Custom Conferences and Relegation

[jdb7623]

I think I want to implement some kind of relegation system to my dynasty. I'm not sure on the rules but if you are first place in a lower tier conference you get promoted. And vice versa a history of poor performance gets you demoted?

Anyone have a system in mind of how to manage it?

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Quote: Originally Posted by jdb7623

I think I want to implement some kind of relegation system to my dynasty. I'm not sure on the rules but if you are first place in a lower tier conference you get promoted. And vice versa a history of poor performance gets you demoted? Anyone have a system in mind of how to manage it?

I did one back in NCAA 14. I think someone here actually gave me the base idea.

I worked it out so every conference had 12 teams, divided into 2 divisions. Winners of each Group of 5 conference division got promoted to the Power 5 conference it fed into:

Mountain West fed into the Pac-12
Conference USA fed into the Big 12
MAC fed into the Big 10
Sun Belt fed in the SEC
American fed into the ACC

The last place teams in each of the Power 5 conference divisions got demoted down to the lower conference.

Power 5 conference champions got auto BCS bowl bids, the rest were At Large.

I also had a group of six Independents, which were the worst six teams in the game. The Independent team with the best record for the season would get promoted to a Group of 5 conference, replacing the team in the Group of 5 that had the worst record, with which the Independent team matched up to the best geographically (ex. if Idaho was the best Independent, they'd replace the worst Mountain West team).

To make everything work, I had to do some realignment. For example, I moved Notre Dame into the Big 10.

I'm not sure exactly how it can all work in CFB25, but I'd think something like this could be done in the new game with some tweaking and adjusting.

[GKEnialb]

In 14, I messed a lot with the conferences to have 4 regions with 3 tiers of conferences in each (each with 2 divisions), balanced so each region had 31 teams, plus 2 independents feeding from the bottom. The last place team of each division dropped a tier and the first place team of each division was promoted to the higher tier.

For 25, I was planning on doing exactly what MrArlingtonBeach said - the Power 5 conferences on the top tier (with divisions) and those same G5 conferences (with divisions) feeding them, with the independents feeding the MWC to feed the Pac-12. Same promotion / relegation with top team from each division / bottom team from each division. I was going to leave all the conferences as they are now (other than promoting a bunch from the MWC to the Pac-12), though, even if it makes the number of teams in each conference inconsistent.

It is a lot of fun to see how promotion / relegation changes the conferences over the years. Kinda wish they did that in the real world...

[BoilerBaller4]

I'm doing a tiered system of four conference in Tier 1, four conference in Tier 2, and two conferences in Tier 3. I'm using 130 teams - 13 teams per conference. The service academies and New Mexico State are Independents and fall outside the scope of promotion/relegation.

I used the most currently available 5-year average SP+ percentile ranking (through 2022 season) to rank teams 1-130, then did a snake draft to balance out the conferences. For example., Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia and Michigan were the top four teams and will be placed in the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12, respectively. Clemson was 5th overall and is with Michigan in the Big 12. The balance across conferences in each Tier (and importantly in Tier 1) should allow the CFP logic to work "correctly".

I'm going to promote teams that make the conference championship in Tiers 2 and 3, and the winner of the conference championship game gets a one year "cushion" such that they cannot be immediately relegated the following season. National champions receive a 4 year exemption to Tier 1. Bottom two teams in each conference of Tier 1 are relegated, while last place in Tier 2 gets relegated to Tier 3.

Probably some other rules to iron out but that's a start.

[sherrane]

Quote: Originally Posted by jdb7623

I think I want to implement some kind of relegation system to my dynasty. I'm not sure on the rules but if you are first place in a lower tier conference you get promoted. And vice versa a history of poor performance gets you demoted? Anyone have a system in mind of how to manage it?

I would relegate every three years in 14 / Revamped. I chose three years because that was the time the NY6 Bowls rotate, so a relegation year was the season the playoffs were Peach and Fiesta. I also tracked the conference records and a second or third place team in the Division with a five or more game lead over the three seasons would get the Conference Championship Game bid. I decided that because a team went 10-0, 10-0, then 8-1 losing to a team that was 2-7, 3-6, 10-0. Without that correction the 15-13 team would be back in three years replacing the 28-1 team. I also had a relegation bowl for each conference (except the MAC, which was the lowest conference) and the loser gets relegated while the winner stays.


I don't expect any dynasty editors for a while, so I will do a relegation every year with the last place team getting relegated and the winner of the CCG getting promoted. The reason I went away from that previously is because teams tend to Yo-yo. Get relegated one year and then promoted in a year or two because their team was comprised of mostly recruits from a stronger conference. The Transfer Portal may change that so my objection to a yearly relegation might be invalidated in this release.


I know that a lot of college football fans want to maintain regional conferences. I did not want that restriction in order for the best programs to rise to the top. The regional restrictions seem less important now that the ACC spans from Boston to San Francisco, The B1G from East Brunswick to Los Angeles, and the B12 from Orlando to Tempe.

[dylanrocks83]

I don't relegate**. I try to do regional conferences. For example all Ohio teams are in the same league (Ohio State, Cincinnati, Miami (Oh), Toledo, etc.). I then look for neighboring states to pair with it until I get all 10 conferences full. I like parity within the leagues, and grouping by states gives most leagues a good spread of top-end versus lower tier. And with the playoffs, all the very top teams should get in either automatically or with at-large bids.

With the auto-bid for the playoffs, I'm hopeful they'll let us pick which leagues get autobids. If not, then oh well. If a league does have a particular regional name like Southeastern Conference, Sun Belt, Mountain West, Mid-American then I will try to put states in those leagues that fit that name. Conferences like Conference USA, Big 10, Big 12, American Athletic can have any state/region since their name itself doesn't dictate anything.

[RayLenearl]

I created a tool for those who want to do relegation in Dynasty mode. It’s not perfect but hopefully it helps with organizing promotions and demotions.

https://fbgtools.blogspot.com/2024/0...elegation.html

[Spartan Warrior]

With how much regionalism has gone out the window in college football maybe the answer is to just put the top 10 teams in one conference, then the next ten teams in a conference, and so on.