Even though the BCS has continued to tweak its formula, the debate about a playoff still continues. And it really amazes me that the powers that be at the NCAA and the conferences keep talking about everything but the one thing that is really preventing moving to a playoff system for Division I (excuse me, they now call it FBS series) football.
They talk about it not being good to extend the season, they talk about affecting the academics of the players, missing too much class, but you know I really haven't heard one serious, reasonable argument against a playoff system coming from the NCAA system itself. And that is because, in my opinion, it's all about one thing....money.
College football still likes to think of itself as purely amateur sports. But it has become big time business and, unfortunately in many instances, that is not a great thing. But when you look specifically at the current BCS football bowl structure, it appears that there is just too much money riding on it to get down to a serious discussion about a playoff system.
The four big bowls that are part of the current BCS system just won't give up the control and the big dollars that come with those games. I have heard it argued that in a playoff system you could rotate who gets the final games. But the problem with that is that when you got down to the final four games, you would still be at least 2 weeks away from the championship week and that would probably push it too far away from when people would travel and spend the money like they do now at the end of the year for the last week in December and first week in January. That equals big loss of revenue.
It's just hard for me to believe that if Division I basketball can have such an exciting tournament and all the remaining divisions of college football make it work, why can't it work for the biggest schools in the NCAA? Every other major sport, college and pro, let the championship get decided through a process of last man standing wins.
And I think that is one thing that people love about sports. That kind of format gives more of the underdogs a chance to win it all. Remember the movie "Hoosiers"? What a great story! People love the underdog. And every year in the NCAA Basketball Tournament there are major upsets. And every so often, some underdog who shouldn't have made it, makes a run deep into the tournament. And fans get excited. And people believe that anything is possible.
And to me, that is missing from the current BCS football formula. The last couple weeks of the football season, the discussion gets limited to just a handful of football teams that have a shot at getting to the championship game. I really would love to see all of the powers that be in college football take a serious and hard look at a playoff system. It may never happen, but I love to see those underdogs upset the big guys and take a shot at winning it all.
About the Author
David Stargel loves writing about sports and football. He is the owner of several sports related web sites. He is also known as The Football Nut. For great articles about college football at his web site at: http://www.the-football-nut.com.
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