Bowl games to start the season? Reimagining the college football calendar
Our college football experts spent the offseason putting together proposals to fix the year-round schedule and polled people in the sport about this new schedule.
What they're saying:
Appalachian State athletic director Doug Gillin, member of the NCAA Division I football oversight committee: "Your first reaction is, 'Well, that sounds crazy.' But maybe there is something to it. I do think it probably would answer a couple things on opt-outs. ... In essence, a bunch of really cool kickoff games. I wouldn't say it's the dumbest idea I ever saw."
American Football Coaches Association executive director Todd Berry: "It has been discussed amongst some of the coaches. ... In the current environment, it might be a good time period to look at this idea. Because what many [bowl games] have turned into is exhibition games at the end of the season, and opportunities to play your young players at the end of the season. It might be even more beneficial to do them prior to it."
Power 5 athletic director: "Length of the season, obviously, then becomes an issue. That's something we hear a lot from students. How much is too much? You would have a full coaching staff, the opt-out issues, that would be helpful. Also, those teams that have good seasons and don't make the playoff have nowhere to go, right? From a motivational standpoint, from a what-are-you-playing-for standpoint, it's a give-and-take. The reason why I'm open-minded to the concept that if [the CFP] goes 12 [teams], there has to be some type of off-ramp for bowls, where maybe they all don't go that way, but some can."
Power 5 coach: "The bowl viewership is up exponentially. People watch football and the numbers, it's unbelievable how many people watch s---ty bowl games. I don't think I'd be fired up that I get left out of a bowl game for my seniors, based on last year's team. You're going to have a hard time getting coaches excited about that."
Executive director of Bowl Season Nick Carparelli: "At their core, bowl games are designed to stimulate tourism in a community during a time of year when people are not typically traveling. Staging a large number of neutral site games at the beginning of the season would run contrary to this mission. Late summer weekends are prime vacation days for many people and there are numerous other entertainment options at that time. While it would certainly be exciting to see those match-ups at the beginning of the season, I am doubtful they would be properly supported by the schools or their fans."
Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek: "You would need to change habits of fans who use bowl opportunities for holiday travel while kids are out of school and many professions have flexible work schedules. Bowl games in August would interfere with the start of school in most communities and end of family vacation schedules. Also, many of the bowl destinations are packed with general tourism during this time period and may not be able to accommodate bowl games."
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman: "It's almost like a preseason game. It's a meaningful game, but to play one bowl game and then you get to your season and everybody fights to get to the playoff, that's interesting. They used to have all those kickoff classics and stuff like that, but to make it a nationwide thing, that's really interesting input."
Northwestern offensive tackle Peter Skoronski: "Bowl games are supposed to be a reward, a showcase of the best teams that team. If you had a Week 1, you never know what's going to happen to people. Those aren't necessarily the best teams. Those teams could end up not being very good at all. That's what I think makes bowl games special, because the other teams had great seasons. Now they're there. That's what they're meant to be."
The Power 5 coach's response had me rolling.
