[ad_1]
The expansion of the college football playoffs could not only be delayed as planned, but the CFP board – those needed to vote on adopting a 12-team playoff – could even be asked not to. travel to Chicago for the meeting previously scheduled for September 7. 28, according to sources at CBS Sports.
The differences are so vast between stakeholders at this point that the possibility of securing a unanimous vote from the board – made up of university presidents and chancellors – next Tuesday seems like a long shot, sources told CBS Sports. It has gotten to the point where even holding the meeting can turn out to be a worthless business.
“We’ll find out tomorrow,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said on Monday evening. “We’ll see if they get there. Maybe it’s 50-50. It’s complex. We knew it would.”
CBS Sports reported earlier this month that the PSC expansion was unlikely to be approved at next week’s meeting, one that was originally supposed to be planned as a way to stamp out a field of playoffs expanded to 12 teams.
What has become clearer in recent days is why.
The CFP management committee – the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick – could officially recommend an expansion as early as Tuesday after a scheduled meeting in Dallas. However, a call between committee members last week produced what has been called a grievance broadcast.
The problems have become familiar.
Media rights
ESPN still has five years on its original 12-year, $ 7.2 billion CFP deal. The overwhelming preference of commissioners is to maximize their profit from expansion by involving several partners in the tender.
There is significant support to allow the remaining five years to go by and put the extended playoffs up for auction. Allowing multiple partners to bid on the extended playoffs would resemble the models used by the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL.
Among other options, ESPN is offering the ability to purchase additional playoff games over a 12-year period at a higher than market rate, according to sources at CBS Sports. This “purchase” would represent an increase from seven games in the current deal – three playoff games and four New Years games – to 11 games in a 12-team playoff game. The earliest launch of an expanded call for proposals is 2023.
The CFP could also tell ESPN that it might only get half the rights, allowing multiple partners to bid on the other half.
Player safety
Specific and important problems have arisen. A high-ranking source told CBS Sports that the commissioners have yet to do their due diligence on the welfare of student-athletes when it comes to playing what could be a record-breaking season. of 17 games. Medical staff were not properly hired to assess a team that would play two consecutive months without a break if they had a week off at the start of the season.
As proposed, the preliminary round one games would take place one week after the conference championship games. However, the odds of playing a 17-game season for any team in a 12-team playoff are slim.
Academics
Playing football during the finals in December has been a concern since the start of the BCS in 1998. An expanded CFP would add more games. The athletes could be on the road for four possible playoff games.
Wintering
There are potential issues with scheduling playoff games in campus stadiums for those in the North and Midwest. Concerns include freezing pipes in bathroom sand irrigation systems. One source says the expense for wintering these stadiums is $ 10-12 million per stadium, and the process would take two years.
This problem could be solved by conferences declaring a central location in the conference footprint for board games. Examples: SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles for the Pac-12, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the Big Ten, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for the SEC.
Wintering is less worrying than the others. The NHL played five Winter Classic games in January at college stadiums.
The bowl of roses
Patience seems to have run out to allow the grandfather of them all access to his traditional mates (Big Ten, Pac-12) at his traditional time (Jan. 1 at 5 p.m. ET). In an extended playoff, the games themselves are considered more important than the places where they are played.
It looks like the Rose Bowl will either be part of the expanded playoffs – put in brackets at the discretion of stakeholders – or will be played outside the PSC.
As proposed, the Expanded Playoffs would feature the top six ranked conference champions, followed by six overall teams determined by the CFP rankings. The four highest-ranked conference champions would receive first-round passes.
The 12-team proposal was thought to level the playing field. The Pac-12 would have increased access. In most years, his champion would almost certainly be ranked in the top six. Notre Dame is said to have her best ever entry, only needing to finish in or around the top 12 to secure a bid. The top-ranked group-five champion would essentially be guaranteed a spot with the potential for other teams in the group-five to enter the pitch as well.
[ad_2]
Source link