“The Last Dance,” but make it college football

On Saturday, what’s being hailed as "the last season of college football as we know it" officially kicks off – and demand for tickets is hotter than ever.

According to StubHub, ticket sales for this season are over 50% higher than last year, a phenomenon the ticketing giant mostly attributes to an upcoming series of major changes that will fundamentally alter many colleges’ opponents, rivalries, and travel schedules.

📅 The end of an era: The 2023 season will play out similar to previous years, with the “Power Five” major conferences all fully intact and a four-team College Football Playoff to decide the championship.

But starting in 2024, the college football landscape will look a lot different:

• Texas and Oklahoma will be leaving the Big-12 conference to join the SEC.
• The Pac-12 conference is losing two-thirds of its members, with four schools going to the Big Ten and four to the Big-12. It’s currently unclear if the Pac-12 will continue to exist beyond 2023.
• The College Football Playoff is expanding to a 12-team format, in which the top four seeds receive a first-round bye.

👀 Looking ahead… “Week 0” of the college football season takes place tomorrow, featuring a slate of ten games starting at 2:30 pm ET. The rest of the NCAA will play their first games over Labor Day weekend.