PFT/TheAthletic: NFL works with college presidents to form “Super League

[The Public Enemy]

From PFT:
Anger, denial, bargain, and depression are over. The nation’s major universities are finally landing at acceptance.

The NCAA is dead. The long-overdue reckoning has killed it. The powers-that-be know it’s time to move on. They’re trying to, with the only solution that can introduce control into the chaos that has become college football.

Andrew Marchand and Stewart Mandel of TheAthletic.com report that a group of college presidents, working with NFL executive Brian Rolapp and others, are trying to form what is being called a “Super League.”

The current system would be blown up. The conferences would fold. The playoff system would go extinct. In their place would be a league with 70 fixed teams and 10 others that will be subject to relegation and promotion from the remaining 60 schools.

The “Super League” would have eight 10-team divisions, with the division winners and eight wild-cards qualifying for a 16-team playoff.

College football would essentially become pro football. Which it already is, without the levers and protections that create stability for the teams.

The idea would be to embrace a unionized workforce, which would legitimize rules that, in the absence of a multi-employer bargaining unit, are antitrust violations that have been hiding in plain sight, for years. Now that one case after another is proving these violations of federal law — and racking up potential liability that currently exceeds $5 billion and counting — those who get it know that college football needs to break glass in event of emergency, because emergency has arrived.

Two school presidents gave on-the-record quotes to TheAthletic.com regarding the situation.

“The current model for governing and managing college athletics is dead,” Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud said.

“We are in an existential crisis,” added West Virginia president Gordon Gee told TheAthletic.com.

NFL works with college presidents to form "Super League"

Anger, denial, bargain, and depression are over.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[JHB4UK]

70 fixed, 10 alternating, total of 80 is demonstratively *not* a 'super' league. They want it that big so Alabama and Ohio still play 9 or 10 games a year as the prohibitive favorites. A 30 or 40 school Super League means 8-4 is a great year.

 

[vhcat70]

Informative, right or wrong.

 

[Boz]

I am concerned we could be left out of a super conference.

 

[trueblujr2]

I am concerned we could be left out of a super conference.

If it's a 60-70 team super League, we won't be left out. That's basically all of the P5 Schools. those 10 flex schools will be those G5 schools on the bubble.

 

[Cotaay]

Quotes from administrators associated with Syracuse and West Virginia should tell you all you need to know, Big 10 and SEC have no incentive to split things 80 ways equally. Can accomplish the same thing with 40 teams.

 

[BIG BLUE GURU]

I am concerned we could be left out of a super conference.

If this is what it indeed is going to be then I am glad if we get left out. I do not want a NFL league. I want a college level experience where they play for the college, education and the potential to move up vs just a business decision. Bring it on.

 

[JHB4UK]

I am concerned we could be left out of a super conference.

An 80 team Superconference includes UK

And UL
And WKU

 

[gamalielkid]

I am concerned we could be left out of a super conference.

Boz. UK is now in the top half of the SEC. We are already ranked in the top 25 to 30 in most pre season polls. What I am saying it is time for ALL UK fans to realize that we are a FOOTBALL SCHOOL now! And as I have said on other threads in other forums - we have to give one John Calipari credit for helping create this situation. I am a long time basketball crazy Kentucky basketball fan since 1958. But after I saw my first UK football game in person I also became a UK football fan, that was in 1968. Our fans have suffered thru some really bad years of football - but that is in the rear view mirror. Kentucky can now get a qualified football coach if it needs to - that is a huge difference!

We have quality assistant coaches who want to come to Kentucky now. We have top talent consistently coming to UK now. The majority of UK's roster is now composed of players with a 5.7 rating or higher on rivals. We are getting quality transfers who want to come to UK. Plus we still develop as well as anyone in the country! We can thank Coach Stoops for a majority of these things - but it has been also due to our great fan support.

It's time for our fans to revel in being a UK fan! I attended Florida games in the Swamp for the last 30 years plus and I can tell you that Florida now respects UK. Yes they had that 31 game winning streak - but they saw that 4 of the last 6 wins in that streak should have been losses. Now UK is on the winning streak and has a great chance to win again this year in the Swamp. Relax - UK is a top 30 football school at worst - and UK fans will not let the team slip to where it once was!

Go Big Blue!

 

[vhcat70]

Boz. UK is now in the top half of the SEC. We are already ranked in the top 25 to 30 in most pre season polls.

What u talkin about, Willis? UK is 11 of 16 in odds - 90-1 - to win SEC in 2024. Believe the bettors over anyone/anything else.

 

[The-Hack]

I am concerned we could be left out of a super conference.

Uhhh, not likely.

We are now a consistent top 25 performer in all sports (with a 9th finish year before last) and we are consistently in the top 20 in overall budgeting, i.e. money.

We are a top program (currently stuggling) in the second sport, and are (since Stoops) consistently a top 35 football program.

And, we are quiet literally "in the middle of it all," geographically.

We will be fine.

