College football is not going back to the way that it was. When the courts got involved, the game changed forever.
For years, the NCAA pursued draconian policies that allowed LOTS of people to make LOTS of money off of college football EXCEPT the players. The NCAA hoped to stay out of court forever because they knew the present situation wasn’t fair to the student-athletes, and they knew that they would lose any case that wasn’t thrown out of court. The NCAA buried their head in the sand, hoping that if they put their fingers in their ears and screamed loudly enough, the chatter for change would go away.
So, if you are mad about the state of college football in 2026, your chief complaint is with the NCAA.
They blew it. And here we are.
College football players are employees, whether “formally” defined or not. They get paid and they get benefits, right? They are ALL on full scholarship in FBS. Sounds like an employee and like a professional…a professional football player.
In spite of that, most of today’s football players are truly “student-athletes”—certainly more than they were 20-30 years ago. According to the NCAA’s own figures, 85% of FBS players get a degree today. With the benefit of increased academic staffs, the availability of online classes and the fact that most go to school year-round, today’s college football players often get a degree in less than four years and start on or even finish a master’s before using up their eligibility.
Believe it or not, school is still part of the equation.
Running an FBS program at the highest level is wildly more expensive than it used to be. This cost is being passed on to the fan and, if structural changes aren’t made, they will continue to be.
No, not talking about going back to the “good ol’ days”. Also not talking about waiting on your favorite elected official to pass some law that will make it all better.
Let’s not talk about new rules and regulation. Instead, let’s talk about a way to make tons of cash and make the biggest college football schools financially self-sufficient for not only football, but for their entire athletic department. Let’s get radical.
The 68 Power Four schools break away and form the Super Division of College Football.
What if, driven by the rising costs of competition, all 68 of these schools decided to acknowledge that today’s college football is truly professional football that is just a notch lower than the NFL, and attempted to run it, market it and regulate it to make it as profitable and successful as possible?
So you ask, “How would you form a Super Division of College Football?”
Start with management: there is a Super Division commissioner. This person can come from anywhere, but taking a top official from MLB, NBA or NFL would make sense. We are thinking media contracts, someone who understands “streaming”, social media, full-scale licensing, ticketing, post-season organization structure, etc. The Super Division Commish does not check for pine tar on bats or graduation rates; this person is about sales, marketing and making money.
Super Division is not a new NCAA entity or one big conference; this is a new league that sees itself as absolutely the best football product outside of the NFL. Business-wise, it would be the first true competitor to the NFL since the AFL. It doesn’t need to beat the NFL to successful; it simply needs to be sold and marketed in the best way possible to compete alongside the NFL.
You would begin with a set of ground rules that would apply to all 68 schools, some of which are already in place or about to be in place…
–75 players on scholarship
–Five years of eligibility with no redshirt seasons, hardships, etc.. A player’s five-year clock would automatically start at age 19. If a player suffers an injury and is unable to keep playing, schools would be allowed to keep him on scholarship, but that player would never be allowed to compete in Super Division again
–Players must pass a minimum of 30 course hours per year, with progress towards a degree at 25%-50%-75% at the beginning of years three, four and five, respectively
–If a player completes his degree, he has the option to either enter into a master’s program or to no longer take classes
–One transfer without loss of eligibility. If a player completes his degree prior to his fifth season, he may transfer without a penalty for a second time
–Transfers can come from any level of college football
–20 million dollar minimum and 25 million dollar maximum annual salary cap for the football staff that would be approved by July 15 each year. This would include head coach, coaches on the field, analysts, personnel staff, strength/conditioning, nutrition, training staff, office staff, media relations, etc. Any employee whose day-to-day duties require working with the football team falls under this salary cap. Salary cap would be a “hard cap” where every dollar would be accounted for. No bonus or incentive clauses would be allowed
–Football staff members receive a set payment for each round of the playoffs achieved. This money does not count against the football staff salary cap
–Minimum salary of $200,000 for each player
–40 million dollar minimum and 50 million dollar maximum annual player salary cap approved by July 15 each year. Salary cap would be a “hard cap” where every dollar would be accounted for. No bonus or incentive clauses would be allowed
–10 million dollars of the salary cap (at least 20%) would have to be spent on players who have just graduated from high school
–Players receive a set payment for each round of the playoffs. This money does not count against the salary cap
Player who sign with a Super Division school agrees to abide by all rules and regulations of Super Division. If they don’t want to agree to any or all of these rules, they have the right to play football at Power Five schools where the rules might be quite different. Because players have a choice, all of the Super Division rules should be legal.
