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Proposed rulesWhen can players and coaches move?
After the championship. In the illustrative 2027 cycle, coaching movement starts January 26; portal entry runs January 28–February 10 (14 days); visits and signing run February 11–21. May 1–7 is a limited correction window, not a second general market.
Is this an approved schedule?
No. Dates are illustrative. The December 23–30 no-game pause, athlete protections, campus readiness and broadcast coordination still need agreement before launch.
What is the postseason sequence?
Selection comes first, followed by the Campus Opening Round and CFP Bowl Weekend. A December 23–30 no-game pause precedes campus quarterfinals and semifinals, then a neutral-site championship.
How it works & full rules
Give the postseason a clear sequence, include a Christmas no-game pause, return January rounds to certified campuses, and negotiate a Saturday-night neutral championship. Time-off protections and broadcast windows still need agreement.
Why change is needed
Long gaps, scattered bowls, roster movement, coaching changes, and NFL conflicts make the championship feel detached from the regular season and force athletes to prepare while their teams are being rebuilt.
Why this approach
Bowls get a concentrated round; later campus games reward stronger surviving résumés and reduce repeated destination trips for their fans. A neutral final treats both finalists alike. Roster, coaching, and professional deadlines must fit that sequence.
How it works
- Rivalry week, conference championships, the Campus Opening Round, and CFP Bowl Weekend run on consecutive weekends.
- December 23–30 has no tournament games. Time off, practice limits, and travel protections need a separate agreement; players are not automatically free for the whole window.
- Later rounds use certified campuses, even where winter break continues. The Saturday-night title is a negotiated target, with a mutually cleared alternative if agreement is not reached.
The tradeoff
Double-bye teams may wait three or four weeks, while the longest path adds substantial workload. Rest, rust, academics, weather, travel, and NFL cooperation all remain genuine constraints.
In practice
A higher-ranked semifinalist activates a hosting plan prepared before selection. If students are still on break, the school needs a workable housing, ticket, and transport plan—not an assumption that the campus is already full.
The complete rule set
What this part would establish
- Rivalry games conclude the regular season on Thanksgiving weekend.
- Conference championships, the Campus Opening Round, and CFP Bowl Weekend follow on consecutive weekends.
- The proposed December 23–30 pause contains no CFP or National Tournament games; practice, travel, and time-off protections must be agreed separately.
- Quarterfinals and semifinals are played on qualifying campuses after the holiday pause.
- The season ends with a neutral-site championship. Saturday primetime on NFL Wild Card Weekend is the preferred negotiated target, not a secured window; a mutually cleared alternative is required if it cannot be agreed.
- CFP and NFL postseason windows, draft deadlines, advisory dates, and combine obligations are coordinated and published together before each season.
Detailed mechanics
A continuous championship rhythm
The proposed flow gives each stage a defined purpose: rivalry weekend, conference championships, the Campus Opening Round, CFP Bowl Weekend, the Christmas No-Game Pause, Campus Quarterfinals, Campus Semifinals, and the neutral National Championship. It does not eliminate every long layoff: a protected-bye team can still wait roughly three or four weeks after its conference title game, and that tradeoff requires testing.
Why the site changes with the calendar
The bowl round gives the premier bowls one concentrated championship role. Later campus rounds reward the higher-ranked survivors and limit repeated neutral-site trips for their supporters; the final stays neutral so neither finalist receives home-field advantage. This is a deliberate tradeoff, not the simplest travel sequence. Away teams still travel, and an early-January game does not mean students are back. Each host must plan around its own academic calendar and demonstrate student access during winter break.
Workload and recovery
The longest theoretical path is 18 games: 12 regular-season games, a conference championship, and five CFP games. Only a conference finalist starting in Round 1 can reach it. A double-bye conference finalist would play 15 total games. December 23–30 is a proposed no-game window, not a promise of eight days away from football or a trip home for every player. Before adoption, athlete representatives and medical and operations staff must settle limits on required activity, protected time off, travel, and access to care, meals, and housing. A December 31 quarterfinal makes those details particularly important.
The bye tradeoff
A double bye is supposed to reward an elite regular season, but a conference-title participant could go roughly three or four weeks without a game before the quarterfinal. That may support physical recovery while also creating rust and a different competitive rhythm from teams advancing weekly. The proposal does not claim a settled fix; schedule compression, controlled practice standards, and historical outcome testing should be evaluated without forcing a team to surrender an earned bye.
One calendar beyond the games
The national roster freeze and recruiting dead period are designed around the same championship window. The calendar succeeds only if transfer entry, formal signing, and formal FBS-to-FBS coaching movement do not compete with preparation.
The shared operating year
The college and professional calendars should be published as one coordinated record by May 1. Before the season, athletes receive one status guide covering representation, insurance, medical-data consent, draft exploration, evaluation, withdrawal, and professional commitment. During December, no active finalist should face a portal, draft, combine, or contract deadline that forces a decision while the team is still competing. After the title, the systems run the championship handoff, professional evaluation, player movement, roster certification, and spring workload in the published order. The following May audit records deviations, athlete-status disputes, consent failures, corrective action, dissents, and the recommendation for the next compact year.
The Saturday-night championship target
The proposed College Football–NFL Coordination Compact targets Saturday primetime during NFL Wild Card Weekend for the college national championship. Earlier NFL Saturday games and its Sunday and Monday windows are a bargaining scenario, not reserved inventory. The CFP, NFL, rights holders, hosts, and relevant athlete representatives must agree to any change within their authority. If that target cannot be secured, the compact offers a mutually cleared Friday or other standalone night as a bridge. Audit every postseason round for overlap, including January semifinals; the proposal cannot guarantee an NFL-free window by itself.
Clear the windows and the cash deadlines
A proposed date is not a secured broadcast window or an additional rights payment. Evaluate competing programming, production capacity, displaced inventory and negotiated fallbacks before estimating incremental retained value. Map travel deposits, hosting work and access payments against receipt dates for each responsible entity. A positive annual budget cannot excuse a cash shortage before a game, and a television preference cannot waive recovery or academic protections.
Current proposal answers
Decisions already made.
These are policy calls—not claims that outside approval or validation already exists.How should the calendar adjust in years when holidays fall on difficult broadcast days?
The game sequence may move within the published week, but minimum recovery and academic protection cannot be waived for a television preference. Saturday night remains the championship objective, with the compact’s mutually cleared alternative used if agreement is not reached. Publish exact dates, unresolved conflicts, and any fallback before Week 0; do not present a target as an approved window.
Safeguards
What keeps the rule honest
- Minimum recovery periods govern exact annual dates, especially for conference champions.
- Medical, practice-load, academic, and travel standards accompany the competition calendar.
- A conference adding its own postseason round must reduce regular-season exposure.
- An annual public conflict audit reports unavoidable NFL overlap, rest effects, travel burdens, and any deviation from the protected-window agreement.
Evidence still required
What outside proof must answer
- What is the minimum safe recovery interval for every possible tournament path?
- What is the maximum acceptable competitive layoff after a conference championship, and what remedy preserves the value of an earned bye?
- Which campuses can reliably satisfy January field, travel, and broadcast standards?
- Which media, venue, labor, and rights agreements are required to protect Saturday primetime on NFL Wild Card Weekend?
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