 

[BluegrassSportsNet]

“The NCAA is dead” All the Barnhart defenders quiet like crickets on that.

 

[hmt5000]

I am concerned we could be left out of a super conference.

We are top 20 income athletic dept. Our attendance is top 30ish. We basically own the state though UL gets way more credit than they deserve for number of fans. We have name recognition (mostly from bball but it's still a name). We would be in a 40 team league. We would get iffy on 30.

You need to look at NFL cities and the states they are in... They aren't going to want to compete against them. So teams like Pitt or Ga Tech will get screwed even if they should be in. They are doing this for tv ratings.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

We are top 20 income athletic dept. Our attendance is top 30ish. We basically own the state though UL gets way more credit than they deserve for number of fans. We have name recognition (mostly from bball but it's still a name). We would be in a 40 team league. We would get iffy on 30.

You need to look at NFL cities and the states they are in... They aren't going to want to compete against them. So teams like Pitt or Ga Tech will get screwed even if they should be in. They are doing this for tv ratwalk-on.

Been saying this is where we are heading for awhile, that meeting between the Big and SEC commissioners was the start. There will be P5 teams or P4 I guess omitted from the 60-70 teams and a few from outside those conferences will get in. I think Vandy is in trouble, some in the Big too. My Question is will ND join or fade into a memory.

 

[vhcat70]

^ The latter I'd hope.

 

[maysvilleky]

From PFT:
Anger, denial, bargain, and depression are over. The nation’s major universities are finally landing at acceptance.

The NCAA is dead. The long-overdue reckoning has killed it. The powers-that-be know it’s time to move on. They’re trying to, with the only solution that can introduce control into the chaos that has become college football.

Andrew Marchand and Stewart Mandel of TheAthletic.com report that a group of college presidents, working with NFL executive Brian Rolapp and others, are trying to form what is being called a “Super League.”

The current system would be blown up. The conferences would fold. The playoff system would go extinct. In their place would be a league with 70 fixed teams and 10 others that will be subject to relegation and promotion from the remaining 60 schools.

The “Super League” would have eight 10-team divisions, with the division winners and eight wild-cards qualifying for a 16-team playoff.

College football would essentially become pro football. Which it already is, without the levers and protections that create stability for the teams.

The idea would be to embrace a unionized workforce, which would legitimize rules that, in the absence of a multi-employer bargaining unit, are antitrust violations that have been hiding in plain sight, for years. Now that one case after another is proving these violations of federal law — and racking up potential liability that currently exceeds $5 billion and counting — those who get it know that college football needs to break glass in event of emergency, because emergency has arrived.

Two school presidents gave on-the-record quotes to TheAthletic.com regarding the situation.

“The current model for governing and managing college athletics is dead,” Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud said.

“We are in an existential crisis,” added West Virginia president Gordon Gee told TheAthletic.com.

NFL works with college presidents to form "Super League"

Anger, denial, bargain, and depression are over.

www.nbcsports.com

With TV contracts in place, what is the soonest that this could happen?

 

[Deeeefense]

Not surprisingly the SEC and the B10 are opposed to this idea.

 

[gamalielkid]

What u talkin about, Willis? UK is 11 of 16 in odds - 90-1 - to win SEC in 2024. Believe the bettors over anyone/anything else.

So you don’t think UK will end up 8th or better in SEC this year? Ok- but I do.

Go Big Blue!

PS- Most Bettors lose! If they won, Las Vegas wouldn’t exist.

 

[Ky grandpa]

I also think UK is at least top 10 in the SEC now at this present time... Might or could be higher if the growth continues like most of us want... I love UKFB and have since the 70's when I got out of the Air Force... I catch every game that is on, I would stay up late just to watch the old replay's late on channel 27 delay... I would be tired but still went to work after....

GBB

 

[bluecoon1]

Would be interesting to see how the 10 team divisions are laid out, would they keep a majority of the conference teams together or maybe spread it out a little. Like pro football, wonder if it’s possible they have like an AFC North, Central, etc. Several people in the past have either jokingly or seriously said we should move to the ACC in order to be competitive which was actually true at one point but I’d hate to see rivalries broken up. Then again, being the most northern school in the SEC might put us in something like the central consisting of teams like tOSU, VTech, UNC, UL, ND, and possibly UT. Wouldn’t hurt my feelings at all to leave the SEC now that teams like OU and Tex have joined.

 

[3632]

Quotes from administrators associated with Syracuse and West Virginia should tell you all you need to know, Big 10 and SEC have no incentive to split things 80 ways equally. Can accomplish the same thing with 40 teams.

If it was 40 we would be iffy at best getting in

 

[vhcat70]

So you don’t think UK will end up 8th or better in SEC this year? Ok- but I do.

Go Big Blue!

PS- Most Bettors lose! If they won, Las Vegas wouldn’t exist.

Bettors have to lose the vig. There are dumb betters also. One would be betting UK will finish >9th. UK would need to finish ahead of 3/4 of AM/OK/AU/MO.

