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00:00There is a lot of conversation right now in college football with spring meetings for conferences happening the past few weeks currently this week in Florida.
00:09It's the SEC the Big 12 also having their spring meetings as we speak a few weeks ago.
00:15It was the ACC Mark Zeno there has been a ton of conversation about changes coming this season in 2025 and beyond to the college football playoff.
00:25We'll talk expansion and what that could potentially look like in 2026 and later in just a matter of moments.
00:32I do want to ask you about the change that we know we have for the 2025 college football playoff.
00:38Our second year of the 12 team format could be our second and final 12 team CFP instead of last year in which we saw the opening round buys for the four highest ranked conference champions.
00:50We now just get straight seating five highest ranked conference champs around the country.
00:55Earn that automatic bid to the college football playoff.
00:58But after that point as well as the seven at-large teams it is just based on the final committee rankings at the end of conference championship weekend.
01:06Zeno are you in favor of the straight seating model for the 2025 college football playoff?
01:12100%.
01:13The adults finally got back in the room and decided to make a decision that made sense for everybody.
01:17I mean this is not wasn't that hard to figure out.
01:19The one they came up with before as you know Ben and you'll enjoy me making fun of the ACC and Big 12 commission.
01:25Oh we need an absolute bid because nobody likes it's not fair the Big 10 and the SEC take everything.
01:33That's what that was.
01:34Okay finally the adults got back in the room and said hey 1 through 12 we're not messing around right now.
01:39If you win a conference you're in but if you're seeded 16th guess what you're now the new 12 seed.
01:44You're ranked 16th you're the new 12 seed.
01:46So I'm glad this has happened.
01:48It's a proper first step.
01:50Now the real question is is they're starting to hash out now is what happens when they expand this thing again.
01:55For the record I was against the first expansion.
01:57I'm incredibly against the second expansion.
01:59So we're 12 is where we need to go.
02:03And so the proposals they're coming up for 16 which me more is merrier here in the college football playoff.
02:09We're going to have meaningful football and it's simple for me.
02:12Like if you make me commissioner nobody plays cupcakes anymore.
02:14You enter game number one against your conference and that is who you play until the 10th game of the season.
02:20Then you enter into the playoffs.
02:21But also I just see the little notes right here and this like because I like where the playoff is going.
02:26But anytime I hear this Mark we still must have bowl games involved in the college football playoffs makes my head explode.
02:34Now you can have a happy medium because as I explained to Ben here if you have the Rose Bowl.
02:39I don't understand why we have to play in California call the Rose Bowl and have it from Lincoln Nebraska.
02:43The Rose Bowl game.
02:45Fantastic.
02:46It's still a college football playoff game at home.
02:48The fact that these kids have to play and forget about the kids.
02:50I'm talking fan base at this point.
02:52You're telling me before you get to the championship I got to fly to three road games and then play in the championship game.
02:57It doesn't make any sense here.
02:59You can have your bowl season outside of the college football playoff.
03:02People will bet.
03:02People will enjoy.
03:03And if you want to have the Rose Bowl.
03:04Hey the Rose Bowl.
03:05Yeah it's just going to have Idaho State taking on UCF.
03:08That's what you're going to get.
03:09I'm fine with it.
03:10But why do we have to include the bowl games here and make these teams who have earned home field advantage play a neutral site game.
03:17It doesn't make sense to me Mark.
03:19For the same reason you will continue to have a useless conference championship game from a football perspective.
03:27Conference championship games are not needed.
03:29Period.
03:30They're a waste of time.
03:31They're a waste of energy.
03:33They're a waste of players bodies.
03:34As we saw Georgia lose their starting quarterback in one last year.
03:38The only reason you have bowl games and the only reason you'll continue to have conference championship games is money.
03:44I mean these are multi-million dollar events for universities, for the conferences.
03:49And they get money from it.
03:51Because everybody wants to advertise with the Rose Bowl.
03:54Everyone wants to be a sponsor of the Rose Bowl.
03:56And all that money continues to shift hands.
03:58We're robbing Peter to pay Paul.
03:59Everybody's got their hands in the pockets of somebody else to get more money out of this whole thing.
04:03Which is the same reason why you clowns who want to expand to 16 football teams for the playoffs.
04:10It's the same driving force.
04:11Money.
04:12So yes, DRS.
04:14On the level, I agree with you.
04:15It doesn't matter what you call the game.
04:17It doesn't matter where you play it.
04:18But it certainly matters to people who want to pay for it.
04:21Yes, it certainly does.
04:22And why would they though?
04:23Like what?
04:24Like you said, well, let's sit there.
04:25Like why can't you have a game at Penn State with 110,000 people and split the gate as if it's the Rose Bowl?
04:31I'll tell you exactly why.
04:32Because I'm not paying $1.5 million to sit in Penn State in December and freeze my tail off when I can be in Pasadena, California.
04:39What do you mean?
04:39What do you mean?
04:40Who's not paying?
04:41If you are the economic engine, if you're the Rose Bowl committee, you're probably not forking up all the money for that game to be played somewhere that is not at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
04:50But what more money would they make?
04:52The ratings would be sky high.
04:53It was the same reason for a hundred years before they, not a hundred years, for 50 years before they started putting domes in NFL stadiums all the time, the Super Bowl was always in a warm weather climate because the owners did not want to go freeze their tail off in Detroit.
05:08They wanted to go down to Florida.
05:09They wanted to go to Miami.
05:10They wanted to go to California.
05:11They play in warm weather cities for that reason alone because people enjoy the week-long vacation in a warm weather climate for the Rose Bowl.
05:19But the same people would go to Penn State.
