Revenue would likely increase
GILROY — If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense.
That’s name of the game in college football, which is no longer an amateur product as much major conference commissioners and college coaches will try to sell you their arguments.
Getting rid of the Bowl Championship Series isn’t an option after ESPN recently took over the rights to the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls, as well as the BCS title game through 2013. (ESPN actually has the rights to the three classic bowl games through 2014, but not the national title game. The championship game contract will expire in 2013. ABC has the rights to the Rose Bowl, which rotates as the title game every four years, but the network owns ESPN so there is no real conflict in respect to who owns what.)
Paying $500 million for these games, which will include the first-place finishers of the BCS conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC) and two at-large teams, according to BCS rankings, ESPN has proven that their is too much money at stake to scrap the current system.
However, instituting an eight-team playoff, which adds two semifinal games under the BCS’ five-spoke umbrella, with a new sponsor to be named for both games, would only increase revenue.
A playoff could allow for the fringe bowl games to still be played (See: Meineke Car Care Bowl, majicJack St. Petersburg Bowl, etc.) while also preserving the traditional bowl game champions. This format could then also add to a team’s resume on the way to deciding a true champion.
One would think the idea of USC being able to compile a Pac-10 regular season crown, a Rose Bowl title and a national championship would seem enticing to coach Pete Carroll and his cast of “amateur” athletes.
No other NCAA college championship is decided in so arbitrary a manner. Even the lower divisions of football are ahead of the curve compared to the 119 FBS schools. The BCS decision-makers will cry foul about players missing classes, dangerously extending seasons and making tough travel demands on their fans.
But flash a little cash in front of these same people and the Scrooge McDucks of college football will be so busy swimming in money, they’ll wonder why they didn’t scrap the old system sooner.
