"Super League" Rumblings; Power 2 Ponder Playoff Plans; Bay Area Blues; Baseball Rising

Two proposals for a "Super League" of college football were announced last week. One features a 72-team league, the other 70. 

Both face very long odds to come to fruition.

As we've been saying for awhile, our feeling is that the most likely end game in major college football is the formation of a 40-48 school super conference made up of primarily SEC and Big Ten teams, along with a lower level of leagues organized by geography or academic interest.

But last week a group of administrators and execs unveiled the College Student Football League, which would feature a 72-team structure with a dozen six-team divisions based on geography.

Below the top "Power 12" conferences would be the remaining FBS (Division1) programs, competing in a "Group of 8" Conference (eight, eight-team divisions). Teams in the Group of 8 would be eligible for "promotion" to the top group, like the structure of European futbol leagues.

However, teams that performed poorly in the top group would not be subject to European-type "relegation" to the lower level.

The football-only CSFL would have a players' association that would collectively bargain for pay and benefits. The league would also ask Congress for a special classification enabling athletes to have collective representation without being deemed employees.

Good luck with that.

The other proposal, dubbed "Project Rudy," spearheaded by Disney executives and funded by private equity firm Smash Capital, would incorporate football programs from the four power conferences into one 70-team structure.

The league would eliminate all games against Group of 5 and FCS schools, expand the playoffs, and consolidate media rights under one agreement, instead of the current structure with five different packages.

One big difference would be the involvement of private equity. An upfront infusion of $5.3 billion in private capital would provide schools with immediate cash, helping them buy out non-power opponents and media deals and supplement current media rights revenues.

The involvement of private money is a non-starter for many leagues and school presidents.

Big 2 Meeting: At the same time these proposals were being floated, the two power leagues--Big Ten and SEC--were meeting in Nashville to discuss future strategies related to media, scheduling, and the College Football Playoff. Their comments about the two "super league" proposals were quite telling.

From Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti: "I have yet to see a single thing in any plan that I've learned details about that contains things that we couldn't do ourselves and do with other colleagues. I don't see anything that's proprietary that anybody holds that we would need."

From SEC commish Greg Sankey: "I don't want to dumb down the Southeastern Conference to be a part of some super league notion with 70 teams that some people speculate would happen. They want to be us, and that's on them to figure it out, not on me to bring myself back to earth."

Translation: Both plans are dead on arrival.

Playoff Guarantees? One of the things the Power Two are discussing is demanding a specific guarantee of four teams each in the College Football Playoff when the new contract begins in 2026. 

This year marks the first 12-team playoff. It includes the five highest-ranked league champions and the seven highest-ranked at-large qualifiers. But how the playoff field is structured beginning in '26, including the number of teams and qualifying criteria, is tbd.

The Big Ten and SEC are already getting a much bigger share of CFP revenues than other conferences. Since they hold all the cards and all the power...can the other leagues say no? I think not.

They could break away right now and hold a championship between the two leagues. Seven of the top eight teams in the AP poll are from the two conferences. Perhaps they will expand to 20 teams each and play their own schedules in two divisions of a super league.

I believe this is what's coming. There is nothing holding them back. Not loyalty, tradition, geography, or concern for those lower on the food chain. Those old-fashioned values all went out the window long ago.

Bay Area Blues: The two Bay Area teams have each lost three straight, but in much different fashion.

Stanford has been blown out by Clemson, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame by a combined score of 120-28. Inconsistent quarterback play, an overwhelmed offensive line that leaves QBs running for their lives on almost every play, and a porous pass defense have undone the Cardinal. After a promising start featuring an upset win at Syracuse, Stanford seems headed for another 3-9 type season.

Cal, meanwhile, should be 6-0. The Bears opened with three straight wins, then lost three ACC games to Florida State, Miami and Pitt by a combined eight points.

Cal could've, and should've, won all three games. Abysmal field goal kicking and too many penalties have been the main issues.

The Bears missed two makeable field goals (38 and 36 yards) in a 14-9 loss to Florida State, blew a 35-10 lead against Miami, and then missed another potential game-winning field goal (40 yards) in the final two minutes at Pitt. They also committed 12 penalties against the Panthers.

Head coach Justin Wilcox needs to find a kicker fast and instill more on-field discipline to avoid the killer penalties.

Baseball Surges: Football surpassed baseball as the national pastime many years ago, a trend that was exacerbated by the 1994 labor stoppage and World Series cancellation.

Since then, baseball has struggled with a number of problems--competitive imbalance, performance enhancing drug scandals, less hitting, more strikeouts, too much relief pitching, too many analytics, and a sense that games are too long and too boring for modern short attention spans.

But this year, MLB announced that regular season attendance and television viewing were up significantly. The improved pace of play--due to pitch clocks and other rule changes designed to speed up the game--big market team successes, and emergence of superstars Shoehei Ohtani and Aaron Judge have combined to give the game a much-needed boost. 

Star power, in the cases of Ohtani and Judge, is a big reason for MLB's resurgence. As the NBA has proven in recent years--and the WNBA this year with Caitlin Clark--star power is what drives attendance and TV ratings. 

The performances of Ohtani and Judge this season were simply incredible. Both players nearly won the Triple Crown. Ohtani walked away with the National League's home run (54) and RBI (130) titles, as did Judge in the American with 58 and 144. In the batting races, Ohtani was just four points behind league leader Luis Arraez, while Judge was 10 points below AL batting champ Bobby Witt..

Now baseball is looking at a dream postseason. Yankees vs. Dodgers or Yankees vs. Mets could well be the match up in the World Series. Either one would create huge national interest and huge TV ratings.

The Votes Are In: I was heartened by the response to last week's post endorsing Kamala Harris for President.

Out of every 50 emails and comments, 46 were positive (pro-Harris), 3 were negative (pro-trump) and one was neutral (don't like either).

Of the few negatives, one trump advocate felt endorsing a woman for president was "ridiculous" and suggested that I go on The View. 

The implication, of course, was that anyone who supports a woman for president isn't a real man and belongs on a show with only women.

Sadly, it seems trump isn't the only misogynist out there who can't abide "uppity" women or their supporters. At his rallies last weekend in Colorado and California, trump's staff was selling t-shirts that read "Say No to the Hoe."

Classy.

In the overwhelmingly positive responses, lots of folks complimented my courage for speaking out, apparently fearing I might be on trump's enemies' list and perhaps would be targeted for vengeance if he wins. 

To all who responded, thanks for your comments, especially the 92% pro-Harris.

If only the percentages were the same in the general population...