05:21Right, but I think Zinno's point being that the hosting committee of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, that makes all the millions of dollars of revenue based off hosting the Rose Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl or the Sun Bowl even.
05:34But hear me out on this, though.
05:36But hear me out on this.
05:37Let's just say, like, does the Rose Bowl fantastic and people love that if it's Idaho State versus Kent State?
05:42I don't think so.
05:43Well, then that's the point, then.
05:45The Rose Bowl itself isn't making money.
05:46The Rose Bowl is still part of the college football playoff and being used as a quarterfinal or a semifinal spot, which is always going to be the case.
05:54I agree with you in essence, right?
05:56That if we had everything equal as the National Football League, where television revenue was evenly split around all 32 NFL franchises, it would be a very different story.
06:06The collegiate ranks, not that.
06:07Every conference has its own TV revenue deal.
06:10Money is the reason we have conference expansion.
06:12Money is the reason we have conference realignment.
06:15Money is the reason we have college football playoff expansion in the first place.
06:19And we can continue this slightly in our next segment together.
06:22But of the proposed models for a 16-team college football playoff, we have seen the 4-4-2-2-1, four automatic qualifiers for the Big Ten and the SEC, two for each in the ACC and the Big 12,
06:35and the highest ranked group of five champion with three at-large bids, or now the one that has been floated this week that seems to have some steam behind it.
06:45Just five automatic qualifiers are five highest ranked conference champs and now 11 at-large spots in a 16-team model.
06:53Which of those do you prefer?
06:54Again, you could have some time in our next segment to discuss why.
06:57Yeah, just to back up, while money is the reason for all those things, let's be clear, money is not the reason why I am part of this show.
07:03So, I am here for you guys.
07:05There you go.
07:06Hosting committee.
07:07I like that.
07:08Yeah.
07:08Might be moving operations.
07:10Who's watching this right now?
07:11They listening.
07:14More on the college football playoff when we return.
07:17I mean, the guy can host.
07:18Let him do it.
07:19A little bit more conversation on the potential expansion of 16 teams in the college football playoff starting in 2026,
07:29and then we'll have some MLB conversations with Mark Zinno, the money man Mark, as we like to call him here on the early line on Sports Grid.
07:39So, Zinno, I laid out the potential options of what a 16-team CFP could look like.
07:44The 4-4-2-2-1 with automatic qualifiers, four for each, the Big Ten of the SEC, two for the ACC Big 12, highest-ranked group of five champ,
07:53and then three at-large spots, or a model very similar to what we see now in the 12-team era, just with more schools at large,
08:01five highest-ranked conference champions, 11 at-large teams.
08:04Now, you, like me, not in favor of expanding five-four schools to 16 teams, but if it does happen, and it certainly is going to happen,
08:13which model do you prefer for a 16-team college football playoff?
08:17It doesn't need to be complicated. Five plus 11 works. I mean, that's really all it boils down to.
08:21Take your five conference champions and then just take the next best 11 teams.
08:26Again, the whole idea here is to get the best teams in the college football playoff.
08:31If that is the genuine idea here, and it's not based off of anything else, then this isn't that difficult,
08:37because what we've learned about the CFP rankings since they've done it, because, again,
08:43you're also talking to somebody who never thought the BCS got it wrong, but the CFP rankings have never gotten the rankings wrong.
08:49They don't. It is a good system. It is done well.
08:52It is executed with getting the best teams in order, one through four, one through six, one through 12, one through 16.
09:01So just let that be the barometer and let it do its job, because guess what?
09:05We found out over the past decade plus, they're pretty good at getting this right.
09:09So don't complicate it. Five plus 11 works.
09:12Let me ask you a question, too, on this, because I'm a big proponent of not having the weekly TV show.
09:17I think it adds unnecessary drama, where it's like, you told us two weeks ago this team was good,
09:21they didn't lose, now they're dropping back.
09:22Is it just for TV ratings because you want us to watch?
09:25Would it be better, Mark, like Selection Sunday?
09:28You have the Sunday show.
09:29We find out then and there who was in the college football playoff, who was in the NCAA tournament.
09:34Is it better that way, or do we have unneeded confusion by this playoff show that we have for five or six weeks,
09:39which technically doesn't mean anything until the final show?
09:42You are correct. It means absolutely nothing.
09:44However, it does two things. One, it creates revenue, and that's always important to college football.
09:49But two, it also gives you, both the fans and teams alike, this is what our starting point is.
09:57Now I know I need to win these three games to automatically get it.
10:01It gives you a better barometer than the AP poll, which is where coaches and commissioners turn around,
10:07here, kid, fill this out for me. There you go.
10:09And that's how the AP gets filled out. It's not really taken with any real seriousness.
10:13At least it gives you a barometer of where you are, what you need to accomplish going forward
10:18over the final five to six weeks of the season to get yourself into the college football playoff.
10:23It's pretty academic and pretty elementary, rather, to say, hey, if we just continue to win, we're going to get in.
10:27Yes, we understand that. But you could also sit there and forecast, well, if LSU drops a game here,
10:32well, if Ohio State drops a game here, well, if Arizona State drops a game, whatever it may be,
10:37you know, that allows us to sort of forecast how things go.
10:41My issue with it is that year to year, week to week, there almost seems to be a differentiating qualifying factor
10:47for why this team is ranked ahead of another.
10:50Is it strength of schedule? Is it quality of wins? Is it head to head matchups?
10:54All of that stuff.
10:55So what my ideal college football playoff would look like is your automatic bids for the conference champions
11:01and then using a BCS-type computer ranking system to fill out the at-large teams.
11:07But, of course, the committee will always be there because it's the high-powered ADs
11:11and the powers that be in college sports.
11:14And the show will always be there because of the TV revenue.
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