Why a salary cap on football staffs? Head coach salaries have been out of control for years and it has been laughable for these guys to complain about financial issues when they have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of the past system. So, limit the money the that these ballooning football staffs can spend/make. Make certain the majority of the money goes to the players and the athletic departments (especially the other sports). In that way, with this cost contained, the money earned from Super Division doesn’t have to come from the fan bases.
Super Division is set up to be the highest level of football outside of the NFL. It must be to make the highest amount of money possible. The design of the salary cap is that it is a 40 million dollar ante to get it, a 50 million dollar max so not everyone can hoard the talent. With 75 scholarships, schools must play the best players as quickly as possible. And while talent development is not the number one goal of Super Division, forcing each school to spent at least ten million dollars on freshman means that the top high school graduates can play at the top level of college football immediately while also making it harder for schools to totally stock their clubs with a majority of fourth- and fifth-year players.
The Super Division set-up borrows from a variety of leagues and sports, in order to make every week of every season as interesting as possible.
Let’s go back to the fact that Super Division has 68 teams based on 18 from the Big Ten,16 from the SEC and Big 12, and 18 from the ACC counting Notre Dame.
Ane yes, Notre Dame would have to join or else they could play in the MAC.
68 teams is absolutely not the easier number to schedule, so we could take Super Division down to 64 each year via relegation.
The teams with the worst four records would be relegated at the end of each year. For 2026, the relegated teams would be Oklahoma State (1-11), Arkansas (2-10), Purdue (2-10) and Boston College (2-10).
They would be restored to Super Division the following year, taking the place of the four teams that would be relegated from that season. Once a regulated team is restored to Super Division, they would go back to one of the two Divisions that represent their conference UNLESS a spot is not available. In that case, that school will go into a spot left open by a relegated team.
Divisions would be re-worked every four years.
And yes, you read correctly, the conferences would continue to exist.
The conferences would remain in place with the four commissioners still holding their roles as administrative leads for two divisions: ACC commissioner would be over Divisions 1-2, the SEC commissioner would head Divisions 3-4, the Big 10 commissioner would oversee Divisions 5-6, and the Big 12 commissioner would handle Divisions 7-8.
There will be eight, 8-team divisions. Some divisions will feature teams all from one conference; some are mostly from one conference but have been set up to fit more logically from a competition, regional, and media standpoint.
Division 1 (ACC)
Maryland
Miami FL
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Division 2 (ACC)
Cincinnati
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Wake Forest
West Virginia
Division 3 (SEC)
Central Florida
Florida
Georgia
Georgia Tech
LSU
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Texas A&M
Division 4 (SEC)
Alabama
Auburn
Louisville
Kentucky
South Carolina
Texas
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Division 5 (BIG TEN)
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Ohio State
Division 6 (BIG TEN)
Arizona
Arizona State
Oregon
Michigan State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Wisconsin
Division 7 (BIG 12)
BYU
Baylor
Iowa State
Houston
Oklahoma
SMU
TCU
Texas Tech
Division 8 (BIG 12)
California
Colorado
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
Utah
Washington
Schedule Model
12 total games in 13 weeks. The season starts the first weekend of September and ends Thanksgiving weekend. The playoff will start the first week of December
There will be multiple games on Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving
Each team is guaranteed 13 home games over two seasons (6 home games one year, 7 home games the next)
Breakdown
—7 division games (3 home games one year, 4 home games the next)
—3 games with rotating division like-finishers (two home games one year, one home games the next)
Example Year 1 and Year 3:
Division 1 champion would host Division 3 and Division 5 champions, travel to Division 7 champions
Division 2 last place would travel to Division 4 and Division 6 last place, host Division 8 last-place
Example Year 2 and Year 4:
Division 1 second place would travel to Division 4 and Division 6 second-place, host Division 8 second place
—-1 game against conference “adjacent division” that each team is assigned (based on TV, some traditional rivalries continuing, etc.)
Examples:
Florida State at Miami
Oklahoma at Nebraska
Michigan State at Michigan
—1 game against opponent that you choose to schedule (obviously going to be a home game)
Playoffs
16-team playoff with 8 Division winners and 8 Wildcard teams (top 8 teams regardless of Division)
Divisional ties
Head to Head
Multiple team ties, record vs teams with whom you are tied
Wildcard ties
Head to head record against like finishers (one team or multiple teams)
Strength of schedule (opponent win percentage)
Example:
Auburn, Central Florida, Baylor, Kansas, Stanford and Minnesota all finish 9-3 overall and are tied for the final two wildcard spots (seeds 15 and 16).
