I understand your point. I imagine most would agree. I cant imagine if the Browns went 10-7 this year and instead of making the playoffs played the Cardinals in Houston for a glorified exhibition
But bowl games for college football are neat. I had amazing times in Mobile and a really fun time in Frisco. I also had a world class time in New Orleans for the 1999 ncaa first round for basketball too as a counter point
But I am worried that a saturday opening round playoff game hosting Youngstown State might not be as appealing as imagined. The early rounds of FCS playoffs are sort of hit and miss at the box office
Also if the PAC 12 couldnt get a tv deal - I am nervous about what this type of playoff would mean for exposure, etc
I went to Mobile in 2009 and had a blast. Thereās a world that exists where these cities hosting mid to lower tier bowl games transition to hosting playoff games. I donāt believe it would be a huge transition, honestly.
The larger point is, for me, Iād love to see Miami, and schools of their ilk, be proactive about their future rather than reactive. Itās clear the top of D1 football is headed one way, and it aināt gonna be a place where the Miamiās of the world have much of a say, or even a seat. Create the future you want to be a part of!
In the FCS, games are hosted at campus sites with little fanfare and minimal notice to fans. If you qualify for the playoffs you might be sent to South Dakota or Eastern Washington on a weekās notice. Iād much prefer to have three weeksā notice and travel to Mobile, Tucson, Conway or Orlando where a group of bowl organizers had been working for nearly a year to insure I will have a nice time during my two or three nights there.
Itās going to shift but itās being rebuilt on quicksand. A shift to a premium, exclusive NFL model that sends teams coast to coast routinely is not a permanent fixture. Eventually there will be a shift back to regional structures. Fan demand for renewal of regional rivalries, waining interest in a mini-NFL clone and long overdue academic control will eventually shift back to creating annual regional rivalries. Fans of teams like WVU are already clamoring for the renewal of annual rivalries with Syracuse, Pitt, Penn State, Maryland, Virginia Tech and Marshall rather than the current and emerging steady diet of Kansas, Texas Tech, Colorado, Baylor and Arizona. And the West Coast teams will eventually recognize the folly of trading Oregon State, Cal, Stanford and Arizona State for Rutgers, Maryland, Iowa and Nebraska.
The novelty will eventually wear off. And a brand new realignment will emerge. Who knows? Eventually the concept of a powerful Commissioner of College Football might emerge to create a more inclusive structure where revenue is shared more equitably in order to preserve the game. After all, the NFL model includes that concept. It is what fundamentally balanced their game. Another radical reactionary change will come - probably not in my lifetime but it will come.
In the meantime, I can not support a unilateral voluntary downgrade of our program. The current FCS model is not a panacea for G5 programs and the money is not there to create a coast to coast G5 shadow league of the big boys.
Well said. FCS is a complete downgrade from where we have always been. I do not an any way want to see Miami football reduced to being a minor league sport.
You guys are hung up on labels (FCS, etc) that are soon to be irrelevant in CFB. The point is to take the FCS, MAC, and similarly situated schools and form a Division. This will be where Miami finds itself, not in the upper echelon of CFB. Might as well be proactive with it.
Why would the G5 voluntarily roll itself into a group of schools - many with with no appreciable fan bases or money - that play in 5,000-12,000 seat stadiums in lots of remote areas? The smallest stadium in the MAC is Scheumann at 22,500. Only two or three stadiums in the Sun Belt are smaller than Yager. What do those schools have in common with Campbell with its 5,000 seat stadium or McNeese State (17,00 seats) or Eastern Washington with only 8,600 seats.
If the elite 60 does form, it will be the P5 rolled into three conferences instead of five. The G5 will probably continue to operate as it does now with most schools playing one or possibly two buy games with a P5, one or two OOC G5 and giving a buy game to an FCS. The new P3 20 team leagues will start playing 9 conference games and will stop playing FCS teams on their OOC schedules. Those FCS teams that used to play a November game at LSU or Bama will be shut out of that money.
And 30 of the current FBS bowl games will probably continue to exist much as they do today outside the expanded CFB Playoff system. Now is not the time to do anything drastic.
