College football leaders revisit moving up season to Week Zero
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — College leaders are again exploring an earlier football kickoff date.
Executives this week re-examined an issue that has, for years, been under discussion: making Week Zero a permanent playing date for college football teams. FBS leaders held more conversations on the long-discussed concept during the annual three-day gathering of Division I conference commissioners here this week.
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Commissioners expect the conversation to continue in the coming weeks and months. While there is growing support for the move, no formal proposal has been introduced.
That's not the case for FCS. The division is expected to formalize a proposal that permits schools to begin playing on Week Zero — a decision that would add a 12th regular season game to the schedule starting in 2026.
For FBS, the decision is more complex.
Some do not support shifting the season-opening week from Labor Day weekend — a holiday coinciding with a smorgasbord of college football. However, such a move creates an additional bye week for teams that choose to play on what would be the new Week 1 — an incentive that provides more rest during a college football season that continues to get extended.
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'My view is we should have a consistent start date,' SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. 'The adage is, teams make their most substantial improvement between Games 1 and 2. I think we should have a consistent start date. Labor Day weekend has been a good start date for college football.
'The fact we are taking another look at it could be interesting,' Sankey said of permanently playing on Week Zero. 'I'm not opposed to that. I want to make sure it's a broad view of the issues and not something narrow.'
For now, schools wanting to play on Week Zero must be granted a waiver by NCAA governance committees.
Under NCAA bylaw 17.11.4, FBS teams cannot play their first game until the Thursday before Labor Day. However, an exception to the rule was instituted in 2016 (NCAA bylaw 17.11.4.1), allowing Hawaii and teams that visit Hawaii the option to play on the Saturday before Labor Day weekend. Two years ago, there was the introduction of a foreign travel exemption (NCAA bylaw 17.11.4.3), allowing Navy to face Notre Dame in Dublin, Ireland.
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Eliminating waivers across all NCAA areas has been a focal point for university leadership over the last several years, as they often result in difficult-to-defend legal challenges.
'We had a good discussion about the calendar and a uniform start date for FBS instead of continuing to deal with waiver requests, case by case,' American commissioner Tim Pernetti told Yahoo Sports. 'A consistent start date is a key element to the future of FBS.'
Whether that standard start date will be in its current position or move up a week remains murky.
Over the last three years, Week Zero has been central to discussions related to a long-discussed shift of the regular season by a week. Three years ago, College Football Playoff leaders spent several meetings discussing moving up the regular season by a week, which would shift rivalry games off of Thanksgiving, make conference championship weekend on that holiday and free up an extra weekend in December to hold rounds of a rapidly expanding playoff.
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The latest conversations around Week Zero are, for now, not centered on a full shift in the regular season, though some hope, eventually, that will happen.
The move from FCS to begin regularly playing on Week Zero may serve as a trigger for FBS. The two divisions often hold games against one another early in the season — quasi-preseason games for power programs looking to fine-tune a new team before bigger matchups on Labor Day weekend and beyond.
Week Zero has been a popular playing date for a handful of teams, though the number is declining. Twelve games involving an FBS team were played on Week Zero in 2022. There are four FBS games scheduled for Week Zero this year — the same as last season.
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