Post by Whup Em All on Aug 19, 2022 14:23:47 GMT -6
Many P5s would break away from the NCAA because (literally) billions of dollars are at stake. They would manage themselves as a football-only "semi-pro" league and reap crazy financial rewards for themselves. (For the time being, this breakaway would only affect football, not hoops, and certainly not non-revenue sports, because, c'mon... who cares about those?)
Not all current P5 schools will be part of this new semi-pro league. The numbers just don't add up. Conferences like the SEC will not want to lose Vandy in OLY sports, but they won't want the Commodores in football, and Vandy football wouldn't want to be part of a non-academic semi-pro league. So they'll work something out in-house. It won't concern us, so I'm not going to speculate the details here. Let's just say, it will be mutually beneficial.
Because of the money involved, the major players in the semi-pro league (i.e., SEC, Big Ten) will take those conference identities to the semi-pro league. The schools left behind will have to find a football conference of their own. They may all band together to form one or two conferences of their own, or they may be absorbed into current G5 conferences. Some of them will become power teams at this new highest level of the NCAA. Others will still be Vandy.
Regardless, the G5 has no reason whatsoever to break away from the NCAA, because they'll now be at the highest level of NCAA football, with a very real chance of winning a (NCAA-sanctioned) National Championship.
By then, JSU will have completed its transition to FBS, and will be a fully vested, bowl-eligible member of Conference USA, which will be one of the conferences at this high level. We'll be on equal footing with schools at our current level and much, much higher, including a sizeable number of schools in the current Big XII, ACC, and PAC. (And a tiny smattering of schools from the Big Ten and SEC.)
JSU will not (and absolutely should not) pursue any kind of plan to jockey into position to join the semi-pro league. Unless a JSU alumnus invents the successor to the microchip or otherwise comes up with a few billion dollars of very disposable income, we are not on that level. Very few schools are.
This "new" NCAA division will be what FBS is now, minus the upper crust semi-pro teams, and minus the P5/G5 distinctions. We'll have bowl games still, but we'll also probably have some form of NCAA championship. (Notice it'd be an NCAA championship, and not a CFP or BCS championship.)
The only schools not guaranteed a seat at the table are those at the current "FCS" level. I'd be surprised if more than 5-10 current FCS programs were moved into the new upper division. MAYBE as many as 20, but that feels like a stretch.
And I believe a renaming of the levels would be in order. "FBS" and "FCS" will be defunct. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they went back to I/I-AA or some variation thereof. The teams who'd raise the biggest stink about that nomenclature are largely FBS now. And most of the others would be among those gifted with an invitation to the higher level.
As long as they kept their "Division I" status, most would accept their place as the NCAA's second tier of football.
As for the Gamecocks, we'd be safely at the top. Looking down. And laughing with selfish delight.
Not all current P5 schools will be part of this new semi-pro league. The numbers just don't add up. Conferences like the SEC will not want to lose Vandy in OLY sports, but they won't want the Commodores in football, and Vandy football wouldn't want to be part of a non-academic semi-pro league. So they'll work something out in-house. It won't concern us, so I'm not going to speculate the details here. Let's just say, it will be mutually beneficial.
Because of the money involved, the major players in the semi-pro league (i.e., SEC, Big Ten) will take those conference identities to the semi-pro league. The schools left behind will have to find a football conference of their own. They may all band together to form one or two conferences of their own, or they may be absorbed into current G5 conferences. Some of them will become power teams at this new highest level of the NCAA. Others will still be Vandy.
Regardless, the G5 has no reason whatsoever to break away from the NCAA, because they'll now be at the highest level of NCAA football, with a very real chance of winning a (NCAA-sanctioned) National Championship.
By then, JSU will have completed its transition to FBS, and will be a fully vested, bowl-eligible member of Conference USA, which will be one of the conferences at this high level. We'll be on equal footing with schools at our current level and much, much higher, including a sizeable number of schools in the current Big XII, ACC, and PAC. (And a tiny smattering of schools from the Big Ten and SEC.)
JSU will not (and absolutely should not) pursue any kind of plan to jockey into position to join the semi-pro league. Unless a JSU alumnus invents the successor to the microchip or otherwise comes up with a few billion dollars of very disposable income, we are not on that level. Very few schools are.
This "new" NCAA division will be what FBS is now, minus the upper crust semi-pro teams, and minus the P5/G5 distinctions. We'll have bowl games still, but we'll also probably have some form of NCAA championship. (Notice it'd be an NCAA championship, and not a CFP or BCS championship.)
The only schools not guaranteed a seat at the table are those at the current "FCS" level. I'd be surprised if more than 5-10 current FCS programs were moved into the new upper division. MAYBE as many as 20, but that feels like a stretch.
And I believe a renaming of the levels would be in order. "FBS" and "FCS" will be defunct. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they went back to I/I-AA or some variation thereof. The teams who'd raise the biggest stink about that nomenclature are largely FBS now. And most of the others would be among those gifted with an invitation to the higher level.
As long as they kept their "Division I" status, most would accept their place as the NCAA's second tier of football.
As for the Gamecocks, we'd be safely at the top. Looking down. And laughing with selfish delight.
