College Football Relegation like European Soccer

[CycloneFan97]

Here is a Google Sheets document that I quickly made, sorry it's so rudimentary, to see what it would be like if College Football had a promotion/relegation system like European soccer leagues use. I made two models to see which would work better, I'm personally torn on which one would be better for the players. Also just of note, I used Bill Connelly's SP+ for the rankings. And if anyone is confused on how to read the table I'll work on clearing things up to make it more legible.

10 Leagues 13 teams each:

• Six home games, six road games
• Minimum 12 games, maximum 15 games
• Four team playoff (top four teams in the top league make the playoff)
• Bottom two teams in each league (besides the lowest league) automatically move down to the next lower league
• Top two teams in each league (besides the top league) automatically move up to the next higher league
• 11th ranked team plays the 3rd ranked team in the league below them, winner stays in the higher league (Notre Dame vs Utah)

Nine Leagues 15 teams each:

• Seven home games, seven road games
• Minimum 14 games, maximum 17 games
• Eight team playoff (top eight teams in the top league make the playoff)
• Bottom three teams in each league (besides the lowest league) automatically move down to the next lower league
• Top three teams in each league (besides the top league) automatically move up to the next higher league
• 12th ranked team plays the 4th ranked team in the league below them, winner stays in the higher league (Oklahoma St vs Iowa St)
• Needed to add 5 teams from FCS, added the top 5 FCS teams from last season to the lowest league

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

It’d be fun and I love the relegation system especially in English football. But it’d never happen here unfortunately. Blinded by money too much

 

[Nor'easter]

Good job this is cool.
This is brought up every year and while the fans I think would like it the powers that be do not. Because money. And money is all that matters in America. Pro/rel will never happen in American sports, the owners or colleges in this case don't want their share of the pot to go away under any circumstance.

Also if we had pro/rel I think Iowa state would be in like tier 5 right now trying to claw our way out lol, with how we've performed historically I mean.

 

[CycloneFan97]

Good job this is cool.
This is brought up every year and while the fans I think would like it the powers that be do not. Because money. And money is all that matters in America. Pro/rel will never happen in American sports, the owners or colleges in this case don't want their share of the pot to go away under any circumstance.

Also if we had pro/rel I think Iowa state would be in like tier 5 right now trying to claw our way out lol, with how we've performed historically I mean.

I totally get that, but with all the rapid changes that are happening in college athletics rn what's stopping the BIG from telling Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois to beat it and add better teams? And what's stopping the SEC from giving Vandy the boot?

 

[20eyes]

Good job this is cool.
This is brought up every year and while the fans I think would like it the powers that be do not. Because money. And money is all that matters in America. Pro/rel will never happen in American sports, the owners or colleges in this case don't want their share of the pot to go away under any circumstance.

Also if we had pro/rel I think Iowa state would be in like tier 5 right now trying to claw our way out lol, with how we've performed historically I mean.

And this would kill recruiting. No P5 coach in their right mind would go for this. As has been discussed for ten years on this board, relegation is great for EPL. Non-starter for P5 CFB.

 

[CycloneFan97]

And this would kill recruiting. No P5 coach in their right mind would go for this. As has been discussed for ten years on this board, relegation is great for EPL. Non-starter for P5 CFB.

How do you think it would kill recruiting exactly?

 

[Mr Janny]

I totally get that, but with all the rapid changes that are happening in college athletics rn what's stopping the BIG from telling Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois to beat it and add better teams? And what's stopping the SEC from giving Vandy the boot?

Not sure of the Big 10 bylaws, but I think the SEC requires something like 75 percent of the members to vote to kick a school out. Assuming the Big 10 is similar, it's difficult to think they would get that kind of approval to boot out Rutgers, unless the school had some particularly heinous scandal going on.

 

[mramseyISU]

And this would kill recruiting. No P5 coach in their right mind would go for this. As has been discussed for ten years on this board, relegation is great for EPL. Non-starter for P5 CFB.

relegation would be really good for high school football, it'll never happen for college football.

 

[20eyes]

How do you think it would kill recruiting exactly?

