(01-07-2019 01:24 PM)bullet Wrote: (01-07-2019 12:37 PM)JRsec Wrote: (01-07-2019 12:18 PM)stever20 Wrote: for the love of God, the ratings were actually UP from the last time the Orange/Cotton hosted the semifinals. It's down yes from last year, but that's the same thing that happened from year 1 to year 2.
What I do think is that the Santa Clara site probably never gets used again.
Yep. Right on both counts. No need for Chicken Little's the sky is falling fear here. The only thing that happens after the game tonight is that people will be talking either about Saban's 7th natty, or Dabo's big win. Then by Thursday the talk will be about why we are sticking with 4, maybe a little bit of post season realignment junk tossed in, and everyone will still be holding their breath for the Alston case, which is very telling. When I say everyone I don't mean message board folks or fans, I mean all of the presidents, commissioners, and AD's.
Big 10 champ on the sidelines 3 years in a row. Pac 12 out 3 of 5. Big 12 out 2 of 5. There's going to be serious interest about expanding to 8.
Even if I thought you might be right on this, and I don't, nothing of substance can happen until after the Alston case.
The Alston decision could impact how the FBS is comported. It could bring us to a new world in which an upper tier has no cap on payment to players. If that is established then there could exist lawfully other tiers below it that would set caps on payments, and some that may not pay at all.
It could mean that those who wanted to compete in an upper tier would have to organize themselves into leagues where a salary cap could be placed upon teams, but not upon players.
So until the committee knows what the outcome of that case is, anything they do right now now is meaningless. We may not have 65 P schools after Alston. We may not have an FBS after Alston. And if a new upper tier of 36 to 48 schools who are willing to operate without a cap on payments is established we certainly may not even need 8 team playoff.
All of this talk is just the cart before the horse until Alston is settled.
If Alston loses then eventually there may be discussions about an 8 team playoff. But even then the bowl situation will have to be dealt with, consensus will have to be formed among university presidents, AD's, and coaches, and the networks will have to be willing to fund it. I could easily see how the contract on the CFP could expire before the rest was accomplished.