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Thursday, May 1, 2008
What did we learn from the BCS meetings?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Okay. The BCS meetings are over and the current system, warts and all, is going to be in place for six more years. But what did we learn during those three days of meetings in South Florida?
1. College football ain’t broke: Those were the last words from Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White when he left us yesterday. Yes, to a lot of fans believe that the post-season is an absolute mess. Those fans have a point. They believe that the incredible interest that would be created by an eight-team or 16-team playoff would more than outweigh any negative impact on the regular season or bowl structure. The men who run Division I-A football, namely the six commissioners of the major conferences, strongly disagree. They have made a business decision that those who are upset with the system will still attend games and still watch on television. And the numbers support their position.
2. The presidents still don’t want a playoff: This is a point that can’t be mentioned enough. Four of the six BCS commissioners told us yesterday that based on the details of the four-team playoff that was proposed by SEC commissioner Mike Slive, their presidents would have no interest. Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe told us that his presidents had already voted against the concept in March. Georgia president Michael Adams has not been able to get to first base with his fellow presidents on his desire just to STUDY an eight-team playoff. I’ve written this many times. The vast majority of the presidents have decided that when it comes to college athletics, a playoff in Division I-A football is their land in the sand. If the presidents don’t want a playoff, it is never going to happen.
3. The TV negotiations are going to be interesting: I had a chance to meet with Ed Goren, the president of FOX Sports. His company begins an exclusive negotiating window in September to retain the rights to four BCS games (Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, BCS Championship) for four more years. The Rose Bowl has a deal with ABC through the game of 2014. Goren made it clear that his company is going to do whatever it takes to hold on to the BCS. To make his point, Goren showed up at Tuesday’s meetings with the Emmy Award that FOX won for its coverage of the Oklahoma-Boise State Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, 2007.
ESPN/ABC has made it clear that it regrets giving up the BCS games four years ago and will try to get back in. It could not strike a deal during its exclusive negotiating window in 2004 and let the BCS go to the open market. That’s how FOX got it.
“Oops,” Goren said, making his point that he doesn’t plan to let that happen.
“It looks like we have two very motivated television partners,” one commissioner said.
4. Not all the bowls are happy: One thing is clear in this process. The bowls are consulted about what the BCS does but they do not have any real power in the process. They don’t want to be quoted, but more than one of the BCS bowl execs expressed frustration to me are that the Rose Bowl-Big Ten-Pac-10 axis still has so much power in this process and that they basically just have to go along with it. The Rose, for example, never has to take a team from one of the Coalition conferences if they qualify. You will never see a Rose Bowl where Southern Cal plays Boise State, for example. The Fiesta has hosted a Coalition team twice (Utah, Boise State), the Sugar once (Hawaii) and this season the Orange will certainly get the Coalition team (think BYU) if one qualifies for a game. “It’s just a question of fundamental fairness,” one bowl exec told me. “When it comes to this process, not all bowls are created equal.”
5. The four-team playoff is not dead yet: I wrote yesterday that when it came to a four-team playoff, Slive was really making his opening argument, not his closing argument. How the BCS goes the next four years will have a lot to do with the mindset that goes into the discussion when the commissioners have to deal with this again in April of 2012. If there are several more years of bad match-ups like we had this season, a case can be made for change. If we get a couple of match-ups like Texas-Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl, then the case is not as strong. The fact is that the BCS has gotten a little lucky. In 2006 there was a furor when Florida jumped over Michigan into the national championship game. But then Michigan got waxed in the Rose Bowl and that passion subsided. There was anger when LSU jumped from No. 7 to No. 2 in the final standings last season, but then LSU destroyed the Big Ten champ, Ohio State. A lot can change in four years.
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