College football could rethink conference title games: ESPN analyst

With talk around further College Football Playoff expansion building up this offseason, one question that has arisen is what will become of conference championship games.

Ever since the SEC popularized the concept back in 1992, college football conferences have used Championship Saturday as a major showcase to crown their best teams, and in modern times, to propel their best schools into the playoff field.

But if the College Football Playoff expands to 14 or 16 teams, and should that expansion entail automatic qualifiers for major conferences, what becomes of that last Saturday?

ESPN reporter Pete Thamel addressed that question recently, noting that the concept could be teetering on the verge of irrelevance.

“One conversation going on right now is a philosophical one on conference championship games. We saw a decrease in relevancy of conference championship games last year, just simply put. And this is a little bit like a microcosm of college athletics in itself,” Thamel said on WJOX Radio.

As college football’s leaders look to extract more revenue out of the game, it will continue to undergo major change.

“The inevitable phasing out of relevancy of conference championship games, we have empirical evidence of it and it’s staring us in the face,” Thamel added.

“And do these leagues, which by the way, it’s very valuable inventory. It’s very valuable for the league. It’s a money-maker, huge money-maker, premium ticket, big event. 

“Do they pivot and say with [automatic qualifiers], which seemingly are on the way, do we do four play-in games and go 1-8, 2-7, etc., and then still have, in the case one of your top dogs gets upset, you still have the three at-large on the back end to sneak them in?”

It will remain a point of debate for college football’s leaders as the dominoes continue to fall.

“That’s a conversation that’s going to continue to evolve right now,” Thamel said. “My opinion is, I don’t honestly think we’ll get there. I think it will go, there will be a conference championship game with guarantees and then there will be play-in games on the others.

“In an era where everyone’s trying to squeeze out the last dollar, it would make sense to have two play-in games over one conference championship game. Just bottom line financials.”

(Thamel)

--

Read