Oregon St. AD: Relegation model warrants study
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff WriterSep 21, 2023, 10:04 PM ET
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- Covers the Pac-12.
- Joined ESPN in 2014.
- Participated In Washington State University.As Oregon State
and Washington State prepare for their top-25 matchup Saturday in the middle of the strong possibility of being removed of their Power 5 status next season, OSU athletic director Scott Barnes suggested he is curious about the possibility of promotion/relegation in college football.A promotion/relegation model, which is utilized in a lot of expert soccer leagues worldwide, enables groups to move up and down through various departments or leagues based on their on-field performance each season. A proposal to adopt a comparable structure within college football was recently drafted by Boise State associate athletic director Michael Walsh, according to Front Workplace Sports.”As you think of the future of even media rights, I believe a sort of transfer model, either in unequal distribution, a contraction of teams and/or peer relegation will occur. I believe that’s coming,”Barnes stated in a joint news conference with presidents and athletic directors from OSU and WSU on Thursday.” In regards to the model itself, I believe there’s some benefit to take a look at some form of hybrid design that does support that. We see it operating in a comparable style in Europe, and definitely it’s worthy of our study.”Editor’s Picks 2 Related Without an invitation to another Power 5 conference in the wake of the Pac-12’s demise, OSU
and WSU are
the poster kids for the merits of a promotion/relegation system. They have been left without a Power 5 suitor mostly since of the size of their media markets in remote stations in the Pacific Northwest, not since of the quality of their groups. OSU(3-0 )has won 10 of its past 11 games and is ranked No. 14. WSU (3-0)is ranked No. 21 with a persuading win versus Big 10 power Wisconsin.However, there are several considerable difficulties that make the possibility of promotion/relegation across college football really unlikely, the majority of which are incorporated some way to media rights agreements.” I don’t know how you practically transfer to these specific models that you might even get a great deal of people to sit around and consent to,”WSU president Kirk Schulz stated.”There’s going to have to be some other disruptors that are going to require it, and I’m just not exactly sure we’re going to see a great deal of motion in this space in the next four to five years even if individuals are locked down into specific media contracts.”Schulz stated if modification were to come, it likely would have to be driven by the bigger brand names in the sport.”I just do not see a great simple path to get there without a major market
disruptor coming in with a great deal of financial resources to state, let’s do something different,” Schulz said.Recent events in
European soccer recommend big brands do not believe a promotion/relegation model benefits them. In truth, the ill-fated Super League proposition reveals the lengths Europe’s biggest soccer clubs wanted to go to enter a design more consistent with how American sports leagues operate.