The Group of 5 conferences, which include the Mountain West, are reportedly considering creating their own football playoffs to increase television revenue.
Ross Dellenger, senior college football reporter for Yahoo! Sports, reported Thursday that members of the Group of 5 will meet in person in Dallas next week to discuss a number of issues facing their conferences, including whether the MW, American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Sun Belt and Mid-American Conference should seek a playoff to crown what is essentially a second-tier champion.
Other topics to be discussed, according to Dellenger’s report, include NCAA administration, the use of private equity to increase revenue and the impact of the House-NCAA settlement, as well as potential athlete profit sharing. But the most interesting potential change from a fan perspective would be the introduction of a second playoff in the FBS, limited to schools outside of the power conference.
The so-called “Group of 5” summit will examine the feasibility of a G5 playoff, which could provide additional television revenue to these conferences, which have fallen further and further behind the SEC, Big Ten, Big 10 and ACC in media dollars. MW teams currently receive about $3.5 million per school annually, with Boise State receiving an additional $1.8 million. The power conferences have surpassed the $60 million per school mark.
“We’re open to anything,” MW Commissioner Gloria Nevarez Dellenger said of a G5 playoff. “That would be really interesting and would have some value. What if it was something like a NIT in football?”
This playoff would be in addition to the Group of 5’s spot in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, which includes the five highest-ranked conference champions. With four power conferences, that means one Group of 5 school makes the true playoff each year. That leaves seven open playoff spots that could go to Group of 5 schools but will likely be filled by power conference programs. A second playoff could generate interest throughout the season in the lower-tier FBS conferences.
“Everything is on the table,” said new AAC Commissioner Tim Pernetti at his conference’s football media day.
The new revenue model for the College Football Playoff is expected to generate approximately $115 million per year for the Group of 5, or $1.85 million per school. The Group of 5 conferences include 62 schools, not counting two independents (UMass and UConn) and the remaining Pac-2 (Oregon State and Washington State).
One risk in creating its own playoff could be that the College Football Playoff responds by stripping the Group of 5 of its automatic spot in the CFP, which would be a major blow given the revenue, prestige and access at stake in the current model. The idea of not including the Group of 5 in the new College Football Playoff format was discussed but never implemented, which could have resulted in legal action.
The current College Football Playoff format will remain in place through the 2025 season but could be changed, with the SEC, Big Ten and ESPN having the right to change the format in the final six years of the eight-year agreement agreed to in March.
“We don’t have the influence or the value that a few have, but that access is very important to us,” Nevarez told Dellenger. “If we don’t have it, the equation changes drastically.”