Ostensibly, every season of CFB begins with a completely level playing field. You can, with a straight face, tell a freshman that by their senior year they'll have the pieces put together to go from worst to first. Much tougher sell if you're a struggling program and start a season relegated.

 

[Mr Janny]

How do you think it would kill recruiting exactly?

A relegated team would have massive problems attracting and keeping talent.

 

[20eyes]

relegation would be really good for high school football, it'll never happen for college football.

Recruiting Recruiting Recruiting. No one wants to sell relegation.

 

[20eyes]

A relegated team would have massive problems attracting and keeping talent.

Even if it were viable before the portal it's absolutely not now. Watch a "good" team get relegated...the best players couldn't get into the portal fast enough.

 

[Clonehomer]

Only way I see this potentially happen is if the SEC and Big10 leave the NCAA. Then the remaining teams create a new combined FBS and FCS division with an actual NCAA national championship. Then maybe you could create a system like this with the FCS teams.

 

[20eyes]

Only way I see this potentially happen is if the SEC and Big10 leave the NCAA. Then the remaining teams create a new combined FBS and FCS division with an actual NCAA national championship. Then maybe you could create a system like this with the FCS teams.

If this happened the non B1G/SEC teams will just be viewed as D1-AA. The league you describe wouldn't have near the interest that P5 football has now. This P2 stuff is bad. B1G picking off the Pac will cause the SEC to pick off the ACC...

 

[Clonehomer]

If this happened the non B1G/SEC teams will just be viewed as D1-AA. The league you describe wouldn't have near the interest that P5 football has now. This P2 stuff is bad. B1G picking off the Pac will cause the SEC to pick off the ACC...

No it won't be viewed as the big time and it won't have as much interest. But it will more resemble the college football I fell in love with. Let the other conferences have their NFL lite league. If I wanted to watch that I'd just watch the NFL.

Treat it like MLB. You can sign to play in the Big10/SEC for the money straight away. But if you sign to play in the NCAA, then it's a 4 year contract (two way guaranteed). But the lower league would need to find a way to stop the poaching to make it work.

 

[KnappShack]

So let's say Jordan and Pippen get hurt and the 94 Bulls finish with 15 wins.

They get punted to this minor league. The next season they are back and on fire.

That team can't win the major championship?

 

[Clonehomer]

So let's say Jordan and Pippen get hurt and the 94 Bulls finish with 15 wins.

They get punted to this minor league. The next season they are back and on fire.

That team can't win the major championship?

Feels like this needs to be based on a multi-year average. And maybe teams only move every few years.

 

[20eyes]

No it won't be viewed as the big time and it won't have as much interest. But it will more resemble the college football I fell in love with. Let the other conferences have their NFL lite league. If I wanted to watch that I'd just watch the NFL.

Treat it like MLB. You can sign to play in the Big10/SEC for the money straight away. But if you sign to play in the NCAA, then it's a 4 year contract (two way guaranteed). But the lower league would need to find a way to stop the poaching to make it work.

Not me. I fell in love with ISU when they were part of a power conference and had the chance at the beginning of every season to achieve the highest heights of the top level of college football. And when they won the Fiesta Bowl, in my opinion, they got there.

Take that away and I'm done. Call me a bad fan but I'm by no means alone. Every single ISU fan on this board signed up for a team that had a chance, even if it was a tiny one. Every ISU fan on this board signed up for a team that, with the right coach and vision could compete with the best. If the best split and create a league w/o ISU there's no point for me.

 

[WooBadger18]

And this would kill recruiting. No P5 coach in their right mind would go for this. As has been discussed for ten years on this board, relegation is great for EPL. Non-starter for P5 CFB.

And rivalries. Pro/Rel is great at killing rivalries.

 

[IsUaClone2]

Up to now I've thought I'd like the relegation process but two things are slowing my roll:

1. The transfer portal combined with NIL has made an unassailable mockery of the "amateur" athlete competing; driven by college spirit.
2. If the relegation process was applied to all collegiate sports, any hope of having regional rivalries to boost attendance in sports other than football, that is played primarily on Saturdays, is severely diminished.

I can't say that I think I know where we need to go but I know we aren't there.