Too Many Teams in the FCS Playoffs?

[tony]

Dont see the big deal with 24 teams.

Yeah, that don't confront me long as we get a bye week over the fourth Thursday.

[IndyBison]

A bigger problem in IMO is letting the Pioneer, NEC, and Patriot have an auto-bid. If you don't fully fund your program you shouldn't be guaranteed a spot. Holy Cross definitely would have gotten an at large this year so nobody worthy is being left out.
The FCS playoffs lose money overall and that hurts things, but I wonder what it would look like if we went to 16 and skipped Thanksgiving games that nobody goes to. I think we'd be close to break even. The NCAA makes a lot of noise about student-athlete well-being, but ignore that for a lot of FB players Thanksgiving weekend is the only time the entire semester they can travel home to be with their family.

I don't know the exact math, but I have a hard time believing FCS is remotely close to breaking even. Of the 90 championships the NCAA sponsors at all 3 levels, only 5 make money: men's basketball, men's ice hockey, men's wrestling, men's lacrosse, and baseball. 80% of their revenue comes from March Madness. They may lose less money by cutting back to 16 because that weekend definitely doesn't come out ahead. But it may not be enough to change the needle.

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[taper]

I don't know the exact math, but I have a hard time believing FCS is remotely close to breaking even. Of the 90 championships the NCAA sponsors at all 3 levels, only 5 make money: men's basketball, men's ice hockey, men's wrestling, men's lacrosse, and baseball. 80% of their revenue comes from March Madness. They may lose less money by cutting back to 16 because that weekend definitely doesn't come out ahead. But it may not be enough to change the needle.

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I completely believe the current FCS playoffs lose a ton of money. However, consider the difference between 1st round and later games. 2k attendance at $10 probably doesn't even cover field staff travel and lodging, much less the visiting team. Later rounds with 10k+ at $30+ is more than most regular season guarantee games so I assume that covers costs and then some. It's very possible the 2nd round and on are profitable but can't make up for the money pit of 1st round.

[JMB]

Bisonville...

"24 Teams are too many teams for the FCS playoffs, too many teams with no chance get in"

NDSU moves to FBS...

"If we do really well this year we can get into the CFP as the top G5 school!"


Personally I like that the conference champions get a spot in the playoffs. If you had a good year, took care of the folks in front of you, why not? Now I also understand the allure of the Celebration Bowl, "Hey we did really well, lets have our own championship so someone goes out on a high note as opposed to getting beat up by a football team from the Missouri Valley Conference."