We’re approaching the end of the 2024 College Football season, and commentators spend many hours discussing the new 12-team playoff format.
I’ve made some suggestions in the past to include:
College Football One More Time
12 Team College Football Playoff
College Football Playoff Revisited
College Football Playoff Expansion
I propose moving all Division 1 college football playoff schools into one united conference and returning to regional conferences for all other sports.
I’ve changed my structure some.
Schools wanting to be part of the Football Championship Subdivision would retain their current conference and playoff structure.
I’d configure the schools that want to be part of the College Football Playoff Subdivision into multiple tiers using annual relegation and promotion to move between the tiers based on performance. Only schools in Tier 1 would be eligible to win the championship.
Place the top 28 schools into Tier 1, split into two groups of 14. All tiers higher than one will have 28 schools divided into two groups of 14. The highest numbered tier may not have 28 schools or enough to split into two groups. With 134 schools, there would be four tiers of 28 schools, and Tier 5 would have 22 teams in two groups of 11.
The tiers will be organized by performance, with the best teams in the first tier and the weakest schools in the highest-numbered tier.
Schools will play a game against the other 13 schools in their group. That would be six home and six away games, with one bowl game at a neutral site. Schools in the highest numbered tier will complete their 3-game schedule against Football Championship Subdivision teams. The neutral site game would be their last game against a group opponent.
The first-place teams in each Tier 1 group would play in a championship game. Some tiebreakers may need to be created to determine a group’s first-place team.
The bottom four teams in each group will be relegated to the next higher-numbered tier, and the top 4 schools from that tier will be promoted.
The games played at campus sites will be scheduled between the last Thursday in August and the Saturday 9 days after Thanksgiving. After that Saturday, the bowls will select games from the neutral site schedule.
The neutral site schedule shall be the first and second-ranked teams from the previous year in each tier. Third will play fourth, fifth will play sixth, down to thirteenth playing the fourteenth.
Many of the neutral site games would be contentious, deciding promotions, relegations, and group winners.
The bowls can select games from any tier, and all schools are eligible. There are typically 40 bowl games, which might include all schools in tiers 1 through 3. Those games not selected for a bowl would play their game in late December at a campus site.
This method will eliminate many rivalry games and allow the best schools to play only good teams.
Army, Navy, and Air Force are the exceptions to the standard relegation and promotion process. They will always be in the same group. If one academy is promoted, the others will be advanced, too. They will only be relegated when all teams are in the bottom 4 of a group.
New CFP schools would be added to the highest-numbered tier. With five tiers, it would take four seasons before getting promoted to Tier 1.
Any team that wants can be dropped to FBS. Promotion from the next higher numbered tier will fill their slot. If they return to the CFP level, they will start in the highest-numbered tier.
Add and drops would need to be declared before February 1.
I see an active transfer portal as players will move to lower-numbered tiers as they gain experience.
The creation of the tiers for the first year would require a ranking committee. The current 12-team playoff has a committee that publishes the ranking of the top 25 schools. This same committee could include all 134 schools in its final ranking before the playoff and bowl selections.
Twelve schools would come from the 12-team playoff and qualify for Tier 1. The next four highest-ranked schools would also qualify for Tier 1. The next 24 schools would compete in bowl games, with the winners qualifying for Tier 1 and the losers placed in Tier 2.
The tier assignments would be completed going down the ranking order. The schools at the higher end of each tier could be scheduled against schools at the lower end of a better tier in a bowl game to switch tier assignments for the winner.
So, how would the group composition be determined? Letting schools choose their group would make an interesting TV show for at least Tier 1. This process would be done annually.
The group selection process would be used as tier composition changes with promotions and relegations in early February. The lower-ranked schools in a tier would select first, with the higher-ranked ones picking last. However, this selection order would be done in pairs. So, the top-ranked team would pick next to last, and the second-ranked team would fill the last open spot. To keep the groups of near equal strength, when one group has more open spots than the other, the group with open spots must be filled,
So, who would object to this setup? ESPN and other game broadcasters.
Like only going to church for Easter and Christmas, the broadcasters think fans wait until the playoffs to watch games. With this setup, there is only one championship game and no playoffs.
Current bowl games are not significant for most schools. With games important for tier promotion and relegation, there will be better competition.
When schools only play games against their own tier group, every regular season game is significant and can be promoted as such. Currently, the top 10 teams only play six or seven games against top competition. The remaining games are usually one-sided. With a different setup, there would be 14 Tier 1 games every week, and each could be highly watched.
The top schools may not like this setup, as every game would be significant and stressful. They would not like to miss the five or six easy, less physical games.
Those blowout opponents would miss out on the revenue they get from playing road games in large stadiums. However, they should have 13 competitive games, driving fans’ support. With a better chance of winning, fans tend to increase support. Schools get more ticket, donation, and concession revenue with more home fans.
The marketing departments will like the promotions for potential tier promotion.
Schools not in Tier 1 may not like their status. They have no chance for a championship. Do they have one now? They will have 13 competitive games and the potential for a bowl when they are promotion possible.
More competitive games will draw more fans and more revenue. Championships will be determined on the field and not by a subjective bunch of people. What could be better?