So, there’s something of a debate about whether the first round of games in the expanded CFP should be played at neutral sites or at the home stadiums of higher seeded teams. Fine, I guess, except maybe somebody should bring this more to the forefront of the discussion:
The playoff is doubling in size in terms of the number of rounds (two to four) and is nearly quadrupling in size in terms of the number of games (three to 11). That’s a significant swelling during a very tight window of the calendar, from mid-December to mid-January. There are hurdles to work around, like (1) the academic calendar (exams and the start of the second semester); (2) NFL regular season and playoff games (avoid competing with the NFL at all cost); (3) conference championship games (they normally are played the first weekend of December).
Commissioners have established tentative dates for the four rounds, but nothing is concrete. The first round falls roughly two weeks after conference title games. The second round kicks off on the typical New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day window. The semifinals would be played a week later followed by a championship game that, depending on the year, could kick off two or three weeks into January.
The CFP tipped its hand in the release announcing the particulars of the new expansion: There must be at least 12 days between conference championship games and the first round. The 12th day after Saturday conference title games is a … Thursday.
“We all have to get ready for weekday playoff games,” says one high-placed source within the CFP.
To avoid competing against NFL regular season games—the league plays some Saturday games starting in mid-December—first-round college playoff games could find their way on a Thursday night.
A Thursday night playoff game in Athens? Shit, what could go wrong with that? I mean, besides a few things like traffic, hotel accommodations, etc.
Eh, don’t worry. I’m sure the folks in charge will get this all figured out. Or not. As long as they get paid, though, it’s all good.
Get The Picture 
College football had a good run.
LikeLiked by 8 people
Boy we got our latest one JUST in time. Whew.
LikeLike
Avg margin of victory in the CF playoffs to date is 3 scores. Ww already have quartefibal playoff games called “Conference Championships held in neurral stadiums. Just rid divisions & rebrand those to Regional Quarterfinal CFP and we are done
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let’s say you’re undefeated Alabama, about to face undefeated Georgia. You’re guaranteed to get in the playoff regardless of what happens in the SECCG. It’s the week after a very grueling game against Auburn.
The argument to rest your starters is in play. You’re going to lose the potential for a bye in the first round, but you’re trading a game for a game, and you’re getting a home game against a team you should steamroll instead of a neutral site game against a team that will be a grind to beat. You might lose the SECCG anyway, and then you’re playing a little over a week later against that same team. Best case, you win the game and essentially get the same amount of rest between the SECCG and the quarterfinal that your starters would have gotten between the Auburn game and the first round.
Once that happens a few times, the value of the conference title games diminishes considerably. The title games of the non-SEC/Big Ten conferences get a lot more important, but those were never the marquee games in the lineup on that day. I don’t see the SEC ever actually giving up the game because there’s too much ticket revenue and the TV money will always be there even if it goes down from where it is now, but expect those games to be viewed more like the baseball or basketball tournaments; events where you get to see a little extra football, but ultimately something that is fairly inconsequential to what happens after that and in many cases that you want to get out of quickly and get ready for the far more important games that come after. Often, a deep run in the baseball or basketball tournaments is a sign that a team might get bounced early in the NCAA tournament.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Need conf champ games to matter and want NIL star power on the field, exact reason to make the conf championships a quarterfinal.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure how that would work given that the conferences are so uneven. Unless you have four conferences that you want to give the four playoff bids in an eight team playoff, it doesn’t really make sense. You could justify the SEC and Big Tending two teams to the quarterfinals most years. Do you charter them in and then have other conference championships play their way through the first round? What about at-larges? Does the third SEC team go on the road against the ACC or American champ? Whither Notre Dame?
I guess if you were designing a system from scratch this would be doable, but under the current structure it’s completely unwieldy.
LikeLike
Conferences uneven? When has that ever not been the case? There’s always 1 dominant elite team in each conf.
LikeLike
Who cares?!? It’s a TV-first product now. Screw those of us who actually want to be there in person. We’re the most enthusiastic, so we’ll just figure it out and jump the hurdles.
