(08-07-2020 02:14 PM)Statefan Wrote: You are not going to keep enough schools happy within 16 team conferences to allow for 2 8 school divisions.
Divisionless or 3-4 divisions would be needed to increase happiness.
The structural question is do you add a semifinal league championship games.
If you can win a division title against 4-5 division mates, then play a semi-final and final that creates a lot of important games.
If you had three divisions last year in the ACC, you would have ended up with Clemson, ND, and UVa as division winners and VT as a wild card. ND/UVa and Clemson/VT would probably be two very profitable games.
If the way to the ACC title is through a 4 school playoff, then you don't have to have 9-10 conference games, you can get by on 8-9
I posted this early in this thread. Going to 16 with pods gives you an emphasis on rivalry games and enables you to play the entire conference in 4 years instead of 6 with the current setup. FSU & Clemson are the leagues 2 top football brands so you need to have them in different pods. And as I stated before the addition of UCF gives the rest of the league a game in Florida 3 out of 4 years increasing exposure to Florida recruits.
Southern Pod: FSU, Miami, GT, UCF
Mid Atlantic Pod: Clemson, Virginia, VT, Louisville
Tobacco Row: Duke, UNC, NC State, WF
Northeast Pod: BC, Pitt, Syracuse, Cincinnati
*Notre Dame 6 game scheduling agreement
9 conference games: 3 in your pod, 1 home & 1 away from each of the other 3 pods.
2 pod winners with the best records go to the CCG.
Having a semi-final could potentially be a good payday from ESPN but it's also another game that could trip up a team that would be going to the playoff and another game risking injury.