Imagining the future of college football and college sports - The NCSA

By Jake Wimberly:

College football is just over a month away from kickoff, but college football reform and college sports reform lead the news cycle, with the jarring news of Texas and Oklahoma leaving the BIG 12 to head off into the SEC Sunset.

Major reform is coming and the proverbial wheels are now turning at a rapid pace. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spoke openly about his frustrations with the current NCAA setup at SEC Media Days, telling Ross Dellinger of Sports Illustrated, “We’ve got to have better outcomes from our governing structure. I am highly concerned that we are not as effective as we need to be in our current environment,”.

That entire conversation and piece can be found here.

Just days later, the announcement of Texas and Oklahoma dropped and we are now off and running with major college football reform.

So what does the future hold for college football and for college sports? Nobody knows at this point and all we can do is speculate - so speculate we will.

Let’s imagine a new sports league for college that totally breaks away from the NCAA - called the NCSA.

How do we get to the new NCSA or a format that is similar? There is going to be attrition, movement and change like never before and two driving factors will steer this ship; television rights deals and sports gaming.

Television rights and interest will decide attrition first -

We know most television deals are up for renewal in a window that is 2023-2025 and major change is coming. From traditional television providers, to streaming networks and everything in between. ESPN, FOX, CBS Sports and the likes will control most of the inventory, but you could see Apple get involved with conferences out west.

Television dollars will decide who stays and who goes. Working backwards with the current television models, the Mountain West and the MAC have the least meat on the bone and in the name of cleaning things up, it is likely most of those schools will be left holding the bag.

Currently there are 129 Division One programs, but you can imagine a field where many teams get cut, knocked down to the FCS level. There are currently 125 FCS teams and you can probably add roughly 32 more to that mix in the future. There just isn’t enough seats at the table and while the FCS and smaller conferences will still have television platforms, after COVID-19 and many factors, you will see a reduction at the Division one Level.

Based on recruiting and television dollars I would project the Mountain West and the MAC would drop to the FCS level, as well as Georgia State, MTSU, Old Dominion and others in the list above. You can still play those conferences and keep those rivalries inside those conferences, but television dollars or lack there of will drive these programs with lower budgets back into the FCS - and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. These programs will have an opportunity now to realistically play for a championship on a national level.

This will reduce the field from 129 teams back down to 97 teams in the Division one format.

Sports Gaming is here and only getting stronger -

Twenty five years ago, you had to go to your buddy, who knew a buddy who was a bookie to get some action on a game - fast forward to today and we know the impact sports books have and how their popularity is growing at a rapid pace.

Sports gaming is here and isn’t going anywhere. The University of Colorado recently inked a deal with a local sports book - dollars that will help ease the pain of COVID-19 and add to a future athletic budget.

Expect other universities to find similar deals with sports books in their states as the state of gaming is at an all time high around the country.

With growing conglomerates and businesses like Barstool - sports gaming and their partners have not only found a new breed of fan, but connected with others, generating unparalleled revenue and a new brand of excitement.

Be it Barstool, CBS Sports, ESPN or other outlets - sports gaming is now a major part of college football, football articles, sites, radio and television.

All Roads Lead to Reform and a New League -

There is no doubt reform is coming - the NCAA may still have some teeth in Division 3, the FCS or NAIA in the future, but major reform is on the way in major college sports when you consider new television deals, NIL deals and sports gaming.

Oklahoma and Texas were the first shoes to drop - now the wheels are turning and we are heading towards something like the NCSA - a league that is very similar to the National Football League, where multiple television deals live amongst major players, new players like Apple, Barstool, streaming platforms possibly on Hulu, Netflix and more.

Sports Gaming will play a major part in all of this from a monetary standpoint and an excitement level that continues to build around the country.

The National Collegiate Sports Alliance -

This may not be the name of the new league, but for fun and because this is my site and my article, this is what we will call it currently.

Greg Sanky and the SEC have already laid the ground work adding Oklahoma and Texas and the blue print. There may be other teams in the SEC, but for the time being we will keep the leagues of the new NCSA at 16 teams with four teams per pod.

