As wildly entertaining as the new, 12-team College Football Playoff was, it was an arduous grind. And while Ohio State was able to outlast everyone on its way to the national championship, it has become increasingly clear that something needs to change with the college football calendar.
Not only do teams have to try and navigate a postseason that is longer than at any time in history, but the transfer portal straddles it all, the Early Signing Period gets thrown in, and incoming classes that have early enrollees start to arrive on campus. And that’s just the start of it, there are many more things going on behind the scenes that make life awfully difficult in the big city.
Count current Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork as one who is ready to throw his voice behind the need to change the calendar. He spoke to ESPN and threw his weight behind any efforts to start the conversations in an earnest manner.
“We’ve had so many disruptions over the last five-plus years that I think the time is now to not be reactive, be proactive,” Bjork told the ‘Worldwide Leader.’ “When we had this setting here with the commissioners, our job was to provide feedback on what was it like to go through the 12-team playoff … but it all gets impacted by the calendar. I felt it was important to lay that out with everyone in the room to say, separate from the CFP process, if we don’t fix our calendar as an industry, then we’re going to continue to have unintended consequences.”
It’s hard to argue with Bjork, and he’s not the only AD of prominent football schools who is stomping for changes. In fact, three other programs that were a part of the CFP also voiced opinions. Notre Dame’s Pete Bevacqua, Texas’ Chris Del Conte and Penn State’s Pat Kraft also expressed concerns at spring meetings.
Bjork also voiced concern over countable athletically-related activities (CARA). Many waivers and exceptions had to be made because of the 20-hour practice limit per week while classes are in session. Those athletic calendars don’t always align between programs.
“When you don’t have class, there is no limit to CARA hours,” Bjork continues. “It created some disadvantages. It all goes back to what’s countable CARA hours, NCAA structure. The portal is the next big conversation after the House case and truly what kind of rules can we set? Will we have the authority around transfer rules to set some parameters?”
Bjork also called for changes to the transfer portal window and alignment with the House settlement for revenue sharing if approved.
“May makes the most sense” to align player contracts with the portal, Bjork told ESPN. “If everyone follows the structure, it’s going to be a great structure. And everyone has to follow the rules,” he said, “and agree that this is the structure, which we have to. If we don’t do that, then what good is the settlement?”
Bjork has some points, and if revenue had anything to do with it, you have to believe all of this would move much faster. Unfortunately, when it comes to logistics and aligning an academic calendar, the wheels seem to turn much slower.
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