Our radical idea for college football: Start the regular season in mid-August ... that's right, on Week -1

The proposal: make college football’s regular season start on the third Saturday of August—“Week -1”—every year. The argument is that an earlier kickoff would create larger, cleaner broadcast windows while avoiding the NFL’s calendar dominance, and it could help address the sport’s often-criticized late-January conclusion of the College Football Playoff. While Division I approved moving all teams to “Week 0” starting in 2027, the article says that still doesn’t go far enough. It cites Roger Goodell’s interest in an 18th NFL game, likely around Labor Day, which would erode college’s current exclusive holiday weekend.