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Competitive balance is not a P/5 priority
Posted on: December 21, 2018 at 14:45:56 CT
ScottsdaleTiger MU
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The only teams eligible for the College Football Playoff are the 65 or so Power Five programs, i.e. the Power Five Conference Members plus Notre Dame (believe that's correct).
Under the current NCAA Constitution, the P/5 conferences are autonomous conferences which means their members make their own rules, i.e. they determine the number of football scholarships they can give and what's covered by those scholarships.
Power Five college football has evolved into a sports entertainment business operated by the Power Five programs to provide programming for the TV networks and thereby generate revenue for the Power Five programs.
Bluntly, competitive balance is not an issue for either the P/5 programs or the TV networks. Anything that might increase competitive balance is a nonstarter if it also lessens the attractiveness of the P/5 TV product.
A reduction in the total number of scholarships available to P/5 programs may open the CFP to more programs, but it may also negatively impact the attractiveness of those games to the TV audience. Mizzou verus North Carolina may be very attractive to Tiger and Wolf Pack fans, but how attractive will it be to the 19 to 34 male age demographic who are hooked on Bama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, OU, Texas, USC, etc.?
If you cut the number of scholarships that P/5 programs can give, these kids who no longer get P/5 scholarships will "trickle down" to the Group Of Five programs (the 70 or so programs in the five conferences below the P/5 level). That will increase the attractiveness of their teams and create more competition for the P/5 TV package, including the CFP. That may divert some TV dollars currently going to P/5 programs and that won't be popular with those programs.
Edited by ScottsdaleTiger at 14:48:54 on 12/21/18
Under the current NCAA Constitution, the P/5 conferences are autonomous conferences which means their members make their own rules, i.e. they determine the number of football scholarships they can give and what's covered by those scholarships.
Power Five college football has evolved into a sports entertainment business operated by the Power Five programs to provide programming for the TV networks and thereby generate revenue for the Power Five programs.
Bluntly, competitive balance is not an issue for either the P/5 programs or the TV networks. Anything that might increase competitive balance is a nonstarter if it also lessens the attractiveness of the P/5 TV product.
A reduction in the total number of scholarships available to P/5 programs may open the CFP to more programs, but it may also negatively impact the attractiveness of those games to the TV audience. Mizzou verus North Carolina may be very attractive to Tiger and Wolf Pack fans, but how attractive will it be to the 19 to 34 male age demographic who are hooked on Bama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, OU, Texas, USC, etc.?
If you cut the number of scholarships that P/5 programs can give, these kids who no longer get P/5 scholarships will "trickle down" to the Group Of Five programs (the 70 or so programs in the five conferences below the P/5 level). That will increase the attractiveness of their teams and create more competition for the P/5 TV package, including the CFP. That may divert some TV dollars currently going to P/5 programs and that won't be popular with those programs.
Edited by ScottsdaleTiger at 14:48:54 on 12/21/18
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Competitive balance is not a P/5 priority - ScottsdaleTiger MU - 12/21 14:45:56