To that assumption, though, I’ve already reached the conclusion that the Fiesta Bowl is not a doable trip for me. Hopefully if we make it, we’re in the Peach (which would also mean we beat Alabama in the SECCG, because the winner of that game is getting the Peach and the loser is going to Arizona lest they get a rematch in the exact same building). We’re planning a trip to Southern California the weekend of the natty because trying to plan that trip on a week’s notice simply isn’t feasible. Getting to the Rose was tough enough five years ago. They have to go on campus for the first round, even with all of the problems that causes, because that first round would have a lot of half-empty buildings if they tried to go neutral site. I’m guessing a lot of the quarterfinal games won’t sell out, and even the semifinals are going to have some challenges in a four-round playoff. There are only so many fans willing and able to go to everything.
It’ll be really interesting to see how much the committee monkeys with seeding to try to make sure a local team (i.e. <5 or 6 hours’ drive) is in each game if possible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly my thinking as well. If I know the Dawgs have a good chance to get to the Natty I would forego the other games.
LikeLike
Thursday night football in Athens? WTF
LikeLiked by 2 people
At some point when you have so many games, you just have to bite the bullet and go up against NFL games, particularly on Saturdays. Unfortunately this is all about the “Casual” fan, so weekday games when NFL is not playing is inevitable – but not all of the games should be blocked off into that category. NFL plays on Thursdays too…
LikeLike
EXACTLY! I’ve been saying this for a while. NFL plays Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday mid-December onwards. Games will be Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday. They will need to schedule doubleheaders so they aren’t on top of each other so I think Tuesday & Wednesday are the most likely dates. Better TV timeslots than Friday night and keeps teams on roughly the same schedule. This really sucks. For folks who actually go it sucks even bigger. This is in the middle of the holidays. All for brackets….
LikeLike
Guess we can now start calling it: The Collegiate National Football League.
LikeLike
Section HD for the win.
Well, until Mickey starts charging testicles for PPV. That’s when I’ll lose interest. It’s not that I’m using deez nuts so often deez days. It’s just that they look so sporty hanging down there. And I ain’t giving ‘em up to no damn mouse.
LikeLiked by 8 people
Cheese Dick
LikeLiked by 3 people
That’s right. I’m a cheese dick too. Another reason to worry about that damn mouse.
😉
LikeLiked by 4 people
RR! I about did a spit take! lol
LikeLiked by 3 people
Why Thursday night? Why not Fridays at that point in the calendar? High school football is pretty much over by that time in the schedule. Either way I can’t imagine the traffic. Actually, I could see 2 games on Thursday and Friday nights.
The first round is going to be on campus unless 4 of 2nd tier bowl games get together and throw a ton of money at the CFP Board of Managers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They want to spread four games out as much as possible: Thursday night, Friday night, and then somehow working around the NFL schedule for that weekend. Hell, they may be thinking they’ll do an afternoon and night game on both Thursday and Friday because NFL.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This whole thing is going to be a mess with scheduling, the academic calendar, and the holidays.
LikeLiked by 2 people
They already have bowl games on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in some years, and college football has made foolhardy attempts to try to take over New Year’s Eve. They don’t give a damn about the academic calendar or anything else. They just want to shoehorn this thing in around the only things that could limit TV viewership. I don’t think they actually care THAT much about fans making it to the stands.
LikeLiked by 6 people
Bottom line – THIS SUCKS
LikeLiked by 5 people
The national championship should never have become the sole focus of college football. It ruins it.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Nothing says “atmosphere” like a Monday night in January after everybody is back to the grind and the holidays are over.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If they did that this year… that Thursday (Dec 15th) is the first day after finals (which end on Dec 14th). And Commencement for fall graduates in on Friday, Dec 16th. That’s not considering New Student Orientation for spring matriculates. So, UGA isn’t hosting a Thursday night game in that context.
LikeLike
If Georgia is the 5-8 seed, I’m betting we will.
The academic calendar is likely going to change to accommodate the brave new world.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, it’s not like UGA doesn’t control the Coliseum and other campus buildings. If they want to move commencement or any other campus function to a different day then they can and will. Jere Morehead isn’t going to turn down the chance to host a playoff game and give the football team a better shot at advancing towards a championship.
LikeLike
Neither would Michael Adams for that matter, Mr. Public Ivy image notwithstanding….
LikeLiked by 1 person
December commencement is already in the Steg, iirc.
LikeLike
speaking of the non competitive playoff tradition, imagine what the score will be like in those first round bye games when nick and kirby have an extra week to prepare.
college football = crackheads
tv execs = crack dealers
college football fans = neighborhood becomes worthless and rundown
LikeLiked by 8 people
Best analogy I’ve seen.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We’re going to make the sport magically more interesting by playing Thursday night games so we can all go watch the regular season NFL games on Saturday where the best teams bench players to rest up for the playoffs.
