A group of sports and business leaders called College Sports Tomorrow unveiled a proposal for a super football league that includes 72 schools, mostly from the current Power 4 conferences, the Wall Street Journal and The Athletic reported.
USF was not included in top tier of what is being called the College Football Student League (CFSL).
Instead, the Bulls were relegated in the initial pitch to the second tier of 64 schools in what CST calls the “Group of 8.” They are listed in a division with Troy, UAB, Florida Atlantic, Southern Miss, South Alabama, Jacksonville State, and Florida International.
American Athletic Conference members Memphis and Navy were placed in the top division.
Inbox: A press release from the group called College Sports Tomorrow proposing the formation of the College Student Football League — the top 72 FBS schools would be in it.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) October 1, 2024
You might remember hearing about this group in the spring/summer. They were pitching schools/leagues. pic.twitter.com/48BHtJqDFY
This only applies to football. Other sports could remain in their current conferences or move to different ones.
USF fans shouldn’t be reaching for razor blades yet.
The proposal is just that – an idea that is about a million miles from the finish line, if it ever gets there, but it does show that despite its massive investment in athletics, including a new on-campus football stadium, USF still has an image problem with groups like this.
The proposal includes a carrot to the Group of 8 schools by offering a chance to move up to the big table.
In a news release, CST said, “The best 8 schools in the Group of 8 would have the opportunity to play up into the upper tier the following season, enabling promotion with relegation of any of the Power 12 schools.”
The Athletic reported, “CST has brought together too many high-profile powerbrokers to be completely dismissed. But the idea of college sports, which has long lacked any semblance of cohesion, moving away from the existing model and agreeing to a newly unified structure, seems — at the moment, at least — like a pipe dream.”
It would face numerous obstacles, not the least of which is current conference obligations and their various media rights deals. The NCAA would need to cooperate along individual institutions and their leadership.
The plan also could face legal challenges from Group of Eight schools over whether it puts them at competitive and financial disadvantages.
“Historically, the beauty of college football has been how many schools around the country were competing for the championship,” Jimmy Haslam in a statement CST released on Tuesday.
Haslam is a member of CST, as well as the owner of the Cleveland Browns and longtime booster for University of Tennessee athletics.
“We need to bring college football back to the broad, national model of its golden years in a system which fosters more competitive balance,” he said.
