Would you be in favor of a CFB overhaul?

[VolPack22]

With all the controversy surrounding opt-outs and transfers, I wanted to start a discussion on what we think they can do to come to a compromise. The purpose of this poll is to state your reasons for/against a contract/salary system similar to the NFL. I know it isn’t perfect but I have brainstormed some foundational aspects below. I welcome all input. Feel free to comment whether you think some or all of this could benefit the game going forward.

The Letter of Intent would become a 3 year contract fully guaranteed with a 4th year player option. If you opt out you don’t get your salary for that game(s). Medical RS seasons would go away. Active gameday roster sizes would be downsized to 63 and there would be a universal salary cap for all schools. You could have 22 players on the practice squad for injury purposes and still have the 85 scholarships. The transfer portal will transform into a “trade” portal of sorts, with transfers occurring only during the offseason. If a player wants to transfer to another school, that school will have to send a compensatory player in return. This is where it gets tricky. You can’t really force a player to another school so I am not really sure how or if this would work. One thing the roster restructuring does as well is that it creates more parity for the postseason, which is exactly why so many people tune into March Madness.

 

[Sudden Impact]

I would be in favor but I think it should be differently structure as suggested above. Can't force teams to do this as all would have to be on the same sheet of music in doing so.

Opt Outs are good and it gets players looking forward, opens the doors for more recruits and until we hit the 12 team playoff system it is going to be disjointed. If a player plays in the bowl and then Opt's Out after the bowl game, then we may not hit the portal as hard during the first period of transfers.

Contracts can be voided and lawyered and we sure as heck do not want that to deal with during recruiting periods.

 

[SLODAWG]

With all the controversy surrounding opt-outs and transfers, I wanted to start a discussion on what we think they can do to come to a compromise. The purpose of this poll is to state your reasons for/against a contract/salary system similar to the NFL. I know it isn’t perfect but I have brainstormed some foundational aspects below. I welcome all input. Feel free to comment whether you think some or all of this could benefit the game going forward.

The Letter of Intent would become a 3 year contract fully guaranteed with a 4th year player option. If you opt out you don’t get your salary for that game(s). Medical RS seasons would go away. Active gameday roster sizes would be downsized to 63 and there would be a universal salary cap for all schools. You could have 22 players on the practice squad for injury purposes and still have the 85 scholarships. The transfer portal will transform into a “trade” portal of sorts, with transfers occurring only during the offseason. If a player wants to transfer to another school, that school will have to send a compensatory player in return. This is where it gets tricky. You can’t really force a player to another school so I am not really sure how or if this would work. One thing the roster restructuring does as well is that it creates more parity for the postseason, which is exactly why so many people tune into March Madness.

The schools don't pay players a salary now, why would they start...so kids don't transfer or opt out? Why does that create a financial burden which should fall on the schools? I don't think this is much of anything to be done about NIL or opt outs. The NCAA has to get their arms around the transfer portal. Seems they could enforce some rules in this regard.

 

[VolPack22]

The schools don't pay players a salary now, why would they start...so kids don't transfer or opt out? Why does that create a financial burden which should fall on the schools? I don't think this is much of anything to be done about NIL or opt outs. The NCAA has to get their arms around the transfer portal. Seems they could enforce some rules in this regard.

Nothing can really be done about NIL. It is what it is. But the 4th year of salary might entice some players to stay in school vs going pro. Like I said, this isn’t perfect but I’m just floating ideas out there.

 

[Toucan Sam]

Yes I would. It's gotten out of hand in the past decade. Used to the only opt outs of bowl games were players with injuries.

 

[Raebo]

If you are going to make drastic change like salaries and trading players etc., then get rid of scholarships and make them semi—pro teams. Doesn’t sound that great to me, although With transfer portal, NIL, players opting out, etc., my interest has gone down or maybe I am just getting older.

 

[DaddyChad]

Can we opt out of having this discussion again, mods?

