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Monday, April 28, 2008
Big change coming to BCS, but just not now.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-Good morning from sunny South Florida where over the next few days the movers and shakers of college football will meet to discuss the short-term future of the BCS.
If you had a chance to read any of my stuff about the BCS on Sunday you know that the current BCS contract with FOX ends in two years. If the commissioners who run the BCS want to make any changes to the format, which begins with the 2010 regular season, the decision to make those changes has to be made by Sept. 1. That’s when the negotiations on the new contract will begin.
There is some pressure to change. UGA President Michael Adams wants to scrap the current system for an eight-team playoff. A lot of fans have never embraced the current system and never will. They want a playoff and they want it now. Three congressmen, including Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, have stated publicly that the BCS violates antitrust law.
But based on the research I have done and the numerous conversations I’ve had on this subject in the past two months I do not see any significant change coming out of these meetings, which are scheduled to end about lunchtime on Wednesday. This thing just has too many moving parts and there are too many different agendas at work.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive will come to the meetings armed with a plan for a four-team playoff that would seed the teams 1-4. You’d have two semifinals and then a championship game. If there is going to be any change, I believe it’s the biggest one that can be made and actually put into place by 2010.
The commissioners are also going to talk about the current “double-hosting” model where one city hosts two games-its bowl plus the BCS championship game. Glendale, Ariz., and New Orleans both did a good job with it during the past two seasons. Miami and Pasadena will get their shot over the next two years. But I’m just not sure the idea is going to survive for another four-year cycle-not with Jerry Jones’s $1.1 billion stadium getting ready to come on line in Dallas. So that could change.
Everything is going to be on the table this week and I am told the discussions will be lively. There is the point of view that after 10 years of the two-team BCS championship fans are ready-and deserve-a new post-season product. There are equally passionate voices that believe that college football has never been more popular. The stadiums are full. TV ratings are good. Everybody’s making money. Why mess with a good thing?
Here is what I believe. I believe that the discussions that will take place over the next couple of days are to simply lay the groundwork for the REAL negotiations four years from now. By then the stadium in Dallas will be up and running full speed. The Citrus Bowl in Orlando will have completed its renovation. The Rose Bowl contract with ABC will also be up for renewal (it currently runs through the game of 2014). All of the moving parts that I mentioned before will finally be lined up.
The next four years will be used to build consensus for a big move, which is something that does not exist right now. Then the commissioners can put a four-team playoff on the table and open it up for bids to all of the TV networks and bowls who want to play. That’s the end game.
In short, I see big change coming to post-season football and the BCS. Just not now.