I think a lot of what you are saying is true. Funny thing is, if we do nothing and all the schools in the MAC do nothing, when the networks go broke from this money pit (that day is coming as advertising revenue will only go so far) things may revert back to where they were. Or, some sovereign nation will fund the big ones and cause huge ethical conversations between the schools and the boards willing to cash the checks. I sorta wonder how the Supreme Court would have voted all those years ago if theyād fully seen this outcome manifesting.
If you know someone on the TIF tell them the MAC is For Sale. We can finally get rid of the weeknight games and can host a LIV dual at a Hueston Woods & Indian Ridge
I donāt advocate going FCS (Phil-using the label for ease of reference), but I do think some conglomeration of the remaining G5 (and who is still in that remains to be seen) should take place. There is no reason the G5 canāt agree to some sort of a college playoff system, perhaps utilizing the bowls as the P5 are doing. I do think eventually the P5 are going to stop playing or drastically reduce the number of games against the G5. You can remain FBS with the G5 schools and still have this conglomeration/association of the G5 schools for a playoff scenario. Letās be honest, at best the G5 schools get 1, maybe 2 (not likely) schools in the current playoff format of 12 teams. So what I am saying is to adopt some of what Phil is saying with some of what Dick and Nescacdad are saying. I am nothing if not the peacemaker!
Totally agree @Bluesman. I guess my point is that it would behoove the on-field product of whatever this G5 conglomeration becomes to welcome and work with a large swath of current FCS schools. Miami competing against No Dak St and EWU feels a lot more likely going forward than Miami competing with any current P5 schools.
Or maybe itās tiered like pro soccer and if you suck at the highest level you get relegated and a school in a lower rung that wins can move up a rung.
The problem is that Miami is closer to FBS than Power 5. When the realignment dust settles in a couple of years there will no longer be an FCS. There will likely be 2 division 1 levels. Miami would be in second tier based on attendance, talent, fan base etcā¦ There would be some P5 teams left out as well. Northwestern, Rutgers come to mind. Just my opinion.
Then you have an agreement on scholarships. FCS is 63 I believe and FBS is 85. I would be in favor of keeping it at 85 but that is going to mean some cost increase if you include any FCS schools, for the FCS schools. Seems as though that is a decision they, the FCS schools, will have to make, unless the G5 agree to reduce somewhat, which I would not favor.
There are just a very few FCS schools that are ready to compete at the FBS level. Many arenāt even interested in moving up. Integrating āa large swath ā of FCS teams into the G5 makes little or no sense. I for one see no advantage to voluntarily getting into a system where Miami could be sent to Cheney, Washington for a December first round game against EWU in a stadium that holds 8,600.
If the Power 60 breaks off, there will still be 72 or more teams left in the G5. With the demise of the PAC 12, G5 could be pushed to 76 teams next season. The FCS is huge. Merging with it would add 92 new teams to the current 72 in G5. And that is leaving out the Ivy, Pioneer and HBCU conferences. There is no reason for a merger with the FCS.
@Ballcoach1 I think you meant Miami is closer to FCS than to Power 5, right. G5 teams are already in FBS. I think there is considerable overlap of the top quarter of the G5 (including the top four MAC teams) with the bottom quarter of the P5. I also think there is an overlap of perhaps 10% of the FCS with that group of lower P5, and upper G5 teams. One example is both Southern Illinois and Miami beating Northwestern last season.
The scholarship imbalance Blues mentioned keeps the overwhelming majority of FCS teams far below even the bottom of the MAC or CUSA.
But you say youād happily go to Boise, letās say, for a random bowl game that would have probably 1/20th the atmosphere. Ok. Different strokes for different folks.
@Phil04 Iāve spent much time in Boise, as it was in the territory I had responsibility for when I covered Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Itās a very nice, safe and clean city with easy to get to night skiing at Bogus Basin, an interesting Basque neighborhood, ECHL Idaho Steelhead hockey, and several very good dining experiences - plus a chance to play on the vaunted Smurf Turf. And thatās the MACās most remote bowl game.
Youāve obviously never spent much time at Roos Field in Cheney or in Bronco Stadium if you think Boise would have 1/20th the atmosphere as Cheney, where Pizza Hut, Subway plus a couple Mexican and mom and pop Chinese restaurants are important dining options.
