Answering sustained pressure for a system that shuts out fewer teams, a powerful group of executives recommended that the field expand from four to 12 teams. Other officials will consider the proposal in the coming weeks.
Seeking to bolster interest in a sport with waning attendance and flagging television ratings, a group of College Football Playoff leaders proposed a remedy on Thursday: tripling the size of their postseason tournament to throw it open to 12 teams each year.
The plan, if approved in the next few months, would not go into effect for at least two more seasons, but it would ensure that fans get a chance to see more than the same familiar faces — Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State — among the teams competing for a national championship.
Still, not everyone is certain to be pleased with the new plan. Player health and safety advocates are sure to be troubled by a proposal that could leave teams playing as many as 17 games in a season. And by playing the quarterfinal, semifinal and championship games at neutral sites instead of in home stadiums, those games could be stripped of the pageantry and atmosphere that are an essential element of college football’s appeal.
The proposal by the working group of executives — the commissioners of the Big 12, Mountain West and Southeastern Conferences, and the Notre Dame athletic director — is not binding on the larger committees that administer the playoff. But the recommendation amounts to the most substantive effort to reimagine the playoff, which debuted with the 2014 season and succeeded the routinely maligned Bowl Championship Series system.
“We know everything is not going to be perfect or ideal,” said Jack Swarbrick, the Notre Dame athletic director.
To that end, Notre Dame — because it does not play in a conference in football — will not be one of the four teams eligible to earn a first-round bye.
Under the proposal by the working group, which will be considered next week during a meeting of the larger playoff management committee, the six highest-ranked conference champions would be included in the field, as well as six more teams with the highest rankings, regardless of whether they won conference titles. No conferences would be guaranteed a bid, and the playoff would continue to rely on a selection committee to rank teams.
Teams seeded 5 through 12 would face off in the first round at the home of the higher-seeded team. The four winners would advance to a neutral site game against the four highest-ranked conference champions. (For example, the winner of the No. 12 at No. 5 game would play the No. 4 seed., the No. 11 at No. 6 winner would play the No. 3 seed, and so on.)
Swarbrick said it was fair that Notre Dame should have to play an extra game because the Fighting Irish are not exposed to the risk of losing in a conference title game since they do not play in one.
Year after year, college sports leaders have come under pressure to modify the playoff system, which, in its current form, has guaranteed that at least one Power 5 conference would not be represented by a team each season. The system’s design has also led to sustained friction because it routinely shut out strong teams from less influential leagues like the American Athletic and Sun Belt Conferences.
Also, the playoff has not spurred interest in the game. Even before the pandemic, attendance across the country had declined for six consecutive years. TV ratings have also declined. And New Year’s Day, which had for decades had been a fixture of the college football season had become less relevant, anchored often by less meaningful bowl games.
The proposal “gives college football way to reassert New Years Day in a powerful way,” said Bob Bowlsby, the Big 12 Commissioner.
It is not clear when the new strategy, if approved, would take effect, though changes are not expected for the next two seasons. Had the proposed system been in place for the 2020 season, the playoff would have included Alabama, Cincinnati, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Instead, the playoff featured only Alabama — the eventual champion — Clemson, Notre Dame and Ohio State.
Just in April, the playoff said that members of the working group continued “to support and believe in the four-team playoff as it is currently constituted,” but that they were studying at least 63 models for the future. Those possibilities included fields of six, eight, 10, 12 and 16 teams.
The N.C.A.A., which governs the lucrative Division I men’s basketball tournament, does not control the playoff. Instead, commissioners of the Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and Notre Dame’s athletic director largely run the competition, with ultimate power vested in a group of 11 university presidents and chancellors.
If the commissioners advance the proposal next week, the presidents and chancellors could decide as soon as this month to approve “feasibility assessments” and other planning steps toward an expanded playoff. They would likely review the results during a meeting planned for September.
The existing television rights agreement with ESPN, valued at more than $5.6 billion over its 12-year term, does not expire until the end of the 2025 season.
"triple" - Google News
June 11, 2021 at 03:42AM
https://ift.tt/3pI5EZh
College Football Playoff’s Size Could Triple in Coming Years - The New York Times
"triple" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3dc0blF
https://ift.tt/2WoIFUS
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "College Football Playoff’s Size Could Triple in Coming Years - The New York Times"
Post a Comment