On Thursday morning, I went on the Move the Sticks podcast with former NFL scouts Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks to talk about my story on spring football that published Wednesday on The Athletic. We ended up talking a lot about the prospect of an FCS — and Group of 5 — shift to the spring. The discussion was similar to the one I had with the FCS coach, only the former scouts broached the idea of it also including the Group of 5 because it’s becoming more apparent that the gap between the “haves” (Power 5) and the “have-nots” (everyone else in the sport) is widening in the wake of the pandemic. (It’s also possible a few of the best-resourced Group of 5 programs could move up into a Power 5 conference at some point.)

My suggestions to the scouts, who both work for NFL Network, is that maybe as a sort of tradeoff for the rights to air Division I college football games in the spring the NFL would agree to slide back its draft process two months or so. Its network, which already has been airing Group of 5 games in the fall, it would get valued live events programming and could provide a spotlight for future draft prospects such as projected 2021 first-rounders like North Dakota State’s Trey Lance and Dillon Radunz. The more we chatted about it, it sounded like a fun idea. Of course, conversation on a podcast often feels like scribbling ideas on a bar napkin.

https://theathletic.com/1935068/2020/07/...-of-5-fcs/

That doesn’t make much sense, especially for the G5. They’d be giving up massive paydays and also publicly admitting that they’re an inferior product. Even though these schools are almost all operating at a deficit, this would likely worsen that and also negate the argument that they’re trying to make about being peer schools with other major universities.

This seems more along the lines of something Feldman wishes would happen rather than anything that the schools involved have any interest in

"Of course, conversation on a podcast often feels like scribbling ideas on a bar napkin."

It's super dead and minds wander. Too much air time to fill.

I’d be a fan of FCS moving to Spring—I actually suggested the same thing a few weeks ago.

I wouldn’t mandate the G5 to Spring but some of them may find that the exposure and tv money in Spring is better and move voluntarily.

FCS to Spring would force all FBS to drop their FCS games. That would be great IMO. No more Div.I-A vs. I-AA games. Examples-- Florida should not play SELA and UAB should not play Ala. A&M.

Probably never happen.

(07-18-2020 03:57 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  FCS to Spring would force all FBS to drop their FCS games. That would be great IMO. No more Div.I-A vs. I-AA games. Examples-- Florida should not play SELA and UAB should not play Ala. A&M.

Probably never happen.

FCS would need to generate enough revenue in the spring to offset one bodybag game in the fall. You can't do that when the big boys aren't playing. I doubt if they could make enough from TV to make up for the lost P5 games.

Likewise, the G5 would be signaling inferiority to the P5 by moving to the spring. There may be little in common between Bowling Green and Ohio State (example), but it is very important to those schools to be in the same division as the big boys. For those just on the cusp of the P5 (examples: UCF, Houston), this idea flies in the face of their goals and self-perception. They want no part of being in the USFL/XFL of college football.

As much as we'd love to watch football on TV in the spring, it would be viewed as a joke. College athletics is driven by institutional perception as much as it is fan passion.