College football’s new idea: Make a long season even longer. Make it make sense
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College Football Inc. finally found a change it could pursue without getting sued.
The FBS oversight committee wants to make the season longer. Yes, really.
Apparently, a longer-than-ever season that’ll end in 2027 one week after Martin Luther King Jr. Day isn’t quite long enough.
The oversight committee last week recommended starting the regular season in what’s currently known as Week 0. This would standardize a 14-week regular season featuring 12 games and two open dates.
If approved, the season’s natural start date would shift starting next year to the weekend prior to Labor Day weekend.
Because, if there’s one thing this sport lacks, it’s season openers on a 100-degree August day in Texas, right?
Earlier this offseason, prominent stakeholders like Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte and Alabama AD Greg Byrne spoke of a desire to condense the calendar by dumping conference championship games and ending the season earlier in January.
That sounded like a sharp idea, but not so fast. Here comes the oversight committee on an end-around to lengthen the season and cement a second open date for precious prep time.
A Week 0 start to college football would lengthen season
Starting the season in Week 0 wouldn’t accelerate the playoff, either. The regular season still would end on Thanksgiving weekend, and conference championships stubbornly retain their place on the first weekend in December.
If this proposal from the oversight committee gains approval, the season would stretch to a full five months, starting in late August and ending in late January.
That’s not to mention the winter conditioning programs, spring practice, summer workouts, and preseason practice.
But, go ahead, tell me these athletes aren’t employees.
Why is lengthening the regular season necessary?
Well, Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea told ESPN it’d be good for player “health and safety.”
“To go through a season without two bye weeks is challenging to a roster,” Lea told ESPN.
You know what would be better for players’ health and safety?
Shortening the season by cutting out conference championships and reducing the games certain teams play.
Those conference championship games are a sacred cash cow, and so they persist.
Who was asking for more August football?
Speaking of cash cows, kicking off the season in Week 0 would give college football an additional weekend of exclusivity before the NFL starts. So, the TV executives who fund the enterprise might like this proposal to turn Week 0 into Week 1.
An August start date would ensure some college football exclusivity even if the NFL ever resumes playing on Labor Day weekend.
I doubt the thinking goes that deep.
Mostly, I suspect coaches want to enshrine a second open date for more rest, recovery and preparation. Also, shifting the season’s start date would amount to a tangible change after years of hollering for guardrails — gotta have those guardrails! — and failing to achieve any for the pillar issues of NIL and player movement. The Big Ten and SEC got stuck at an impasse on College Football Playoff expansion, another big issue that just won’t budge.
Plus, a lawsuit against the NCAA awaits around every corner.
With College Football Inc. ineffective at unlocking any substantive change, the FBS oversight committee decided it wants August football.
Smart people who speak in smart-people phrases might call this action bias. That is, the compulsion to take action, however feeble or impulsive, rather than showing restraint, because we’re conditioned to value action over inaction.
Anyway, that’s smart people talk.
In plain talk, I call it just plain silly and unnecessary.
I keep hearing about all of the problems facing college sports. Curiously, I don’t often hear the lack of August football games mentioned as a top issue. Maybe, it’s not a problem at all — it’s just something to tinker with, while the big issues remain out of reach.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why does college football season need to start in Week 0? (It doesn’t)
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