by
Shane Conroy
| Dec 23, 2024
Growing up in metro Detroit in the 80s and 90s, Big Ten football — with 11 teams, mind you, not the cross-country conference it is today was a staple in most kids' lives every fall. I was into college football just as much as every other kid in my neighborhood. The Michigan-Michigan State rivalry was beginning to shift, the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry was in its prime (depending on who you ask), and Notre Dame was making regular trips across the state line. Some of my fondest memories of the sport include going to Spartan Stadium with my dad in the freezing cold to watch the Spartans go up against Penn State in late November, as well as watching Notre Dame in the 1993 and 1994 Cotton Bowls with my mom, as she was a big Notre Dame fan. It put a smile on my face when the Cotton Bowl eventually became part of the College Football Playoff years later.
As I got older, my interest in the sport began to wane. Focusing on my career and having a family will do that to some of our interests from our youth. Combine that with the fact that most bowl games are irrelevant, the playoff selection is too subjective and regular season games are against lopsided opponents with foregone conclusions (yes, there are some upsets, who can forget Appalachian State over Michigan in 2007), add in NIL and the transfer portal and the sport is basically pro football with college teams.
With all of that said, I often like to imagine college football introducing promotion and relegation to give it a fresh look.
Promotion and relegation is not new in sports. The concept has been around in soccer leagues in Europe for decades.
With roughly 130 teams in Division 1 college football, creating tiered divisions is not so straightforward. If you go off the English Football model and put 20 teams in the top tier, and roughly 20ish teams in the following lower tiers, you come away with six or seven tiers depending on how each tier is structured. Is that too many tiers to make it work? Possibly. If you have each team play every other team once in their respective tier, that’s at least 19 games per team. Is that too many? Perhaps. Depending on who wins the College Football Playoff this year, the winning team could play 17 games this season. Adding a couple more does not seem so farfetched.
Promotion and relegation would also end some of the meaningless games played during the regular season. Yes, I know there are financial benefits to these unequal games. For instance, the Mercer Bears were reportedly paid $600,000 by Alabama to play the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa this past November. Alabama won 52-7. Not exactly a marquee game in November for one of the most storied programs in recent memory. Now imagine Alabama, or Ohio State, or Notre Dame, or any other top program playing other top programs each week. The goal is obviously to win the national championship, but what if they were also playing for their right to remain in the top tier of college football. Each game would take on an entirely new meaning. With the conference realignments, we’re not too far from this now, but with no risk of relegation, there are no dire consequences of finishing at the bottom of your respective conference.
One of my favorite aspects of promotion and relegation is giving additional meaning to schools who are not in the national championship spotlight. Instead of playing each week in the hopes of making it to the Rate Bowl (yes, that is a real bowl game), these lesser-profile teams would be competing to become promoted to the tier above them. Army was 11-1 this season when the playoff teams were announced. They didn’t even get a sniff at making it. With promotion and relegation, they most likely would’ve been promoted to the next tier and their season would have been undoubtedly successful. Instead, they are on the outside looking in.
As a graduate of Western Michigan University, I was just as surprised as you were when they made a BCS Bowl in 2017 (Cotton Bowl, no less). Take that season away, and it’s been mediocre bowl games at best for the Broncos. How much more engaged would graduates and fans be if schools like WMU were competing for promotion, or against relegation each season. The interest in these games immediately goes up. How fun would it be to see a lesser-known schools work their way up from the lower tiers over the years for the right to compete against the more storied programs.
My other alma matter, North Carolina State University, is also not known for their football prowess. I was schoolmates with Russell Wilson (watching him in person half a dozen times, I’m still shocked at how far he slid back in the NFL draft), and even with him at the helm, the best they could muster was the Champs Sports Bowl. I would have much more enjoyed watching him compete in the second or third tier and playing for the opportunity to earn promotion to the next level.
It would also end the subjectivity of the College Football Playoff, which only intensified this weekend after some less-than-enthralling results. With a simple win-loss record to crown the champion, it doesn’t leave much for debate. Although some would say the controversy of who makes it into the playoff each year is part of what makes the College Football Playoff entertaining. Even if there are multiple teams with the same record at the end of the season, simple tie-breakers can be used such as head-to-head record, or points differential, etc., to crown the champion.
I understand promotion and relegation is not for everyone. This year it’s even less talked about as the Playoffs have expanded to 12 teams. It may be even less talked about in our industry due to the fact a handful of turfgrass powerhouse schools made the Playoffs this year with the likes of Tennessee, Penn State, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and Arizona State.
So, what does the promotion and relegation have to do with turfgrass management? It’s a concept that can be incorporated into your program and team, as well. Is everyone on your team working to take the program to the next tier? Are they working towards a common goal? Do they know the mission of the agronomy team? Do they lift others around them? Is there a positive culture at your facility and in your team? How do you reward those on your team who had a great season?
A simple promotion, if not in title, at least in responsibility and pay could be a great way to reward those on your team who had a great season. Getting them more involved in the industry through the local chapter or as a GCSAA associate member could also help with their career growth and development at your facility, as well as a team member. Encouraging those on your team who perform at their highest level to get more involved in the industry could also be a great way to encourage others on your team to work towards your common goals. It helps create a positive, team-focused culture where promotion to the next tier may become a regular occurrence.
Is promotion and relegation appropriate for college football? I don't know, but if the sport has taught us anything, it’s that it loves a little controversy each season. With that in mind, if promotion and relegation ever received the green light, let the conversation and controversy begin with who would make up those initial top tiers.