Report: College presidents, execs discussing football 'Super League'
Several college presidents and top executives in football are joining forces in an effort to completely transform the structure of college football, according to The Athletic's Andrew Marchand and Stewart Mandel.
The group behind the effort, College Sports Tomorrow, is trying to implement a new "Super League" format that would replace both the NCAA and the College Football Playoff. With collegiate sports currently facing pending lawsuits, as well as issues related to the transfer portal and NIL, the 20-member committee is operating with the belief that the current collegiate model is in danger.
"The current model for governing and managing college athletics is dead," Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud said.
"The only way to solve the problem is to have a solution that is legally defensible, politically acceptable, commercially prudent, and is able to strike a partnership with student-athletes in a way that's really good for them," added lead organizer Len Perna.
The new league would include all 130-plus FBS programs. The proposed format would feature 70 teams as permanent members, including all Power 5 programs, as well as Notre Dame and SMU. The 50-plus second-division teams would have the opportunity to play their way into the top-tier division in a format similar to European soccer's relegation system.
Perpetual members would make up seven 10-team divisions. An eighth 10-team division would include teams that were promoted from the second tier.
The 70 permanent teams would never be at risk of being relegated to the second tier, while the second division would have an incentive for promotion.
Each of the eight division winners and eight wild-card teams from the top tier of the league would earn playoff spots. Unlike the current CFP rankings, which are voted on by a committee, this new proposal would see the wild-card entries determined by their regular-season record and tiebreakers, similar to the NFL.
The non-football sports would continue in their current conference structure. By forgoing the conference structures in football, the aim is that the league would be able to negotiate with a prospective union of student-athletes. By collectively bargaining issues such as the transfer portal, NIL, and salary structure, College Sports Tomorrow believes it could avoid the antitrust hurdles that have limited the NCAA.
However, the proposal has struggled to gain traction to date, per Marchand and Mandel. The ACC's board of directors reportedly listened to a presentation from the group in February, but administrators from the Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 have called off meetings with the group.
Another roadblock impeding the progress of the proposed format is several deals that tether some of the top conferences to TV networks. One of the most notable deals is a $7.8-billion extension for ESPN to continue to hold exclusive rights to the CFP.
The College Sports Tomorrow group expressed a sense of urgency to propel its proposal, as it's the organization's belief that collegiate sports are set to endure significant legal challenges in the near future.
"I really think conferences in the NCAA are at a very significant likelihood of going bankrupt in the near future because of the lawsuits, both the ones that are going to trial soon and those that will follow," Syverud said.