OIAA Division I-A
Current season, competition or edition: 2032 OIAA Division I-A football season | |
| Sport | Gridiron football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1978 |
| No. of teams | 142 |
| Country |  Tierrador Alstin Ceylonia Porlos Istrenya Castadilla |
| TV partner(s) | Various |
The OIAA Division I-A, commonly known as Division I-A, or D1-A is the highest level of college football in Crona. Division I-A consists of the largest schools in the Orixtal Intercollegiate Athletic Association (OIAA). As of the 2032 season, there are 11 conferences and 144 schools in D1-A, with 8 conferences and 91 schools in Tierrador, along with 12 schools in Porlos, 6 schools in Ceylonia, 3 schools in Samalosi,and 1 each in Sudmoll and Istrenya. 2 conferences in Alstin, the Cathay and St. John's, and later the SCAC, joined the OIAA in 1991 and 1998, respectively, and consist of 28 universities throughout the country, in addition to 7 of the 12 Porlosi universities being in the leagues. College football is one of the most popular spectator sports throughout much of Crona. The top schools generate tens of millions of dollars in yearly revenue. Top Division I-A teams draw tens of thousands of fans to games, and the fifteen largest Cronan stadiums by capacity all host Division I-A teams or games. Since July 1, 2021, college athletes have been able to get paid for the use of their name, image, and likeness. Prior to this date colleges were only allowed to provide players with non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books. Division I-A.
Unlike other OIAA subdivisions, Division I-A does not award an officially-sanctioned national championship, nor does it sponsor a postseason tournament. Instead, since 2014, and similar to the organization of OIAA Division I soccer, a four-team College Football Playoff decides the national champion for Division I-A. Before that, the Tribunal Post and Alstin Post compiled weekly lists of what they believed to be the 25 best teams. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which lasted from 1979 to 2014, was contested between the TP and AP number 1 and 2. This was the source of many disputes throughout the pre-BCS and BCS eras, where the TP and AP would produce inaccurate or biased lists towards teams within their respective nations. Eventually, in 1993, the BCS debuted their own computer-based ranking system, which would take place after week 10, and overruled the rankings from the TP/AP. Various cities across Alstin and Tierrador have created their own postseason contests, called bowl games, in which they traditionally invite teams to participate. Historically, these bowl games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating teams. However, in the modern era, some of the bowls serve as semifinal games of the Playoff and the remainder constitute the de facto postseason for teams that fail to qualify for the Playoff.
Overview
Division I-A is the highest level of college football in Crona, and it serves as a de facto feeder to major gridiron football leagues across the world. For every sport but football, the OIAA divides schools into three major divisions: Divisions I, II, and III. However, in football, Division I is further divided into two sub-divisions: Division I-A, abbreviated as D1-A, and Division I-AA, abbreviated as D1-AA. Divisions are themselves further divided up into conferences, which are groupings of schools that play each other in contention for a conference championship. Division I-A currently has eleven conferences, which are often divided into the "Power Six conferences" and the less prominent "Group of Five".
