This is were CFB at the highest levels should go - if the big time schools and the networks want to monetize as much of the product as absolutely possible.

• Top 48 schools are invited to the "Champion Plus" Division
• Divide the schools into 6 divisions of 8 schools each.
• Play all schools in your division for 7 games, then 1 game each from the other 5 divisions to get to 12 games.
• Everyone gets 6 home games and 6 away games.
• Playoffs of 8 teams - 6 Div winners plus 2 wildcards
• Seeding based on W/L and other tie breakers that mimics the NFL
• All prospective HS FB players are eligible to be signed by a school within the "Champion Plus" FB League
• Schools will fill out their teams via a player draft. Each school will have access to 10 kids per year via the draft - 10 rounds.
• A player is signed to a 4 year contract. No more, no less. Once drafted, the player has to fulfill his obligation for the entire 4 years and cannot be traded or cut.
• If a player is injured and can no longer play, then a medical severance agreement can be negotiated and the player can be replaced via a "free agency" - explained below.
• Each team can have 80 players on the roster - 40 maximum from the draft and the other 40 will be available after the draft and during the recruiting period. No more than 15 kids can be signed as recruits within a given year. Recruiting cannot begin until after the draft, and the recruiting period will last a total of 3 months.
• Players will be designated as professional athletes, and the salaries will be based on position drafted and be controlled by the "Champion Plus" League standards agreed to by all schools. Salaries will be capped.
• Players will have no affiliation with the academic side of the school. They will not be there to take classes or to obtain a degree.
  

Additional thoughts welcome.

Why would the teams even be affiliated with the school at this point? Brand value? This is literally just minor league football, so call it as such.

I quit reading after "Divide the schools into 6 divisions of 8 schools each"

That's fantasyland....very creative, but fantasyland

Perfect organization in college football will never exist

(12-08-2015 03:03 PM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  Why would the teams even be affiliated with the school at this point? Brand value? This is literally just minor league football, so call it as such.

Good questions. What we have today is essentially minor league football already, except the league model is based on MLB. Why are these teams linked to the schools now? In order for the schools to get revenue and for advertising. Otherwise, what is the purpose of a college FB team to a university?

I think you'll find most university presidents very much opposed to the idea of sports participants that aren't students. Sports are to some degree a marketing arm of the university, but university presidents are not going to be very interested in being owners of professional sports teams. Since only about 10-12 athletic departments are actually self-sufficient, I doubt they would consider continuing these programs if students were not involved.

(12-08-2015 03:24 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  I think you'll find most university presidents very much opposed to the idea of sports participants that aren't students. Sports are to some degree a marketing arm of the university, but university presidents are not going to be very interested in being owners of professional sports teams. Since only about 10-12 athletic departments are actually self-sufficient, I doubt they would consider continuing these programs if students were not involved.

University presidents already are owners of professional sports teams, and these sports teams are viewed as a part of the marketing dept at the schools themselves. This is why ADs that go into debt are subsidized for millions of dollars. It's an investment in marketing. The CFB players are already ringers - or a significant majority of them already are. Players don't commit to OSU or Alabama because they like the physics dept or think the school of public administration is top notch...

(12-08-2015 03:33 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(12-08-2015 03:24 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  I think you'll find most university presidents very much opposed to the idea of sports participants that aren't students. Sports are to some degree a marketing arm of the university, but university presidents are not going to be very interested in being owners of professional sports teams. Since only about 10-12 athletic departments are actually self-sufficient, I doubt they would consider continuing these programs if students were not involved.

University presidents already are owners of professional sports teams, and these sports teams are viewed as a part of the marketing dept at the schools themselves. This is why ADs that go into debt are subsidized for millions of dollars. It's an investment in marketing. The CFB players are already ringers - or a significant majority of them already are. Players don't commit to OSU or Alabama because they like the physics dept or think the school of public administration is top notch...

True, but there still is an academic mission going on there - even one that is thinly veiled as such, but it's there. Taking it away completely is tantamount to academic fraud.

(12-08-2015 04:03 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(12-08-2015 03:33 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(12-08-2015 03:24 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  I think you'll find most university presidents very much opposed to the idea of sports participants that aren't students. Sports are to some degree a marketing arm of the university, but university presidents are not going to be very interested in being owners of professional sports teams. Since only about 10-12 athletic departments are actually self-sufficient, I doubt they would consider continuing these programs if students were not involved.

University presidents already are owners of professional sports teams, and these sports teams are viewed as a part of the marketing dept at the schools themselves. This is why ADs that go into debt are subsidized for millions of dollars. It's an investment in marketing. The CFB players are already ringers - or a significant majority of them already are. Players don't commit to OSU or Alabama because they like the physics dept or think the school of public administration is top notch...

