The policy in brief
What this part would establish
- Every eligible FBS institution retains a path to the CFP.
- No institution should prefer the ranking position directly below it.
- A required conference championship appearance should create opportunity, not disproportionate downside.
- Official decisions must separate what a team earned from a prediction of how good it is now.
- Conferences retain identity and scheduling authority inside shared national participation standards.
How it works
Keep one ecosystem
The complementary National Tournament does not create a new subdivision or close the CFP to institutions outside the Power Four. It adds a second meaningful objective while preserving the CFP as the only FBS national-championship path.
Make every position consequential
The postseason is organized into four benefit bands: double bye, single bye, opening-round home game, and opening-round road game. That creates a continuous incentive to improve rather than one qualification cliff followed by nearly identical paths.
Use institutional categories, not named teams
The implementing rulebook would define conference members and independents by affiliation for the season rather than embedding individual institutions. An independent remains an independent regardless of reputation, media value, schedule, or a separate postseason agreement.
- Season classification is based on football membership on the preceding July 1.
- Power Four status attaches to a conference holding designated access and champion-bye rights in the CFP agreement.
- A change in designation ordinarily requires two seasons of notice.
Protect tradition through incentives
The proposal does not try to standardize colors, rivalries, conferences, bands, or campus identity. It standardizes the national incentives that currently reward weak scheduling, punish extra competition, or push roster-market activity into championship season.
Safeguards
What keeps the rule honest
- No permanent list of favored institutions appears in the rulebook.
- Conference authority remains intact except where national participation requires a common standard.
- Every later change must be tested against these principles before adoption.
Still to resolve
Questions testing must answer
- What formal amendment threshold should govern a future change in conference designation?
- Which national standards are essential, and which decisions should remain entirely local?
- How should the system respond if conference structure changes dramatically before launch?
Discuss this rule
The proposal ends.
The thread starts here.
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