Under this new plan, the top 81 schools in the country are selected based on average home attendance figures regardless of current division status. For the latest example, attendance figures for 2009 were used to realign teams. A four-year attendance average could be used by the NCAA if this plan were ever to turn into reality.
It is only fair that the fans are rewarded for supporting their school. The top 81 schools for the new Division 1 represent the colleges with the strongest followings. There is not a fairer method of selection.
The new conferences produce natural regional rivalries and break up the segregation — in many senses of the word if you consider the number of traditionally black colleges forced to sit on the sideline of the national picture — that larger conferences have forced on smaller ones in the past. The divisions below Division 1 will also be comprised of nine conferences with nine teams each, except for the bottom conference, which will have slightly more because of uneven numbers. All totaled, this will encompass all schools playing college football in Division I-A, I-AA, II, III, and NAIA.
Teams will continue to play 12-game regular seasons, which will include eight conference games and four meaningful non-conference games that can help improve a team's seeding in the playoffs. Teams will be allowed to schedule only two games with a team in a division below its own and two games with a team in a division above its own. Having four non-conference games allows schools to continue playing teams they have built up natural rivalries with in the past that may not be in their new conference.
Some of the bowl games — at least the sites that don't have a large enough payout to get in the rotation for the national championship game — could remain for those teams that don't make the playoffs or switch to early season "classic" games.
The new system of divisions will also have a self-correcting element that will keep the best teams in the top division in college football. Each year the team with the worst composite ranking in each division will move down a division, while the winner of the national championship in each of the lower divisions will move up.
This system produces a natural incentive to stay competitive even when fighting for last place. Games for last place now become more important and will keep fans interested in even the worst teams with this new element of drama. It provides an opportunity for teams at all levels to move up. For those schools that feel cheated for being in a lower division, the power to move up is completely in their hands. The cream will rise to the top in this system of relegation.
Another possible element to the new conference system: Every four years the conferences could be realigned based on new average attendance figures for the previous period. If a team is consistently bad yet fans are interested enough to show up for games every week, the fans deserve to be rewarded by getting their team another shot in the top conference. This provides an incentive for athletic departments to keep ticket prices low in order to maintain attendance. More importantly, it provides an incentive for fans to keep coming to games since they can now actually influence a team's destiny every five or 10 years.
At this point, you may be asking yourself, what about all the other sports? The existing conferences would remain intact for all sports except football. Schools can retain their conference affiliation while at the same time producing a fair system for the one college sport that doesn't have a system that works.
Click here to read more about Project Playoffs in part 4.
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