True, but there still is an academic mission going on there - even one that is thinly veiled as such, but it's there. Taking it away completely is tantamount to academic fraud.

We are already seeing the academic fraud today, and it's been going on for a very long time. Schools participating in the highest levels of CFB have been accepting students that would never be able to get into the university on their own academic merits. Not all schools do this but many do. Almost all of the schools that play at the highest levels are football factories. That's the "soft fraud" that we see. We know about the "hard fraud" that goes on at many of these schools, notably with UNC being the most recent to be outed for it.

What we have today is a farce. You know it, the networks know it, the NFL knows it and I would hope the majority of the CFB fans know it too. I've asked myself "What does playing big time FB and BB have to do with the goals of a university?". Really there is no reason for them to be linked, because the primary purpose of playing P5 football is for marketing purposes. If that's true, and I believe it is, why not delink the school from the team academically and redefine the relationship for what it really is. There is no reason why a school shouldn't sponsor the team only, and as a result remove the hypocrisy for good. All the universities care about is the marketing benefits of the FB program and any revenue generated that can be used to fund the non-revenue sports.

The idea of drafting H.S. players is just too intensive. 48 teams would have to have knowledge on nearly every player available in the country. nearly impossible to do . Whom gets what drafting positions. Just way too much involved. What if a player gets drafted by a school They want no part of playing for. It's not like They are getting hundreds of thousands of dollars on the contract and No education scholarship to boot.

(12-09-2015 01:14 PM)CardFan1 Wrote:  The idea of drafting H.S. players is just too intensive. 48 teams would have to have knowledge on nearly every player available in the country. nearly impossible to do . Whom gets what drafting positions. Just way too much involved. What if a player gets drafted by a school They want no part of playing for. It's not like They are getting hundreds of thousands of dollars on the contract and No education scholarship to boot.

OK, but how does Scout and Rivals do it then? Hell, the NFL doesn't have knowledge of every single college player either, but it doesn't stop them from doing it. It's pretty easy to pic the top 10 players from every state. Regarding the players desires and whether someone doesn't want to play for a specific team? Suck it up dude. As one of the best, your desire is to play in the NFL above all else. It doesn't matter which team you get drafted to, you will have the opportunity to showcase your skills and get better coaching than you would from today's game. Also, with this new format there would be a lot more parity of talent - including coaching skills - that would minimize the risk of a "bad" draft. Also, this system improves your odds to getting the right coaching and exposure compared to arbitrarily choosing where you want to play on your own.

Bump. Still predicting much of what I wrote in the OP to become the reality in the future. I really cannot see how universities are going to be able to juggle everything plus ultimately trim costs to bring tuition in line with what I think the future market will bear moving forward.

(12-08-2015 02:59 PM)miko33 Wrote:  This is were CFB at the highest levels should go - if the big time schools and the networks want to monetize as much of the product as absolutely possible.

• Top 48 schools are invited to the "Champion Plus" Division
• Divide the schools into 6 divisions of 8 schools each.
• Play all schools in your division for 7 games, then 1 game each from the other 5 divisions to get to 12 games.
• Everyone gets 6 home games and 6 away games.
• Playoffs of 8 teams - 6 Div winners plus 2 wildcards
• Seeding based on W/L and other tie breakers that mimics the NFL
• All prospective HS FB players are eligible to be signed by a school within the "Champion Plus" FB League
• Schools will fill out their teams via a player draft. Each school will have access to 10 kids per year via the draft - 10 rounds.
• A player is signed to a 4 year contract. No more, no less. Once drafted, the player has to fulfill his obligation for the entire 4 years and cannot be traded or cut.
• If a player is injured and can no longer play, then a medical severance agreement can be negotiated and the player can be replaced via a "free agency" - explained below.
• Each team can have 80 players on the roster - 40 maximum from the draft and the other 40 will be available after the draft and during the recruiting period. No more than 15 kids can be signed as recruits within a given year. Recruiting cannot begin until after the draft, and the recruiting period will last a total of 3 months.
• Players will be designated as professional athletes, and the salaries will be based on position drafted and be controlled by the "Champion Plus" League standards agreed to by all schools. Salaries will be capped.
• Players will have no affiliation with the academic side of the school. They will not be there to take classes or to obtain a degree.
  

Additional thoughts welcome.

Ick. NFL 2. I'd rather see college's stop playing football all together than this. Why don't you NFL fans stay away from college football? We college football fanatics don't ruin your thing. The only NFL game I watched all year was the Stupid Bowl: for the entertainment. Please NFL first fans: Don't ruin college football anymore with these NFL ideas. Sure, college football wasnt perfect, but we can tweak it without turning it into the NFL. And yes Miko, I know your being facetious with this post. Unfortunately, there has been a move by NFL fans who discovered college football for the first time in 1998, to ruin our sport. Cheers!