 

[VolPack22]

Can we opt out of having this discussion again, mods?

You can opt out of the thread if you like…

 

[jonnon111]

Offer the kids a cut of the Bowl money if they play. But we can't offer enough to offset a lifetime of playing in the NFL, so its probably a waste of time.

To be clear: I am not in favor of overhauling cfb for the few opt outs.

 

[VOLfrombama]

Contracts and NIL are essentially the same thing in my mind. If you're at school there, you get paid. If you aren't enrolled and eligible, you won't. I assume the contract would be directly with the university? The scholarship papers are a contract with the university and while small, enough payment to cover education, books, meals, and a few hundred bucks a month stipend for spending cash. If you do what you're supposed to, you get to stay and earn a degree. If you don't, well you end up on your rear like someone we all know will be soon enough. The only difference in this scenario is that NIL is not run thru the school and is essentially icing on the cake. In some cases, the icing is very thick. This only gets better for future signees as NIL will be a recruiting tool.

I don't think real contracts with a state university are even a reality. There would be a mountain of red tape, paperwork, staff needed to manage that, etc. How you make sure everyone is doing it the same and enforce things like salary caps would mean more power to an institution like the NCAA or some other incarnation of centralized power. Salary caps vary in the NFL too. So who gets to decide what the caps are for Knoxville vs huge metro area like LA or Pasadena? No thanks on that cluster.

As far as Opt Outs are concerned, just because you're under contract (NIL or otherwise) doesn't mean you will still play. People still "opt out" of their contract in the NFL all the time. Andrew Luck did it. Mariota literally just got benched, took his ball, and went home.

I also think 85 needs to remain in place. Very few 17-18 year olds are ready for the league and need at least a year to develop physically enough to play a whole season. I'm fine with the transfer portal as is. It allows 75-80% of the kids in the portal to go play somewhere else and have a second chance. The other ones may be immediate contributors, but only a handful have resurrected their careers. The portal works both ways too.

 

[DaddyChad]

Offer the kids a cut of the Bowl money if they play. But we can't offer enough to offset a lifetime of playing in the NFL, so its probably a waste of time.

To be clear: I am not in favor of overhauling cfb for the few opt outs.

Colleges cannot pay players as it currently stands.

 

[VolPack22]

For those that want to point to the 85 scholarship limit, I will add that the SEC currently has a 70 player travel limit for road games so this would help in the advantage that home teams have.

 

[Mustng959]

What's one year at the University of Tennessee cost .... room, board, books, tuition for an average student? I remember going to MTSU in the late 70's, taking a full load of academics, driving 30 minutes back and forth from home to school and putting in 30-40 hours a week shoveling horse manure to pay for it all.
So when I hear about paying college athletes a salary or even government loan forgiveness for students, I'm not in favor. I admit I'm a dinosaur but at some point there needs to be accountability. The perks of full ride scholarships is a pretty good incentive in my opinion. If players accept these scholarships, then they have an obligation to fulfill. After their obligations are met, then anything they can do to better themselves for their future was well earned.

As far as NIL deals, it gives teams a chance to compete at a higher level "legally" but I feel that some type of standard needs to be set across the board that recognizes all the players. There is no "I" in team.

 

[Smokey X]

The only overhaul I would make would be to the conference structures and playoff system. It would be modeled after the NFL system.
There are 64 P-5 schools. They would be division 1 (or any other name desired).
The remaining schools would be similarly divided into divisions with their own structure/system.
The 64 P-5 schools would be divided into something similar to AFC & NFC, putting 32 teams in each conference and further subdivided into 4 regions equally.
Eliminate the "cupcake" games, conference championship games as we currently know them and reduce the regular season to 10 games. This would allow 2 out of region games while playing everyone within your own region once.
The only function the college playoff committee might serve is seeding. No arbitrary strength of schedule BS, no who is injured, no who was previously injured, total elimination of subjective BS.
You get to the playoff rounds by your won/loss record only, which also helps with wild card seeding.

