I don't know how long it's going to take, but I'm convinced that we will see a Premiere League for College Football. One set of rules. One media contract. Optimized for maximum profit.
So they'll want to hit all major markets with members who bring cachet and/or have the will & resources to be big time along with wanting to hit the major markets.
I would divide it into conferences like the NFL does so that you have both conferences in every market and time zone. That way you have each conference going up for media rights in staggered years with huge value in securing rights to either conference.
I'm not going to split these up here, but just divide into 8 groups. Each of these groups would be 4 teams in each conference and play each other to maintain & foster rivalries through the regional groupings.
For scheduling, that means 7 games vs your group of 8. Then, if you play 1 game against each other group (ranked scheduling so you play the teams that finished around where you did in your group last year).
Group 1
Syracuse
Rutgers
Penn State
Pitt
WVU
Maryland
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Group 2
UNC
NC St
South Carolina
Clemson
Georgia
Florida
Miami
Florida State
Group 3
Alabama
Auburn
Ole Miss
MSU
LSU
Tennessee
Louisville
Kentucky
Group 4
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Indiana
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Illinois
Group 5
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
Iowa State
Colorado
Nebraska
Kansas
Kansas State
Group 6
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Missouri
Arkansas
Texas
Baylor
TCU
Texas A&M
Group 7
Arizona
Arizona State
Fresno State
SDSU
Utah
BYU
USC
UCLA
Group 8
Cal
Stanford
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Washington State
Boise State
UNLV
14 game season
16 team playoff (8 Group winners + 8 Wildcards)
Conferences as we know them go away for football other than what might happen with the non-Premiere D1s. The conferences as we know them re-align around MBB/WBB as the media revenue driver with other sports part of the media rights deal. Basically, conferences form with hoops programs as the centerpiece and other considerations which make them align (D1 football, history, geography, public/ private, academics, other sports aligning like hockey or lacrosse, etc.).
So they'll want to hit all major markets with members who bring cachet and/or have the will & resources to be big time along with wanting to hit the major markets.
I would divide it into conferences like the NFL does so that you have both conferences in every market and time zone. That way you have each conference going up for media rights in staggered years with huge value in securing rights to either conference.
I'm not going to split these up here, but just divide into 8 groups. Each of these groups would be 4 teams in each conference and play each other to maintain & foster rivalries through the regional groupings.
For scheduling, that means 7 games vs your group of 8. Then, if you play 1 game against each other group (ranked scheduling so you play the teams that finished around where you did in your group last year).
Group 1
Syracuse
Rutgers
Penn State
Pitt
WVU
Maryland
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Group 2
UNC
NC St
South Carolina
Clemson
Georgia
Florida
Miami
Florida State
Group 3
Alabama
Auburn
Ole Miss
MSU
LSU
Tennessee
Louisville
Kentucky
Group 4
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Indiana
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Illinois
Group 5
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
Iowa State
Colorado
Nebraska
Kansas
Kansas State
Group 6
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Missouri
Arkansas
Texas
Baylor
TCU
Texas A&M
Group 7
Arizona
Arizona State
Fresno State
SDSU
Utah
BYU
USC
UCLA
Group 8
Cal
Stanford
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Washington State
Boise State
UNLV
14 game season
16 team playoff (8 Group winners + 8 Wildcards)
Conferences as we know them go away for football other than what might happen with the non-Premiere D1s. The conferences as we know them re-align around MBB/WBB as the media revenue driver with other sports part of the media rights deal. Basically, conferences form with hoops programs as the centerpiece and other considerations which make them align (D1 football, history, geography, public/ private, academics, other sports aligning like hockey or lacrosse, etc.).