Auburn, Baylor and Minnesota all went 1-1 in this pool of teams, while Central Florida, Kansas and Stanford did not have win against any of this group. Central Florida, Kansas and Stanford are eliminated.
Auburn, Baylor and Minnesota are then judged on strength of schedule. Auburn’s opponent win percentage is .579, so they are in as the #15 seed. Baylor’s opponent win percentage is .502, so they are in. Minnesota’s opponent win percentage is just .436, because, after a sixth place finish the year before, they played an easier schedule than Auburn or Baylor.
First round games, all eight, would be played on the campus of the higher seed team, beginning one week after the regular season ends. Games between the #1 seed and the #16 seed and between the #8 seed and #9 seed would be played on Friday night. That would allow the winners of those two games to meet with equal rest the following Friday.
The other six first round games would be played on Saturday, starting with an 11am ET game and ending with a 9pm ET game—with the other four games scheduled in-between. A day of more than 12 hours of football where every games moves us closer to a National Champion!
The next weekend’s quarterfinal games would be played at sites that bid the most the games. No bowls or parades or rib-eating contests. These are playoff games. If the Rose Bowl bids the most, great. Pasadena gets to host. But if Minneapolis comes with more cash, let’s go to Minneapolis.
One quarterfinal game is played on Friday night, the other three games are played on Saturday afternoon/evening. Four different sites could acquire one game each. Two different sites could acquire two games apiece. One site could bid for three games (Friday’s Game AND Games 1 and 3 on Saturday), with another city hosting Game two.
Same deal for the semifinals during December’s third weekend. A semifinal game on Friday night. A semifinal game on Saturday night. Neutral sites. Or one neutral site for two games. All about the money.
And then, on evening of January 1, the National Championship game is played at, you guessed it, another neutral site.
Super Division pays all team expenses for the quarters, semis and championships. After all, Super Division has some serious money.
The regular-season media package opportunities are vast. Let’s start with traditional television packages.
A Thursday package with an 8pm ET national game of the week.
A Friday package with an 8pm ET national game of the week.
Saturday packages with 12pm ET national game, a 3:30pm ET national game, a 7pm ET national game and a 10pm ET national game.
A Monday Night Game of the Week at 8pm ET, one hour prior to Monday Night Football.
Each television rights-holder gets two, first round playoff games. If one TV entity owns two of these packages, they would receive four games. In the quarterfinal round and semifinal round, games are assigned based on the amount of overall rights fee paid.
The National Championship game would be bid separately but could certainly be worked into an overall season package.
Television networks would be interested due to cost, even though the cost would be high. Live sports production and rights fee are still cheaper for networks than producing/buying scripted TV shows. Multiple nights of having prime time programming fully covered would help TV networks financially AND it would bring better ratings. Live sports events are “destination viewing” for millions of people. And with better ratings comes more potential advertising money from sponsors.
TV networks have a tough way to go in today’s world. More live sports helps them immensely.
That said, live streaming would be a huge part of this. Fans could choose from multiple options.
You can buy a streaming package for your school’s 13 games. And yes, you would get their playoff games, too. You are welcome.
You can buy a streaming package for every Super Division game that is played, including the playoffs.
You can buy a streaming package for the playoffs only.
You can buy a streaming package that is a total mirror of the NFL’s Red Zone.
You can buy the ripoff Red Zone streaming package where all conversation is about gambling about Super Division games.
And yes, Super Division would bid packages for streaming partners just like it bid for TV partners.
Super Division embraces it all. Remember, we have to pay 68 schools as much money as possible.
And why are you going to love the Super Division games themselves? We are going to steal the NFL’s timing rules and get the game time down in the three-hour range. No more four-hour marathons as those are bad for viewership.
Super Division is going to keep the best rules from the college game (examples: 15-yard pass interference penalties instead of spot fouls and one-foot down for a catch) and absorb the best from the NFL (hashmarks moved in tighter on the field and in overtime, each teams get the ball once and then it becomes sudden death).
We are honest that this is best football outside of the NFL, so it needs to look more like it (with some exceptions).
Super Division is a crazy idea. But with a regular season that is tighter and more meaningful and an NCAA Tournament-like post season, Super Division would be a massive money maker.
Super Division football schools would find themselves 100% self-funded. Other sports on campus—especially non-revenue sports—would benefit for from the financial windfall of Super Division football. The prestige of being a Super Division football school would be just as great, if not greater, than being an ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or SEC school is now. It would benefit the other divisions of college football by sending more talent their way. It would benefit the NFL by providing a game designed to have a closer resemblance to the pro game, making scouting easier and player development more evident.
After all, it’s pro ball now. Whether we want to admit it or not.
Why not embrace it and go big?