(06-13-2021 12:20 PM)PicksUp Wrote:  

(06-13-2021 11:23 AM)chargeradio Wrote:  I wonder how much friction this will create between ESPN and the NFL. For the 2021 season, the NFL has Saturday flex games for Week 15 (December 18) and Week 18 (January 8). If the Quarterfinals are played on New Year's Eve/Day, this is a huge problem for the semifinals.

This is likely a problem for the first round as well - I can't see even the P5 schools being thrilled to host a game on six or even five days' notice by using NFL Week 14 (Army/Navy week), especially if it would fall around the time of Fall Semester Commencement ceremonies, final exams, and possibly parents even picking up students from schools that don't permit freshmen to have cars on campus. Would college football allow the NFL to use the Saturday of Week 14, in exchange for freeing up the Saturday of Week 15?

I don't see a similar fix for the NFL with Week 18, unless if the NFL is willing to have a game kick off at 1 PM Eastern that Saturday, and let the CFP have the 4:30 and 8:00 PM timeslots. Or if the NFL insists on two games that day, the CFP could play earlier (Noon and 3:30 Eastern) and the NFL could play at 7:00 PM and 10:15 PM, with the second game being between two teams on the West Coast, like Chargers/Raiders or Seahawks/49ers).

I was listening to Aresco on ESPN Radio and either he or the hosts mentioned that perhaps the season would need to start earlier. Everyone plays week zero! Makes sense.

Yeah Mid August games and then ending the season late January? At this point it becomes a minor league NFL season, given all the bye weeks in between. What a mess.

The QFs have to be played before New Years. I don’t see them playing three prime time games on weeknights post Jan 1st. There is no way in hell they will sell any of those games at a decent retail price for Thursday Friday and Monday nights. And that’s why the Rose and Sugar Bowls are going to smack this proposal down. They want their marquee game on NYD with the best remaining matchups, and I’m not even sure QF games will cut it for them.

The only other option to play 5-12 and QFs back to back the 2nd and 3rd weeks of December with the Heisman presentation the following Monday. Forget about school commitments and an end of year reprieve. It’s not like football players have anything better to do these days…

Believe me, if they had a solution it would have been figured out a long while ago. What I think will happen is a 4+4 model, with top 4 Conf champs getting locked into 1-4 on campus. ND will have to be on the road round 1. However they may allow At-Large teams to host.