BCS Meetings: Much Ado About Nothing
All the players involved in the BCS are spending a few days this week in Hollywood, Florida, talking about the future of the BCS system. As for any action coming out of the meeting, don’t hold your breath.
The BCS league commissioners, Bowl Representatives and TV officials are all there. Wednesday SEC Commissioner Mike Slive will along with ACC Commissioner John Swofford present a 4-team playoff plan. The plan calls for the BCS poll to seed the Top 4 teams, who would play in the semifinals and then a championship game. Neither is very optimistic about this plan passing.
If there had been a 4-team playoff this past December, you would have had these two semifinals Jan. 1 and Jan. 2.
#1 Ohio State vs. #4 Oklahoma and #2 LSU vs. #3 Va. Tech.
The BCS Championship game would have been held 10 days later. If such a format comes about, another BCS Bowl game would need to be added to keep the current 10 slots in BCS bowls. Both Atlanta and Dallas (with Jerry Jones new stadium) are more than willing to get into the BCS circle.
The BCS still has two years left with its contract with Fox, and negotiations for an extention will begin in September. ABC’s contract with the Rose Bowl runs through 2014. The expectation is that the status quo will remain so at least until then.
Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has an excellent breakdown of the factions involved in the BCS.
April 29, 2008 at 11:05 am
LSU - Virginia Tech rematch. I guess that’s always a possibility in a playoff system.
April 29, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I’ve said for a long time now that the fundamental obstacle in having a D1 football playoff lies largely at the feet of the NCAA office itself. A playoff would take the money out of the confences and schools’ hands and would put it in the NCAA’s for distribution. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing if it weren’t for the fact the NCAA is a bunch of greedy bitches. Look at the money generated by March Madness. That CBS contract isn’t with the invidual confrences and schools, but with the NCAA directly. If the NCAA didn’t do such a shitty job distributing that fund (read: kept a good deal for themselves), then perhaps the Bowls, university presidents, coaches, athletic directors and confrence chairmen wouldn’t be so against giving the NCAA control over a D1 playoff. But alas, they can’t trust them. Or rather, they can only trust them to do things in the best intrest of the NCAA office and not in the best interest of the other parties’ respective positions. Thus I doubt we’ll ever see a D1 playoff more than what we already have. Thanks NCAA.
April 30, 2008 at 8:46 am
That’s only half of the issue. Who would get the money is the other half.
April 30, 2008 at 9:47 am
“If there had been a 4-team playoff this past December, you would have had these two semifinals Jan. 1 and Jan. 2.
#1 Ohio State vs. #4 Oklahoma and #2 LSU vs. #3 Va. Tech.”
Uh oh. I seem to remember the big problem with the BCS last year was that Southern Cal and Georgia didn’t get bids to the championship game. This just seems like it would make them madder. Which is fine with me.
April 30, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I think a playoff is the way to go as well, but people should be aware that games like the Texas/USC Rose Bowl might have never happened if there had been a playoff in place.
Some years you wish there was a playoff (2004/2007), and some years all a playoff will do is screw up a good thing (2002, 2005).
May 4, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Read “Bowls, Polls, and Tatterred Souls” by the cnnsi.com college football writer, Stewart Mandel for an insightful discussion of this topic.
May 4, 2008 at 8:20 pm
The BCS needs to be left exactly like it is. I’d rather OU not get an extra chance to buttfuck anything with national title ramifications until Stoops and Venables get the defense figured out.