I like the NFL but the last thing I want is college football turning into a NFL D league/ mini NFL.

(12-08-2015 03:15 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(12-08-2015 03:03 PM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  Why would the teams even be affiliated with the school at this point? Brand value? This is literally just minor league football, so call it as such.

Good questions. What we have today is essentially minor league football already, except the league model is based on MLB. Why are these teams linked to the schools now? In order for the schools to get revenue and for advertising. Otherwise, what is the purpose of a college FB team to a university?

Wait, so your idea is to take a successful money making college football business and 'fix' it by turning it into the football equivalent of the minor league MLB system with a very loose affiliation with major universities?

I see business acumen isn't exactly your forte.

(12-08-2015 02:59 PM)miko33 Wrote:  This is were CFB at the highest levels should go - if the big time schools and the networks want to monetize as much of the product as absolutely possible.

• Top 48 schools are invited to the "Champion Plus" Division
• Divide the schools into 6 divisions of 8 schools each.
• Play all schools in your division for 7 games, then 1 game each from the other 5 divisions to get to 12 games.
• Everyone gets 6 home games and 6 away games.
• Playoffs of 8 teams - 6 Div winners plus 2 wildcards
• Seeding based on W/L and other tie breakers that mimics the NFL
• All prospective HS FB players are eligible to be signed by a school within the "Champion Plus" FB League
• Schools will fill out their teams via a player draft. Each school will have access to 10 kids per year via the draft - 10 rounds.
• A player is signed to a 4 year contract. No more, no less. Once drafted, the player has to fulfill his obligation for the entire 4 years and cannot be traded or cut.
• If a player is injured and can no longer play, then a medical severance agreement can be negotiated and the player can be replaced via a "free agency" - explained below.
• Each team can have 80 players on the roster - 40 maximum from the draft and the other 40 will be available after the draft and during the recruiting period. No more than 15 kids can be signed as recruits within a given year. Recruiting cannot begin until after the draft, and the recruiting period will last a total of 3 months.
• Players will be designated as professional athletes, and the salaries will be based on position drafted and be controlled by the "Champion Plus" League standards agreed to by all schools. Salaries will be capped.
• Players will have no affiliation with the academic side of the school. They will not be there to take classes or to obtain a degree.
  

Additional thoughts welcome.

I think this is one of the most ridiculous ideas posted on this board.
If they don't take classes there is no reason for the school to sponsor the team and I wouldn't watch.

(12-08-2015 02:59 PM)miko33 Wrote:  This is were CFB at the highest levels should go - if the big time schools and the networks want to monetize as much of the product as absolutely possible.

• Top 48 schools are invited to the "Champion Plus" Division
• Divide the schools into 6 divisions of 8 schools each.
• Play all schools in your division for 7 games, then 1 game each from the other 5 divisions to get to 12 games.
• Everyone gets 6 home games and 6 away games.
• Playoffs of 8 teams - 6 Div winners plus 2 wildcards
• Seeding based on W/L and other tie breakers that mimics the NFL
• All prospective HS FB players are eligible to be signed by a school within the "Champion Plus" FB League
• Schools will fill out their teams via a player draft. Each school will have access to 10 kids per year via the draft - 10 rounds.
• A player is signed to a 4 year contract. No more, no less. Once drafted, the player has to fulfill his obligation for the entire 4 years and cannot be traded or cut.
• If a player is injured and can no longer play, then a medical severance agreement can be negotiated and the player can be replaced via a "free agency" - explained below.
• Each team can have 80 players on the roster - 40 maximum from the draft and the other 40 will be available after the draft and during the recruiting period. No more than 15 kids can be signed as recruits within a given year. Recruiting cannot begin until after the draft, and the recruiting period will last a total of 3 months.
• Players will be designated as professional athletes, and the salaries will be based on position drafted and be controlled by the "Champion Plus" League standards agreed to by all schools. Salaries will be capped.
• Players will have no affiliation with the academic side of the school. They will not be there to take classes or to obtain a degree.
  

Additional thoughts welcome.

Do kids not care about their education anymore? I'd hate to be drafted by a low academic school and the next guy to be drafted by Stanford.

I don't think 48 is enough teams. Ideally, i would expand the big 10 to 40 and the SEC to 24 for 64 teams among the 2 power conferences. The big 10 would have 4 divisions of 10 that act as stand alone conferences and 4 team 2 game playoff of divison winners. The sec would have 4 pods of 6 and a 2 game playoff of pod winners. The champ of the big 10 and SEC 2 game playoff would than play each other.

