College realignment is drastically changing the college sports landscape. Although we don’t know what will happen next, we know how it will end. Two conferences with all the best programs in it. Essentially a minor league version of the NFL. However, a new idea has been proposed, a CFB Super League. The League would split the FBS into two conferences. The top 72 programs, the Power 4 schools, would be in the top conference. While the other 64, the Group of 5 schools, would be placed in the bottom conference. A nightmare for college football traditionalists, but there is one interesting idea, promotion.
Promotion/Relegation in sports is when teams move up and down between leagues based on performance. The most well-known example is in European Soccer. Normally the league is broken down into tiers, the higher your tier the better your team is, and vice versa. If your team has a good season they’ll have the opportunity to be moved up, or promoted. While if they struggle they could be relegated to a lower tier. If this is adapted to college football, it’ll be the only good part of a Super League.
Keeps The Magic of College Football
Part of the charm of college football is how different it is from the NFL. In the NFL you judge your season based on season results. What was your record, did you make the playoffs, did you win the Super Bowl? All of these are considered when determining whether a team had a good season or not.
However, college is different. A successful season isn’t based solely on record, or if they won the National Championship. Due to the lack of a playoff system, and the AP determining champions for the majority of college football existence, only a select few schools had a legit shot. Causing fans to look for other ways to judge their team’s season. This causes them to emphasize things like, did they beat their rival, or if they did well against their conference opponents. Auburn could go 1-12, but if that win came against Alabama, Auburn fans would be content.
It was feared with conference realignment, that element of College Football would be lost. Since the path to the championship is easier, things like record and playoff success determine if you had a good season or not. However, promotion gives fans another way to judge if the season is successful. Were you able to fight off relegation, or if you were good enough to get promoted to the next tier? Thus keeping part of the magic of college football.
Promotion Helps College Football Become Less Regional
Although College Football has widespread appeal, it still can be described as a regional game. Think about where the best programs in the country are. They’re located in the southeast and the midwest. In those areas, there’s a cult-like following for those programs. However outside of those regions, their more of a casual following. Look at the northeast, people will watch the big games, and have a vague idea of what’s going on. But it’s a fraction of the interest it garners in the other two regions of the country.
Now the reason for this is because there aren’t elite program in the region. Think about it, Notre Dame is the most popular college football team in New York City. A school ten hours away is the most popular team in the city. With such a far distance, people have turned to other sports like the NFL and MLB to develop cult like following too.
However, a promotion/relegation system will change this. Although soccer isn’t as popular in America as the rest of the world, many have said a promotion/relegation system should be added to American sports. So if that system is added to college football it’s gonna gain attention. People are gonna watch and the sport’s popularity will grow across the country. Giving college football some stability news in a time of radical change.
Brian Germinaro is a sportswriter for Belly Up Sports. Follow him on Twitter/X for more sports coverage and Belly Up Sports for even more college football content. Feature image credit: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers.
