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Splitting up Division I

  • Texas president William Powers suggested yesterday that it might be time to at least think about dividing the upper and middle classes of college football within in the FBS.

    His thoughts came on the heels of some exhaustive reporting from USA Today that showed the top half of the 120 schools in the FBS spend almost three times as much annually on their programs as the bottom half. Powers' school was at the top of that list. (Only public universities provide enough data to be included in USA Today's database so Notre Dame was not listed.)

    Personally, I don't see how that is any different than the system we currently have. Teams in the MAC and Sun Belt aren't living outside their means so to speak with pipe dreams of a national championship. Nonetheless, another interesting wrinkle in the quickly evolving world of college football. Here's a link to the USA Today database in case anyone is interested in seeing what some of the big boys make and spend. I would venture to guess that the Irish are right up there with schools like Texas, Michigan and Florida.

    NCAA college athletics department finances database – USATODAY.com

    The data are based on the revenue and expense reports collected from more than 225 public schools in the NCAA's Division I.

    www.usatoday.com

    Dan Murphy

  • Considering college basketball has 3 times the amount of D1 schools, I thought football had already done that?

    Why don't they just cut college football down to 32 teams, have a 12 team playoff, and a championship game? Oh, we already have that, it's called the NFL! (But see where it's headed, once you start tinkering, you can't stop)

    One of the best things about college football over the past generations was it's distinction from the NFL game. Each year, that distinction gets cloudier and cloudier.

    My luck w/the Irish 18-6...GO IRISH!!!

    simm

  • In all reality they should split D-1 into a third division. Half of the division has no chance to ever win any kind of title or be even relevant. They should allow them all 3 the 85 scholarship limit.

    They should also have a provision that allows for the changing of division based on production: wins, graduation rates, budget etc......

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    poster of the century status-irishnd966/The Ohiosupergenius has spoken-Norberg/2D6 is always right-floridacarpenter/4/5/04 13,000+

    2daniel6 ●

  • simm said...

    Considering college basketball has 3 times the amount of D1 schools, I thought football had already done that?

    Why don't they just cut college football down to 32 teams, have a 12 team playoff, and a championship game? Oh, we already have that, it's called the NFL! (But see where it's headed, once you start tinkering, you can't stop)

    One of the best things about college football over the past generations was it's distinction from the NFL game. Each year, that distinction gets cloudier and cloudier.

    Completely agree--college football is so great for the very fact that it is so distinct from any other sport. It doesn't need to be the NFL or college basketball...in fact, I personally would lose a lot of joy from it if it did, and every time somebody screams "Playoff!" I die a little. Why not just watch another sport instead of turning college football into one of them?

    POTW 10.1.2012

    Guyjin

  • 2daniel6 said...

    They should also have a provision that allows for the changing of division based on production: wins, graduation rates, budget etc......

    I've seen this idea floated once or twice somewhere else and it is kind of intriguing to me. The model would be the English professional soccer where they have sort of an A league and a B league. Each year the top teams from the B league get promoted and the worst teams from the A league get demoted.

    I don't see why a similar system couldn't exist in college football with five major conferences all adopting a geographically similar "B league" conference with which to co-exist (Ex. MAC and Big Ten). That could help spread the wealth and provide a way for some lower tier teams to become feel-good stories by taking a shot at the big boys. It also would make end of the year games between say, Colorado and Arizona, much more appealing to watch by having the two teams battle it out to avoid falling into the WAC the following year. It definitely would provide something different than the NFL.

    I'm sure there are 100 reasons why this wouldn't work, but personally I think it would be a fun option.

    This post was edited by Dan Murphy on 5/15/2012 at 10:07 AM

    Dan Murphy

  • Dan
    Looking ahead with the new TV deals it would not be a shock to see 4 super conferences of 16 teams each and they will be the pool from which the top 4 come for a shot at the NC.There will be the top half that the TX prez is talking about. All the other conferences will be the seconf tier.

    TOG

  • Dan Murphy said...

    Texas president William Powers suggested yesterday that it might be time to at least think about dividing the upper and middle classes of college football within in the FBS.

    His thoughts came on the heels of some exhaustive reporting from USA Today that showed the top half of the 120 schools in the FBS spend almost three times as much annually on their programs as the bottom half. Powers' school was at the top of that list. (Only public universities provide enough data to be included in USA Today's database so Notre Dame was not listed.)

    Personally, I don't see how that is any different than the system we currently have. Teams in the MAC and Sun Belt aren't living outside their means so to speak with pipe dreams of a national championship. Nonetheless, another interesting wrinkle in the quickly evolving world of college football. Here's a link to the USA Today database in case anyone is interested in seeing what some of the big boys make and spend. I would venture to guess that the Irish are right up there with schools like Texas, Michigan and Florida.

    I think what Powers is getting at is that Football pays the bills, but there are some schools which are equipped for the football arms race. He wants to scuttle the likes of Iowa State, Baylor et al. and not subsidize their programs. At least he is one of the few who is being honest about the whole thing. Notre Dame understands exactly what he is saying, which is why their Football Program remains Independent. Here's another interesting article: http://www.cnbc.com/id/47436096

    This post was edited by Irish Cedar on 5/15/2012 at 5:01 PM

    Irish Cedar ●

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