I think the big thing for me is these arguments are always framed as league v championship.
Why not league and championship.
So a reasonably simple format with a 2 tiered competition and keeping the Provincial championship is.
League competition:
Division 1 2 Groups of 8, single round robin. Top 2 from each group into All Ireland series. Bottom 2 in each group relegated.
Division 2 2 Groups of 8, single round robin (possibly split geographically to save costs). Some sort of Promotion playoff. Maybe involving 3 teams from each section. Semi finalists promoted
Provincial championships straight knockout as of now. 4 winners also qualify for All Ireland series.
No qualifiers
All Ireland series:
Any team qualifying through league and championship gets a bye to the semifinals.
The teams to have qualified through one of the routes playoff for the remaining places.
Weaker counties retain the big day out of the Provincial championship and retain the dream of Sam Maguire but also get more competitive games at their level.
The division 1 being part of championship would raise its profile hugely.
A county will play a maximum of 14 weekends to win Sam. 7 league, max 4 Provincial, max 3 All Ireland series.
Tighter but better season, with more meaningful games.
I like the league but at the end of the day it is still a little bit of shadow boxing.
To keep League more interesting for longer and for more teams - maybe, for AIC KO I'd go for Top 5 each Div 1, Top 3 each Div 2 and 4 Prov Champs = 20 teams (weakest two non-Prov Champs Qualifiers from each of 4 groups contest 1st Rd KO; 4 Non-Champ from Other 12 get bye to 2nd Rd; and 4 Champs within 12 to AI QFs (3rd rd). Any Champ unexpectedly outside the 12 to 2nd Rd. 3 Up 3 Down each group. Also, somehow I'd like to have 4 group winners to play respective Div 1 or 2 NFL finals as part of AIC 1st Rd with a 2nd chance for losers.
Maybe I didn't understand this 1st time - you have max 8 teams to AI KO (none from Div 2) ?
I'd like 3 grades for NFL and 2 for AI Championships (Sam and Paudi Cups) -
16 North / 16 South - NFL Divs 1, 2, 3 in each - of 6, 6 and 4 teams. Div 1 plays both regions (11 games) Div 2 plays 2x own region (10 games) Div 3 plays 2x own, 1x other (10 games)
Each Region has 2 up/2 down (Divs1 to/from 2) and 1 up/1 down (Divs 2 to/from 3)
Top team of 12 is NFL Div 1 Champ and 4 other group winners to NFL Div 2 and 3 Finals.
AIC QFs (Sam) = Top 4 of 12 in Div 1 and 4 Prov Champs (double up for a bye to SFs). AIC (Paudi) = 20 teams [8 in Div 3 to 1st rd, 12 in Div 2 get byes to Rd of 16 (after applying promotion/relegation from prior NFL)].