will want a representative team each year.

So an 8 team playoff with each P5 Champ, the top G5 team and 2 at large teams would make sense to me.

 

[awd4cy]

Honestly I don’t know how you determine a conference champion in the leagues you have 14 teams in. Those leagues need a conference championship game to weed out the weaklings. For example Iowa in 2015 or Northwestern when they’ve won the west due to easy schedules.

i say expand to 6. Every P5 conference champion and a G5 champion. Most years probably the AAC champ. Top 2 teams get byes. I think it also would balance recruiting better if a team every year automatically gets in the playoff from each P5 conference.

should also get rid of the complaining. If someone whines, well you didn’t win your conference.

 

[tolfbfan]

Give us a playoff that spreads the love and the interest in the game to fans beyond the top 4 teams (who are almost always the same every year). That's why I think 24>8. If you're going to do it, do it right.

"OPEN THE DOOR, GO TO TWENTY-FOUR"

 

[JM4CY]

The Boca Raton Bowl better live forever.

 

[WooBadger18]

8 team playoff with/built around bowls is the best.

Bowl games rock. Who doesn't want to have football on TV every freaking night around the holidays?

5 P5 champs. 3 at large. Include at least one G5 every year. Hard to find much grievance with that.

Yeah, this is the format that I like the best. The only thing I would tweak is keeping the traditional bowl tie-in's for the first round. So Pac-12 and Big 10 always play in the Rose Bowl in the first round, Big 12 is always in the Cotton Bowl or Fiesta Bowl 1st round, SEC in Sugar and ACC in Orange. Then after that is just normal.

Just pick the 4 teams after the bowls.

But what does that really accomplish? All you're getting is another data point for the committee to use when they want to and ignore when they don't.

 

[NoCreativity]

I'm going to try and condense this as best as I can. Please read all before responding.

- Every team plays 12 regular season games
- No conference championship games
- Every conference declares a conference champion based on regular season results

-Playoff Selection Show the Sunday after Thanksgiving
-24 Team playoff
-Power 5 Conference Champions automatic Top 8 seed (First Round Bye)
-Group 5 Conference Champions automatic Top 16 seed
-14 At-large spots
-Teams will be seeded according to AP Top 25 Poll (Or playoff poll)

First Round games the Saturday following the Selection Show (16 seed vs 24 seed, 15 seed vs 23 seed... etc) This year it would be December 5th
Higher seed hosts the game
Second Round games the following Saturday. This year it would have been December 12th
Top 8 seeds host the game

Regional Finals played at large local stadium (ie: Bank of American Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, etc). This year it would be played on Dec 19th

Semi Finals Jan 2nd
Finals (sometime the following week, like it has been) Both semi and finals played in rotating venues that compete for bids, like super bowl etc.

NO more Bowl games. (Only Top 24 teams play in post season, the other bowls suck anyway)
NO more Opt-Outs. Every team is competing for a National Championship, this likely solves the opt out issues that will only get worse with the current set up
NO more "we didn't want to be there anyway"
Very likely only 4 teams play more than 14 games. This is key. With first round byes, the top 8 seeds won't be playing a ridiculous number of games
Conferences may have multiple co-champions, but the conference must select 1 as their auto-representative.

I have been thinking on this a lot and love this set up. It is very similar to what has worked so well for the FCS for years. There is a TON of money to be made with this and fans will not have to travel very far to see their team play (until the semi finals and finals).

The Big 12 is the only conference where they can determine a true regular season champion. The rest of the conferences are an unbalanced schedule mess.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Not a fan of any playoff with more than 8 teams, unless conference championship games were eliminated (which are a big money maker for the conference office). Then I could see a 12 team playoff with the top 4 teams getting a first round bye.

The awesome thing about college football is that every game counts. Just like we saw this past season the ISU v. Louisiana mattered.

By including 24 teams, about 1/3 of the P5 schools would make the playoffs.

• With 24 teams, maybe five G5 teams would be considered for the playoffs in any year.
• There will be 4 loss teams that make the playoff.

IMO there is a HUGE difference between the top 4-5 teams in college football and teams ranked 15 and lower.

An expanded playoff would make money for the BCS, but it might come at a cost for schools if game ticket sales suffer. Also, there is the possibility that TV ratings would decline for regular season games, which could impact media rights fees.

I don't have a huge issue with the 4 team playoff structure as there are only a handful of really ELITE teams in any year. But I do think we will see an 8 team playoff when the next BCS Playoff TV deal is negotiated. The driving force will be each Power 5 conferences will want a representative team each year.

So an 8 team playoff with each P5 Champ, the top G5 team and 2 at large teams would make sense to me.

I'm torn. I tend to agree with everything you said, but I found myself liking the 24 team idea more as I read through it all. Having conferences give up their conference championship games could be a tough battle, though, especially in the larger conferences where teams don't all play each other and have very different schedules.

I do love the idea of giving the top 8 seeds another home game. That gives fans another opportunity to see one more game without the travel cost.

With the 24 team playoff as @dualthreat laid out, the first round of playoffs would basically resemble the current early slate of bowl games, but there would be additional incentive to watch knowing that the results would factor into the next round of matchups. Cinderella stories are what make the first weekend of March Madness great, and this could have a similar effect to viewership. The unknown location of these games does lead to my main concern, however.

The networks would be giving up guaranteed sponsorship contracts that are currently tied to bowl games. Without knowing the location of the games until 1-2 weeks beforehand, I'm not sure the revenues can be replicated that quickly. And if the networks don't make their money, I'm not sure this concept ever gets off the ground.

 

[awd4cy]

8 team playoff with/built around bowls is the best.

Bowl games rock. Who doesn't want to have football on TV every freaking night around the holidays?

5 P5 champs. 3 at large. Include at least one G5 every year. Hard to find much grievance with that.

How do bowl games work if the playoff goes to 8? Orange, Rose, Fiesta end up being first round games? If that's the case would be weird to win a trophy for winning in the first round but losing in semi final.

 

[beentherebefore]

I like the 12 and the 24 team playoff ideas. But maybe football should consider what an earlier post said about doing away with conferences as we know them and go to regional "divisions" or whatever you want to call them. Twelve divisions/conferences with 10 teams each and a scheduling plan similar to the NFL with rotating non-divisional games. Tradition is great, and I am old enough to really appreciate tradition. Still, I don't see how a playoff of 12 to 24 teams does not do just as well with TV advertisers as some of the current bowl games.

A trip to a sunny location in December/January is great, but the playoff as proposed here is also great. Still, these are not (yet) professional athletes, so one could argue against the extra games.

 

[20eyes]

The Boca Raton Bowl better live forever.

If we can't venerate the hallowed Bad Boy Mowers Gasperilla Bowl then what have we become?

****ty bowl jokes aside, Bowls and the regional conference rivalries are what made FBS football the greatest American sport. The quickest way to neuter it is to make it into the NFL lite.

If playoffs are here to stay they should integrate the traditional Bowls better than they do now. OU is a perfect example. OU was playing some of the best football in the nation at the end of the season, better than their dumb CFP ranking. They should have played in their natural Bowl (Orange) vs the natural opponent (Clemson?) and THEN been evaluated for some playoff whether it's a plus one, plus three, or whatever...

Negating the traditional Bowls is dangerous, these need to remain at all costs:

Rose (b10 / p12)
Orange (b12 / ACC)
Sugar (SEC / at large)
Cotton?
Fiesta?
Peach?
Citrus?
Sun?
Holiday?

No rankings until after these are played.