 

[Iam4utalways]

Nah. Let it ride and let’s see what happens.

1 free transfer
NIL for all

Bowl games are for next year’s team. Unless they are part of the 12 team playoff.

 

[volfan102455]

The players get a free education with tutors to assist with their learning, free training, free exposure on national television - somewhere along the way we have devalued (or ignored) the price tag that would go with that IF the player had to pay their own way.

Edited to add - and even if they don't make the NFL, the exposure also helps them in whatever path they choose.

 

[Fightmaker]

I voted yes, and I think it should be no more than 8 teams permanently. This is getting ridiculous.

 

[Volprofch05]

With all the controversy surrounding opt-outs and transfers, I wanted to start a discussion on what we think they can do to come to a compromise. The purpose of this poll is to state your reasons for/against a contract/salary system similar to the NFL. I know it isn’t perfect but I have brainstormed some foundational aspects below. I welcome all input. Feel free to comment whether you think some or all of this could benefit the game going forward.

The Letter of Intent would become a 3 year contract fully guaranteed with a 4th year player option. If you opt out you don’t get your salary for that game(s). Medical RS seasons would go away. Active gameday roster sizes would be downsized to 63 and there would be a universal salary cap for all schools. You could have 22 players on the practice squad for injury purposes and still have the 85 scholarships. The transfer portal will transform into a “trade” portal of sorts, with transfers occurring only during the offseason. If a player wants to transfer to another school, that school will have to send a compensatory player in return. This is where it gets tricky. You can’t really force a player to another school so I am not really sure how or if this would work. One thing the roster restructuring does as well is that it creates more parity for the postseason, which is exactly why so many people tune into March Madness.

Interesting concept, but a few things to note. One note is that the expansion of the playoffs to 12 teams could diminish opt outs since players tend to play if they have the chance of winning a championship. The opt outs tend to be from top teams that are just outside of the playoff (they have the best players), but in the future those teams will be in the hunt. Also, with NIL money in play, I'm not sure a salary cap will have much impact since it seems like NIL money could be used to overcome the cap. Just a few thoughts for consideration.

 

[rusty11]

I would say that even with the expanded playoffs, you will still see players opting out. I think they should just go to a 6 team playoff where the top 2 teams get a bye. With a 12 team playoff they should at least cut out one game since conference championship games add an extra game. The top teams will have players opting out. Too much risk if they already know their draft status.

 

[JoAllan]

At the present I couldn’t be in favor program salaries and contracts and such.

Teams like Tennessee could afford a lot, other teams……..not so much.

This would make college football even worse (in my opinion) as the rich would get even richer and the poor more poor. Heck some schools might not be able to field a team.

 

[Firebirdparts]

I was thinking this is simply a non-stop overhaul (chaos). The NCAA can't interfere anymore.

I was just hoping for a little gap in the overhauling.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

The transfer portal is a mess. Player "opt-outs" are certainly not ideal for the team. I can say I did agree with the one year grad transfer rule because it allowed a player freedom after he completed his commitment to his school.

 

[volfanhill]

The transfer portal is a mess. Player "opt-outs" are certainly not ideal for the team. I can say I did agree with the one year grad transfer rule because it allowed a player freedom after he completed his commitment to his school.

As long as universities are putting these players on one year scholarships I have no problem with the portal

 

[sami]

I would say that even with the expanded playoffs, you will still see players opting out. I think they should just go to a 6 team playoff where the top 2 teams get a bye.

This has been my belief ever since an expanded playoff was discussed. Six is more than enough - eliminate conference championship games (fat chance), you reward the top two teams with a bye, no one plays more than three extra games, and it's over in three weeks.

 

[Manchester Vol]

Limit the number of five stars per university to two per year. No exceptions.

If this is NFL minor league with salaries then a talent cap per team is a must.

No PWO 5*
No oops an upgrade 5*
No - just no
Not TN not any school

Develop a team
Coach a team