Every fan’s dream.
LikeLiked by 9 people
The obvious solutions is two-fold:
Eliminate all the kickoff games
Reduce the regular season to 11 games.
Will they do that? Hell naw. Because Dolla Dolla Bills, y’all.
LikeLiked by 2 people
So move the schedule up a week, which means moving all the traditional rivalries to the week before Thanksgiving and playing the conference title games over Thanksgiving?
I wouldn’t put it past them, but talk about a center-mass shot to the body of college football tradition when you take Ohio State-Michigan, the Iron Bowl, the Egg Bowl, Cal-Stanford, etc. away from Thanksgiving weekend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thursday night…in December…in Ann Arbor. They’ll move them all to neutral domes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those domes for first round games would look like a Tuesday night MAC game in November – half empty. Fans are going to wait and save their money to travel for the later rounds, that’s one reason why on-campus makes sense for the openers. Those games are short trips for the fans of at least one of the schools.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That the priority is to avoid competing with the NFL at all costs not to avoid messing with kids taking finals at all costs tells you everything you need to know.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Yup. I’d happily watch a college football 12-5 game instead of an NFL playoff game but I realize I’m in the minority. And these people would play it on a Tuesday in February if they thought it might add a half a ratings point.
LikeLike
I’ll definitely watch a first round college playoff game over any NFL game.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think they will work something out with the NFL – despite how the media portrays it, the almighty The League (TM) slaying all entertainment before it, needs CFB to serve as its zero-cost, developmental, minor league….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I need to program a keyboard macro that just posts “these morons are ruining the sport” every time I hit F9 or something. Because these morons are ruining the sport. Can’t wait to have to plan travel to Madison, Wisconsin or Ann Arbor or freaking Waco, Texas in 12 days and find a hotel for a Wednesday and Thursday night. Brilliant.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My man, the Playoff Committee (TM) is probably contracting with a hospitality company right now to lock down all of the hotel rooms in the aforesaid villages, and will gladly include them in a package available to you for the low, low price of $499/night (continental breakfast not included) with a three night minimum!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I guess this is the equivalent of what Woke college football looks like.
LikeLike
What a cluster fuck this will be.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Was thinking the exact same thing
LikeLike
They’re doing it for the kids so I’m sure love having two extra games right around finals
LikeLike
Don’t forget the bands and the cheerleaders, they don’t get special treatment in their degree programs. (I’m assuming the players get alternative scheduling that fits into the football schedule)
LikeLiked by 1 person
The NFL plays Saturday games after the college season ends so TV has something to run on Saturdays. I would imagine the NFL would hold off on the Saturday games if college was still playing. Play one game Friday night and the other 3 Saturday.
Not that I like the whole situation. We have lost that fight so as fans we best find the peanuts in this turd.
LikeLike
How bout this….FUCK the NFL
LikeLiked by 3 people
LOL. The NFL isn’t going to not dominate for the sake of CFB. They were more than happy to move into the Thursday night window back when you might get good games then.
LikeLike
NFL schedule is expanding. They’ll put MORE games on Saturday. CFP games will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, or maybe Friday to avoid head-to-head. NFL is a bigger TV draw.
LikeLike
Could you imagine UGA winning the East, dropping the SECCG, getting in on at large bid, then have to play Thursday in Clempson. That’s be a joy to drive home from.
No thank you, I’d just as soon play a playoff game in the Liberty Bowl on Friday night.
LikeLike
Not sure why the NFL has games on any days except the traditional Sundays and Monday Night games. Screw them. I don’t watch NFL games anymore anyway as I hate watching their brand of touch football with a running clock. Let college football keep Saturdays as long as their season lasts and let the NFL have everything else.
LikeLike
I’m foolish enough to not be worried as I believe with all that money, there will be too much greed. It will blow up.
LikeLike
Oh, we’re still pretending they’re students?
LikeLiked by 1 person
This was the reason I didn’t think expanding playoffs would work.
The calendar is a huge problem.
Thursday night playoffs is a sick joke.
LikeLike
Conferences uneven? When has that ever not been the case? There’s always 1 dominant elite team in each conf.
LikeLike