(02-16-2016 10:26 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(12-08-2015 02:59 PM)miko33 Wrote:  This is were CFB at the highest levels should go - if the big time schools and the networks want to monetize as much of the product as absolutely possible.

• Top 48 schools are invited to the "Champion Plus" Division
• Divide the schools into 6 divisions of 8 schools each.
• Play all schools in your division for 7 games, then 1 game each from the other 5 divisions to get to 12 games.
• Everyone gets 6 home games and 6 away games.
• Playoffs of 8 teams - 6 Div winners plus 2 wildcards
• Seeding based on W/L and other tie breakers that mimics the NFL
• All prospective HS FB players are eligible to be signed by a school within the "Champion Plus" FB League
• Schools will fill out their teams via a player draft. Each school will have access to 10 kids per year via the draft - 10 rounds.
• A player is signed to a 4 year contract. No more, no less. Once drafted, the player has to fulfill his obligation for the entire 4 years and cannot be traded or cut.
• If a player is injured and can no longer play, then a medical severance agreement can be negotiated and the player can be replaced via a "free agency" - explained below.
• Each team can have 80 players on the roster - 40 maximum from the draft and the other 40 will be available after the draft and during the recruiting period. No more than 15 kids can be signed as recruits within a given year. Recruiting cannot begin until after the draft, and the recruiting period will last a total of 3 months.
• Players will be designated as professional athletes, and the salaries will be based on position drafted and be controlled by the "Champion Plus" League standards agreed to by all schools. Salaries will be capped.
• Players will have no affiliation with the academic side of the school. They will not be there to take classes or to obtain a degree.
  

Additional thoughts welcome.

I think this is one of the most ridiculous ideas posted on this board.
If they don't take classes there is no reason for the school to sponsor the team and I wouldn't watch.

The thing is what you and a few other posters are clinging to is an illusion. The collegiality of CFB is a either a legend or an outright myth. The best of the best playing the sport only care about getting to the NFL. They don't care if they're going to an elite academic school or a lower rated one. They care about getting to the next level.

(02-16-2016 10:02 AM)CyclonePower Wrote:  I like the NFL but the last thing I want is college football turning into a NFL D league/ mini NFL.

Too late, it already is. Caveat though is it's more like MLB in structure than NFL. Currently, Alabama, OSU, Mich and USC are the Yankees and Red Sox of CFB. Most other schools are more like the small market teams that need to dump salaries around the All Star game while the big boys secure the ammo to make their runs in the playoffs.

Good Lord man, our schools will never make a run for the national championship based on how the system is set up today. The lack of parity will ultimately doom the sport in the end - if the chronic brain damage issues doesn't sink it first.

(02-16-2016 10:42 AM)CyclonePower Wrote:  

(12-08-2015 02:59 PM)miko33 Wrote:  This is were CFB at the highest levels should go - if the big time schools and the networks want to monetize as much of the product as absolutely possible.

• Top 48 schools are invited to the "Champion Plus" Division
• Divide the schools into 6 divisions of 8 schools each.
• Play all schools in your division for 7 games, then 1 game each from the other 5 divisions to get to 12 games.
• Everyone gets 6 home games and 6 away games.
• Playoffs of 8 teams - 6 Div winners plus 2 wildcards
• Seeding based on W/L and other tie breakers that mimics the NFL
• All prospective HS FB players are eligible to be signed by a school within the "Champion Plus" FB League
• Schools will fill out their teams via a player draft. Each school will have access to 10 kids per year via the draft - 10 rounds.
• A player is signed to a 4 year contract. No more, no less. Once drafted, the player has to fulfill his obligation for the entire 4 years and cannot be traded or cut.
• If a player is injured and can no longer play, then a medical severance agreement can be negotiated and the player can be replaced via a "free agency" - explained below.
• Each team can have 80 players on the roster - 40 maximum from the draft and the other 40 will be available after the draft and during the recruiting period. No more than 15 kids can be signed as recruits within a given year. Recruiting cannot begin until after the draft, and the recruiting period will last a total of 3 months.
• Players will be designated as professional athletes, and the salaries will be based on position drafted and be controlled by the "Champion Plus" League standards agreed to by all schools. Salaries will be capped.
• Players will have no affiliation with the academic side of the school. They will not be there to take classes or to obtain a degree.
  

Additional thoughts welcome.

Do kids not care about their education anymore? I'd hate to be drafted by a low academic school and the next guy to be drafted by Stanford.

That's a naive way to think about it. NFL contracts soothe all for these kids...