(06-16-2021 01:04 PM)micahandme Wrote:  

(06-15-2021 12:26 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-14-2021 06:47 PM)RUScarlets Wrote:  

(06-14-2021 06:26 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  Two downsides:

• Hawaii exemption becomes less valuable
• Expecting fans to go to a Conference Championship Game on the weekend after Thanksgiving
  

Given that TV drives the bus, this is probably what we'll get. This would then allow the CFP to start either the first or second weekend of December - my hunch is it would be the second weekend just for the logistics of arranging playoff teams, and the team that plays the Thursday or Friday game won't have quite as short a turnaround as they would playing the first weekend of December. I also wouldn't be surprised if we see this:

Saturday, 12/9/23 - 4:40 PM Eastern - First Round Game #1
Saturday, 12/9/23 - 8:20 PM Eastern - First Round Game #2
Tuesday, 12/12/23 - 8:20 PM Eastern - First Round Game #3
Wednesday, 12/13/23 - 8:20 PM Eastern - First Round Game #4

Saturday, 12/31/23 - 4:40 PM Eastern - Quarterfinal #1 (Fiesta/Cotton/Citrus)
Monday, 1/1/24 - 1:00 PM Eastern - Quarterfinal #2 (Orange)
Monday, 1/1/24 - 4:40 PM Eastern - Quarterfinal #3 (Rose Bowl)
Monday, 1/1/24 - 8:20 PM Eastern - Quarterfinal #4 (Sugar)

Monday, 1/8/24 - 8:20 PM Eastern - Semifinal #1 (hosted by Fiesta/Cotton/Citrus)
Tuesday, 1/9/24 - 8:20 PM Eastern - Semifinal #2 (hosted by Fiesta/Cotton/Citrus)

Monday, 1/15/24 - 8:20 PM Eastern - Final

This looks like a pandemic schedule. Prominent Tuesday and Wednesday night games? Who’s gonna watch this after watching NFL Sunday MNF and then Tues and Wednesday night football that week.

The first round will all be held on Saturday for sure. A couple of games will overlap a bit in the late windows. If you have a west coast hosting you can kick off at 9 or 10 ET for one.

The NYD schedule is the only thing here that makes sense. Semifinals is the problem.

For the first round, I could see one game on Friday night and then a tripleheader on Saturday. This entire exercise (and all of the money that comes with it) all about TV, TV, TV, TV, TV - ESPN is going to want every game and that inherently means that there can't overlapping windows at all. I agree that they're not going to spread the first round out to Tuesday and Wednesday.

The timing around New Year's Day makes sense.

I think it will be spread out more once we get past the quarterfinal round with the assumption that every team is going to need at least 7 days rest, especially with presumably neutral site games.

Thursday/Friday is generally better for neutral site games (at least for fans and local economic interests) compared to Monday/Tuesday (which is partly why the NCAA Tournament follows that schedule). The semifinals would get pushed to Thursday 1/11/24 and Friday 1/12/24 in order to avoid NFL conflicts. The final would then be the next Monday at least 7 days later, which would be 1/22/24.

2024 has New Year's Day on a Monday, so that's actually a situation where the schedule using this format is spread out the most other than times where New Year's Day is on a Saturday. (Note that bowl games get moved to 1/2 when NYD is on a Sunday, so those don't apply.) When NYD falls on any other day of the week, the semifinals can be structured to have a 7 to 9 day turnaround from the quarterfinals, which makes the schedule more compact in those particular years.

Do you really believe that they'd potentially have Team X play in a CCG on a Friday or Saturday in one neutral city...travel back home...and then travel again the following Thursday or Friday to another city (if the away team)?

Seems like too tight of a window to me. Seems like two weeks (or at least 9-10 days) are needed between CCG weekend and the 1st round.

On that part, I agree. I think there needs to be a minimum of 7 days rest between rounds for all participants, so that may point to 2 weeks in between the CCGs and the first round.