Long term, I predict the conference championship games will go away. The play offs will expand to 16 teams and it will be all about getting the most teams into that 16 for a conference. Having one member beat up on another and knock them out does the conference no good from a revenue perspective. It’s also better off for seeding to ensure the best team in a conference isn’t upset and knocked down.
I think the divisions will go away and we’ll see an unbalanced schedule. There will be some weird tie break system.
Ironically, I think that the expanded playoffs and this problem might break up the Super Conferences. The exit fees might keep the thing together, but if Maryland wins, those will be gone everywhere.
As for consolidating the rivalry games all in one day, I’m all for them. It gives the league something to market and makes football interesting during the time of year that it typically is not.
With respect to NC State, we’re not good fans if we can’t fill a stadium on a holiday weekend against UNC. After eating turkey all day on Thursday and either shopping or working around the house on Friday, I’m all for football on Saturday — especially if it is against UNC.
The only rivalry games to me that don’t make sense are Miami/Pitt and BC/Syracuse. BC and Miami were so attached at the hip that we couldn’t have Miami without being forced to take BC. Let them play one another. I also think Syracuse and Pitt recruit the same areas heavily, so there’s much more intersection there.
Long term, the Duke versus Wake game makes a lot of sense. Those schools will each want to be guaranteed to play one another, regardless of what happens with the scheduling.
