The College Football League – An Alternative NCAA Sport Sponsorship Model

January 29, 2020

Introduction

A few weeks ago I wrote a NCAA Scholarship Model Proposal that basically eliminates all of the maximum scholarship restrictions. In this post, I suggest an alternative idea. What if all of the college football programs decided that they wanted to break off and govern themselves under one single entity? Let’s say that the football programs want more autonomy to create their own rules and tackle the issues that face college athletics on their own.

Imagine a universe where college football simply breaks off from the traditional conference sponsorship model and becomes its own single entity league. Instead of having the conferences we know and love, all of the teams in what we know as the FBS will join together in one league, the College Football League.

College Football League

Format

Modeled somewhat on Major League Soccer, the College Football League would be single entity in structure. This would allow a commissioner or a governing body to package and sell the media rights for the entire league and to establish parameters around player movement (i.e., designated players, transfers). The League could exist under the NCAA umbrella but could also exist parallel to the NCAA.

All of the current FBS programs and a select few FCS programs (144 total) would be split into 18 team regions based on geographic location. Each 18 team region would again be split into two 9 team divisions based on performance. The best nine teams in the region would make up the First Division, the remaining nine teams would become the Second Division.

You can probably see where I’m going with this idea. Relegation! Each year, the team that finishes last in the First Division will be relegated to the Second Division and the team that wins the Second Division will be promoted to the First Division.

The winners of each of the regions will enter an eight team playoff to determine the national championship.

Divisions

Regions are determined by state.

West Region: Alaska, California, Idaho, Hawaii, Nevada, Montana, Oregon, Washington. (8)

Central Region: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming. (12)

Southwest Region: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas. (3)

South Region: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee. (5)

Northeast Region: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia. (12)

East Region: North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C. (4)

Southeast Region: Alabama, Florida, Georgia (3)

North Region: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio (4)

All of the other FCS football programs could be placed in a Third Division to be promoted/relegated with the Second Division.

Summary