I Want a Playoff !!!

[davearm]

What exciting College Football we've had... all season really, but especially the last two weeks with all the upsets in the Top 10. And history tells us more thrills, and upsets, are in store in the next month. What a shame that it all comes down to polls and computers telling us which two teams play for all the marbles in Jan.

 

I propose:

* Keep the BCS ranking formula, and use it to select the nation's 8 best teams;

* Devise an equitable way to pair up those 8 teams in the four BCS bowls;

* The 4 BCS Bowl winners advance to a neutral-site Final Four Saturday in mid-January;

* Final Four winners square off for the NC a week later, when the NFL is off leading up to the Super Bowl.

[Coffeeman]

sounds good - done - next? Then I woke up from my dream...I just don't know how we can get the money-grubbing bowl fatcats away from their beloved system.

 

The problem/question for us to overcome (and convince them) is fan travel - is it feasible to have 30-40K faithful from each team go to 3 different cities in 3 weeks without having to camp out under a bridge by the NC game? If you are a big-time $ booster, 6-figure guy or retiree maybe, but its tough for the rest of us...

 

Right now, the fatcats love to set up the whole week with nice hotels, wine-tasting parties, side-trips to Disneyland, etc. How do we make it economical to all parties involved - we need some serious genius-level economists here! Anyone, Bueller??

[davearm]

Travel doesn't seem to be a problem in the NCAA hoops tourney... teams go all over the place 3 weekends in a row.

 

Besides, you really think you'd have trouble selling tickets for a football Final Four doubleheader, or a championship game?

[Coffeeman]

True, b-ball fans do travel well in March. I wonder if they drop mad cash every weekend, or do they start to budget carefully for the final weekend? Which is my point about the fatcats' idea that the whole week has to be planned to include lots of $$ extras for a big bowl game, vs. just a weekend-and-get-out type of scenario.

 

The March Madness idea brings up another question - would football fans buy tix to the NC game a year in advance like b-ball fans do, in the hopes of seeing two great teams, no matter which teams play? Maybe, and if so then that acutally limits the # of tix the two teams get to allot to their faithful. It happens for the NFL SuperBowl, so why not, right?

 

Also, this brings up another idea that the small schools would like - have the NC game rotate amongst about 15-20 cities to spread the wealth, vs. the big 4 bowl cities now. This is just icing on the "cake" of having someone like TCU have a shot at the NC in a playoff system. Everybody wins!

[go-time]

20,000 Bball fans traveling once to watch 2 games over 3 days is one thing. 75,000-100,000 football fans either traveling twice or staying a week to see 2 games (on top of a bowl trip) is another.

 

I'd love to see a playoff, but there are two big problems to overcome.

 

First, the existing bowls are afraid a playoff would lessen the appeal of their games...reducing their take. Getting the core fans to plan for either a long week or 2 trips on top of the bowls does not seem like a slam dunk.

 

Second, many snob university presidents like to see football/sports as a minor part of their "real higher purpose" (business). These guys love the cash cow, but don't want sports to have any more prestige/power than it already has on campus...in fact they'd love to shrink sports' prestige/power on campus (without losing the cash). They are bound to fight a true playoff championship, since any doubt which the current poll/BCS/bowl system leaves helps them justify portraying football as just another side activity to their hallowed main business.

 

Both will be very hard to overcome. frown

[davearm]

I agree that there are some very powerful and influential forces that stand in opposition to a playoff system, chief of which are the Bowls and high-ranking officials at the NCAA's member institutions themselves.

 

The Bowl folks want to maintain their big $$$ relationships with their corporate partners, who might otherwise put their sponsorship bucks on the Final Four or Championship Game.

 

The University folks (well some anyway) view big-time athletics as corruptive, and counter to the ultimate purpose of higher education.

 

I agree with all that.

 

What I don't agree with is the notion that the fans won't come out if there's a playoff. Tickets to the BCS Bowls are scarce even at the three sites that aren't hosting the NC. Now you're making all four of those games critical in the NC picture. And the Final Four and Championship? The basketball Final Four is a very tough ticket, and that's basketball in a 50,000+ football stadium. Believe me, concerns over a shortage of fans is definitely not holding this up.

 

And the money? The pie would get so much larger than it is now. It's how to split up the pie that stands in the way, since some might get a smaller piece. I read once that the NCAA gets more than 80% of its annual operating revenue from one source: its TV contract with CBS to broadcast March Madness. TV rights to a football Final Four and Championship would be megabucks too. Just think about what commercial time during the Super Bowl costs.

[Boilerduff]

Even if it was just the top four teams in the playoff, It would stop all of this crap. You could have the rest of the bowls still do thier thing, and have a three game playoff, over two weeks in one location. or two stadiums near each other with the national championship game near by. something. I would love to see a playoff of some sort. Then no one can say they got screwed etc and It will be killer for all of us college football fans.

 

I agree! Lets go playoffs!