Exactly What America Needs: This Report Of A Promotion/Relegation System Between The Pac-12 And MWC In College Football
Oh hell yeah. This is exactly what the Pac-2 (still such a ridiculous thing to see typed out) needs to survive. We've talked about how promotion and relegation would be awesome in America even though no league will ever adapt it. We just refuse, but that's until now, potentially.
[Source] - Preserving two separate conferences is maybe the most important part of this concept. The Mountain West and Pac-2 would strike a partnership around a relegation system for football and be managed by a single commissioner, though their membership may fluctuate — at least in football — on an annual or biannual basis.
The idea starts with the Pac-12 and Mountain West each having at least eight members for a total of 16 teams. Think of it as a Pac-12 division and a Mountain West division under the umbrella of this football-relegation partnership.
Each year or two, two teams from each conference are relegated and promoted: two promoted from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 and two relegated from the Pac-12 to the Mountain West.
You got my attention. I know there's a fear here that why would there be a risk for Mountain West teams to agree to this, but here's my point. You're the MWC. You need to get poached by another conference in order to be a power conference and now you're given the opportunity. Plus, no one has ever summed it up better than this:
“It’s time we admit what college football is: an entertainment product,” said one Mountain West administrator.
Yeah, that's what college sports are in general. Nailed it. So let's lean into it. You can still make money, you can still have a shot to make the playoffs, but you can also entertain America. Plus, there's something about the west coast doing this. Imagine being up until 1am just to see if Oregon State can avoid relegation? Sign me up for that in basketball too.
Advertisement
Even better? This scheduling idea:
- a Bracket Buster Weekend in early to mid-November, where pairings are determined two weeks prior and are based off of current standings with the intent on arranging compelling, crossover matchups.
- A Relegation Game between the sixth- and seventh-placed teams in the Pac-12. The loser is relegated to the Mountain West. The eighth-place finisher in the regular season is automatically relegated.
- A Promotion Game between the second- and third-placed teams in the Mountain West. The winner is promoted to the Pac-12. The regular-season champion of the Mountain West is automatically promoted to the Pac-12.
Do you know how awesome that sounds? Do you know how you get people all over the country to care about Colorado State without Deion Sanders across the field? This. This right here. Nevada vs San Jose State in a promotion game? You wouldn't watch that shit unless it was week 0, put it on for a promotion and money at stake and you have my attention. We should adapt this because it's the only way to save the Pac-12. You immediately become the most interesting conference in America for at least a year.
Again, I know it's a long shot. I know why people wouldn't want to do this. But it's time we finally bring in some promotion/relegation to America and this is a great start. This is how you keep the Pac-12 after dark alive. I'm all in on this idea.