Update from by previous "Dream League" outline
This is brought over from another thread since it fits here better.
Three step process could actually make this happen
1) THE ROSE LEAGUE: BigTen and Pac-12 decide to merge (an aliance was discussed recently, but failed) to form a "League". Along with the merger they also invite Pitt, Boston College, and Navy with the understanding from Notre Damn that if this all goes through, they will join as the 30th member since every major rivalry (except Army) will be scheduled yearly in this new League. Divisions within the league can be made made for other sports, but not for football.
2) THE SUGAR LEAGUE: Following this example the SEC, Big12, and ACC merge. Syracuse requests to opt out and join the Rose League, meaning the Sugar League has 35 members, and the Rose League is considering expansion.
3) The two league negotiate a new system of bowl games, league tournaments, scheduling (6 protected rivalry games [with a few exceptions], 10 league games [no exceptions], 2 more [FBS only] games scheduled at will), and a national championship game that pits the two league champions against each other (like the old MLB system). Also the leagues expand to 40 teams so all legit playoff contenders are in a league, and nearly all traditional rivalries are accounted for.
I found complete FBS rankings
data from 1-120+ a while back, and used this to find average BCS-era, and last-5-year rankings of every team. Then the top teams that I actually thought the leagues
would agree on where added (i.e. N.Ill and Toledo were passed over for better football+academics+TVmarket+rivalries options) to get the leagues to 40 each.
Here is what that produces
Columns of teams show how they might group basketball divisions, or other sports.
I had a list of traditional rivalries in college football, so I did a quick cross-schedule to see how each school would probably try to lock in their yearly rivalry games.... Red/Blue are major traditional rivals, lighter colors are traditional conference foes, or sometimes a new matchup of interest made to meet the 6 game minimum.
Here are the Sugar League rivalry games:
And here are the Rose League rivalry games:
Here I also added randomized games (the extra "1's") to fill out the remainder of the schedule so each teams has 10 league games. just to see how it might play out.
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