Below is a proposed new pod system that works similar to the AFC, NFC format - with moving teams out of the independent status to either a conference or the FCS. With the College Football Playoff moving to 12 teams, this would work similar to the NFL setup.

Three conferences in one league that could play cross over games if they wanted, and three in another. The AAC for instance isn’t going away, only getting stronger - evident with Central Florida just signing a three year deal to play Florida.

Hello, World!

About dang time. pic.twitter.com/sg1Ril0Wdg

— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) July 27, 2021

You will end up with three conferences on one side, three on the other - mirroring what we have seen in the past, with the BIG 10 and their ties to the PAC 12 and Rose Bowl. The natural rivalries out of the ACC and SEC and then there has to be two other conferences that show there is room for the little guy. For parity sakes we had to leave in some of the other schools.

The CFA - The College Football Alliance

The SEC lead the charge on this entire change and will continue to. For sakes of keeping rivalries alive and keeping schedules fresh I went with a four team pod system in every league.

You have the Mighty SEC in the CFA and then a redone ACC known as “THE ACC” where Notre Dame enters the league for good. West Virginia comes back to play on the east coast out of the BIG 12 and the PODS are as close to regionally distributed as before.

The new Sunbelt - Horizon league is a combination of Conference USA, the Sunbelt and AAC. These teams perform well enough in games and have a good enough draw currently to justify being in a conference for a long term television deal that packs a punch.

It also gives credence to the little guy and with the playoff expanding - one team from this group would be in the playoff annually.

The CFF - The College Football Federation

Here the BIG 10 becomes the BIG 10 + - again with four team pods across the board. with the BIG 10’s emphasis on AAU schools, Iowa State would come into the conference in the same pod as Ohio State. Kansas also comes into the league and renews old rivalries with the likes of Nebraska.

The PAC 12 becomes the PAC 16, adding Boise State from the Mountain West, Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU from the BIG 12 and the AAC gets stronger with the likes of BYU, Kansas State, Coastal Carolina and Louisiana. Add in Texas Tech and this league is as strong as it’s ever been.

A True New League with a true playoff and more -

Imagine a brand new league with a board of regions - that handles the playoff committee, ultimately a commissioner, someone to handle NIL laws and by laws. New television and streaming deals that are exclusive to conferences and something similar to the NFL Red Zone where you get all the action in one place.

That’s what you will get with this new league that is coming. Also more sports gaming, and a revised playoff field.

The 12 team format will remain in place - but you will have the CFF and CFA on opposite sides.

You will stay with the playoff ranking format and the number of teams and conference champions, plus wild cards in the field. The season will move back to 11 games, with every conference playing their own simifials in week 12, to determine their conference championship participants. Once the conference championships are played the field will be set.

For Example:

CFA seeding:

Conference Champions

1- Alabama - SEC

2- Clemson - ACC

3- UAB - Sunbelt Horizon

Wild Cards -

4- Oklahoma - SEC

5- Notre Dame - ACC

6- Georgia - SEC

CFF seeding:

Conference Champions

1- Ohio State - BIG 10 +

2- Oregon - PAC 16

3- Cincinnati - AAC

Wild Cards -

4- Wisconsin - BIG 10 +

5- USC - PAC 16

6- BYU - AAC

Of course all of these are random teams with seedings, but you get the point. You get your traditional powers, and mixture of old Group of Five or Independents at a party.

One side of the bracket is played then the other and the two meet for the championship. First round games are at home sites and others at bowls and the traditional bowls.

The bowl system would shrink a bit, but is going to anyway and other teams can still play in bowl games to generate fan interest and revenue.

Change is coming, and it’s rapid. All of this may seem silly, but if two weeks ago I told you Oklahoma and Texas were going to be in the SEC you would call me crazy.

And if I told you a week ago, Barstool Sports would own a bowl game and have all of the rights to the game, broadcasting, production and more you would call me flat stupid.

So why not the NCSA? crazier things have happened in the last two weeks.

Let’s dream big!

NOTE: All photos courtesy of 247sports or off Twitter