 

[Catfanlou]

If it was 40 we would be iffy at best getting in

I think we are in at 40. UL is not .

 

[hmt5000]

Been saying this is where we are heading for awhile, that meeting between the Big and SEC commissioners was the start. There will be P5 teams or P4 I guess omitted from the 60-70 teams and a few from outside those conferences will get in. I think Vandy is in trouble, some in the Big too. My Question is will ND join or fade into a memory.

I was saying this when the NIL ruling first broke. It's just money now. We are basically a feeder to the nfl instead of college football.

 

[Cotaay]

I am concerned we could be left out of a super conference.

If it was 40 we would be iffy at best getting in

Some of you are the most pessimistic bunch of babies I’ve ever seen in my life. The SEC and Big 10 hold all the cards, we are already in and our name is not Vandy. Stop worrying about being left out, the chances of that happening are so small it’s not even worth your time.

Footballscoop went through and evaluated every D1 team on overall attractiveness and we came in at 33. They went through and looked at 50 different factors, so it was a pretty thorough ranking and not just going through and saying ‘that team ain’t won enough’ or ‘they ain’t got enough big donors’. Some of you all really need to realize that if a schools name isn’t Texas or Georgia it’s very likely they have a lot of the same issues we have and you can’t have a 10 team system, we are in a lot better shape than many of you think.

https://footballscoop.com/news/ever...attractive-theyd-be-in-conference-realignment

 

[Bob Dobalina]

The college presidents ADs and commissioners are the NCAA. It’s not some random organization, it’s an organization controlled by them. They is zero chance they would embrace a unionized workforce. Like all elite they care about money over people and don’t want to give any of it up by giving players a percentage of profits. This is laughable.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Not surprisingly the SEC and the B10 are opposed to this idea.

As they should. We don't need the NFL sticking their nose in

 

[JHB4UK]

SEC deal with ESPN goes to 2034. Big 10 deal with Fox/CBS/NBC is till 2030. Both those entities prob view this as an attempt to dilute their huge deals and pass it down to ACC & Big 12.

 

[blue cincy]

If this is what it indeed is going to be then I am glad if we get left out. I do not want a NFL league. I want a college level experience where they play for the college, education and the potential to move up vs just a business decision. Bring it on.

sec foot ball has not been a college experience for quite some time now. These armature players have been the backbone of a multibillion dollar origination and they have been injured, left out in the cold after their college experience. We see the stories of the NFL players that have had mental issues (all the head trauma) but we really do not hear much about the players that never make it out of college with a clean bill of health mental or physical. We do not hear much about these school kids that cannot spell let alone read, write or would even be in college except to make that college, league money.

Time to quite burying our heads in the sand and act like NCAA football/basketball/ baseball and such are not there to make a university / league / sports network rich.

This new model quits lying about it all. We now need to remove normal college courses for these employees of the university and give the athletes that cannot do normal classes some life classes and trade skill classes. The players that are up for the university courses should have the ability at the same time to take those classes and also work for the university via their sport.

 

[satcheluk]

From PFT:
Anger, denial, bargain, and depression are over. The nation’s major universities are finally landing at acceptance.

The NCAA is dead. The long-overdue reckoning has killed it. The powers-that-be know it’s time to move on. They’re trying to, with the only solution that can introduce control into the chaos that has become college football.

Andrew Marchand and Stewart Mandel of TheAthletic.com report that a group of college presidents, working with NFL executive Brian Rolapp and others, are trying to form what is being called a “Super League.”

The current system would be blown up. The conferences would fold. The playoff system would go extinct. In their place would be a league with 70 fixed teams and 10 others that will be subject to relegation and promotion from the remaining 60 schools.

The “Super League” would have eight 10-team divisions, with the division winners and eight wild-cards qualifying for a 16-team playoff.

College football would essentially become pro football. Which it already is, without the levers and protections that create stability for the teams.

The idea would be to embrace a unionized workforce, which would legitimize rules that, in the absence of a multi-employer bargaining unit, are antitrust violations that have been hiding in plain sight, for years. Now that one case after another is proving these violations of federal law — and racking up potential liability that currently exceeds $5 billion and counting — those who get it know that college football needs to break glass in event of emergency, because emergency has arrived.

Two school presidents gave on-the-record quotes to TheAthletic.com regarding the situation.

“The current model for governing and managing college athletics is dead,” Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud said.

“We are in an existential crisis,” added West Virginia president Gordon Gee told TheAthletic.com.

NFL works with college presidents to form "Super League"

Anger, denial, bargain, and depression are over.

www.nbcsports.com

I love the idea of relegation, like European soccer leagues. For example, the worst two finishers are dropped to D2 and the two highest D2 are brought up. It would force teams to spend appropriately or loose significant revenue when they are no longer a part of the primary TV package. Also, it keeps the mid-majors relevant because they can pull a George Jefferson and find that dee-lux apartment in the sky!