Asheville, NC – The college chiefs again explore a date to kick off previous football.
This week’s leaders have re -examined a problem which, for years, has been under discussion: to make zero week a permanent game date for university football teams. FBS leaders have organized more conversations on the long -standing concept during the annual rally of the commissioners of the Division I Conference this week.
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The commissioners expect the conversation to continue in the coming weeks and months. Although there is growing support for this decision, no official proposal has been introduced.
This is not the case for FCS. The division should formalize a proposal that allows schools to start playing the zero week – a decision that would add a 12th regular season game to the calendar from 2026.
For FBS, the decision is more complex.
Some do not support the trip of the opening week of the labor weekend season – vacation coinciding with a university football smorgasbord. However, such a decision creates an additional week of leave for the teams who choose to play on what would be the new week 1 – an incentive that offers more rest during a university football season which continues to extend.
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“My opinion is that we should have a coherent start date,” said SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Thursday. “The adage is that the teams make their most substantial improvement between matches 1 and 2. I think we should have a coherent start date. The Labor Day weekend was a good start date for university football.
“The fact that we are examining another glance there could be interesting,” said Sankey about playing permanently the week Zero. “I am not opposed to that. I want to make sure it is a wide view of the problems and not something narrow. ”
For the moment, schools wishing to play the Zero week must be given a derogation from the governance committees of the NCAA.
Under the regulations of the NCAA 17.11.4, the FBS teams cannot play their first match before Thursday before the Labor Day. However, an exception to the rule was established in 2016 (NCAA regulation 17.11.4.1), allowing Hawaii and teams that visit Hawaii the possibility of playing on Saturday before the Labor Day weekend. Two years ago, there was the introduction of an exemption from foreign travel (NCAA regulation 17.11.4.3), allowing the Navy to face Notre Dame in Dublin, Ireland.
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The elimination of derogations in all areas of NCAA has been a focal point for university leadership in recent years, as they often lead to legal challenges that are difficult to defend.
“We had a good discussion on the calendar and a uniform start date for FBS instead of continuing to process the requests for derogation, case by case,” said US Commissioner Tim Pernetti in Yahoo Sports. “A coherent start date is a key element in the future of FBS.”
Whether this standard start date will be in its current position or goes up a week remains troubled.
Over the past three years, Zero week has been at the heart of discussions related to a long -week change of defense of the regular season. Three years ago, the heads of series playoffs of university football spent several meetings to discuss the regular regular season, which would discourage Thanksgiving rivalry matches, would do a weekend of the conference championship during this vacation and would release an additional weekend in December to organize expanding elimination series.
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The latest conversations around the week zero are, for the moment, not focused on a complete change in the regular season, although hope, ultimately, ends up occurring.
The move of FCS to start playing regularly the zero week can serve as a trigger for FBS. The two divisions often organize matches against each other at the start of the season-almost presidents for electricity programs that seek to refine a new team before bigger games on the weekend of the Labor Day and beyond.
Zero week was a popular game date for a handful of teams, although the number is down. Twelve games involving an FBS team were played the week zero in 2022. There are four FBS games scheduled for zero week this year – like last season.