Ugh.

[BaltimoreFan]

I think its pretty obvious that the NCAA will lose money if they do a playoff system. Otherwise they'd just approve one. Since its not a possibility I say just fix the system they have. Don't start the ranking system until mid-October at the earliest. The preseason rankings are inaccurate and carry too much weight. I'd like to see a +1 system in which the BCS bowls return to their classic matchups. Then a week after those a Championship game is played between the best 2. I think that's about the most realistic "playoff" we'll ever get.

Agreed, it would be no different than what we have now (schedule-wise), and you'd be able to appease traditionalists and playoff-proponents in one decision. Also, the championship game could also be hosted by a venue outside the current BCS games, as well as the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange locales.

No offense, but you guys are insane. You don't think a television network would make an offer to televise a national playoff arrangement that would DWARF what's currently being paid out for the bowl games? C'mon. Fox would probably cough up a quarter billion dollars a year for the rights to an 8-team, 7-game playoff - more than the current TV deals for all the bowls combined, then doubled.

Well there is obviously some reason why the NCAA hasn't approved a playoff. Everyone claims it'd be the best thing and so easy to do, yet they never approve it. The only real thing that could hold it up is money. There is more to than just TV contracts. Advertising is a big part of it too. Will FedEx be willing to pay as much for a playoff, when in the current system they have their own bowl?

Just take a step back and look the problem for a second. If you look at this thread and the opinions of sports fans all over the country you get the same responses. There the same responses year after year. I really don't think the NCAA is that stubborn or stupid. If they're not approving a plan that seems to be the overriding majority opinion as the best plan possible, there is something holding them back. Now it could be something else, but I think it has to be money.

[footballfiji]

I think its pretty obvious that the NCAA will lose money if they do a playoff system. Otherwise they'd just approve one. Since its not a possibility I say just fix the system they have. Don't start the ranking system until mid-October at the earliest. The preseason rankings are inaccurate and carry too much weight. I'd like to see a +1 system in which the BCS bowls return to their classic matchups. Then a week after those a Championship game is played between the best 2. I think that's about the most realistic "playoff" we'll ever get.

Agreed, it would be no different than what we have now (schedule-wise), and you'd be able to appease traditionalists and playoff-proponents in one decision. Also, the championship game could also be hosted by a venue outside the current BCS games, as well as the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange locales.

No offense, but you guys are insane. You don't think a television network would make an offer to televise a national playoff arrangement that would DWARF what's currently being paid out for the bowl games? C'mon. Fox would probably cough up a quarter billion dollars a year for the rights to an 8-team, 7-game playoff - more than the current TV deals for all the bowls combined, then doubled.

Well there is obviously some reason why the NCAA hasn't approved a playoff. Everyone claims it'd be the best thing and so easy to do, yet they never approve it. The only real thing that could hold it up is money. There is more to than just TV contracts. Advertising is a big part of it too. Will FedEx be willing to pay as much for a playoff, when in the current system they have their own bowl?

Just take a step back and look the problem for a second. If you look at this thread and the opinions of sports fans all over the country you get the same responses. There the same responses year after year. I really don't think the NCAA is that stubborn or stupid. If they're not approving a plan that seems to be the overriding majority opinion as the best plan possible, there is something holding them back. Now it could be something else, but I think it has to be money.

That "something" is the Rose Bowl and the Pac-10 and Big 10 Conferences.

[oddball]

Why should the Pac 10, Big 10 and the Rose Bowl give up for a playoff? It's easy to say that a playoff is what college football needs, but does it? Looking at it from their point of view, they have a highly successful brand that given a playoff would dilute the product period. Why should they dilute their product because everyone else thinks a playoff would be better? From a business standpoint their doing the right thing. Why should the Rose Bowl be diluted to nothing more than the Motor City Bowl or whatever new bowl that has come along in the last ten years? Do we really remember where the first few rounds and quarterfinal sites in the NCAA basketball are? No. We only remember the finals. Why has the Cotton Bowl been lowered from an elite bowl game to the mid pack that it is today (discounting the stadium issues), because of the BCS and not being included, but also because of the proliferation of bowl games. Every mom and pop has a bowl game and they mean nothing. Creating more bowls isn't the issue, creating a playoff isn't the issue, getting rid of these friggin' lame mom and pop bowls is. Why do we need a playoff system? Why is there such a desire for one champion system? Just because every other sport does it, doesn't make it right. You talk about needing a playoff system, isn't that what the bowl system use to be? You played to get to a bowl and you had to be the elite to get there and only a certain amount of teams made it there and there was a pride to going to a bowl. It meant something to win your conference and go to that bowl that was affiliated with your conference and play a conference champion. I just sit and wonder about these so-called large playoff systems and wonder why you play a season to play another season, because isn't that what the NCAA basketball tournament is another season? We just keep stretching sports out so long that they're losing their luster, one overlaps into another and what made college football special was that it was from September to December 1st. Pro Football use to be from September to the Super Bowl in mid to late January, now with byes and all it in February. We've gotten so ridiculous that I won't be surprised to see the NBA All-Star Game lead into the Super Bowl and the All-Star Home Run hitting contest lead into the NBA finals. Let's get rid of the idea of more football games via playoffs, August faux football classics, and less bowl games and bring back the glory of the football college season and the romance of the fall. Remember it's about kids learning to grow and a become leaders, and unfortunately we've lost sight of that and want the champion$hip. Let the pros have their playoffs and let the kids just learn to set goals and be kids and keep the uniqueness that is the bowl season.

[slightly shotgunned]

Why should the Pac 10, Big 10 and the Rose Bowl give up for a playoff? It's easy to say that a playoff is what college football needs, but does it? Looking at it from their point of view, they have a highly successful brand that given a playoff would dilute the product period. Why should they dilute their product because everyone else thinks a playoff would be better? From a business standpoint their doing the right thing. Why should the Rose Bowl be diluted to nothing more than the Motor City Bowl or whatever new bowl that has come along in the last ten years? Do we really remember where the first few rounds and quarterfinal sites in the NCAA basketball are? No. We only remember the finals. Why has the Cotton Bowl been lowered from an elite bowl game to the mid pack that it is today (discounting the stadium issues), because of the BCS and not being included, but also because of the proliferation of bowl games. Every mom and pop has a bowl game and they mean nothing. Creating more bowls isn't the issue, creating a playoff isn't the issue, getting rid of these friggin' lame mom and pop bowls is. Why do we need a playoff system? Why is there such a desire for one champion system? Just because every other sport does it, doesn't make it right. You talk about needing a playoff system, isn't that what the bowl system use to be? You played to get to a bowl and you had to be the elite to get there and only a certain amount of teams made it there and there was a pride to going to a bowl. It meant something to win your conference and go to that bowl that was affiliated with your conference and play a conference champion. I just sit and wonder about these so-called large playoff systems and wonder why you play a season to play another season, because isn't that what the NCAA basketball tournament is another season? We just keep stretching sports out so long that they're losing their luster, one overlaps into another and what made college football special was that it was from September to December 1st. Pro Football use to be from September to the Super Bowl in mid to late January, now with byes and all it in February. We've gotten so ridiculous that I won't be surprised to see the NBA All-Star Game lead into the Super Bowl and the All-Star Home Run hitting contest lead into the NBA finals. Let's get rid of the idea of more football games via playoffs, August faux football classics, and less bowl games and bring back the glory of the football college season and the romance of the fall. Remember it's about kids learning to grow and a become leaders, and unfortunately we've lost sight of that and want the champion$hip. Let the pros have their playoffs and let the kids just learn to set goals and be kids and keep the uniqueness that is the bowl season.

anytime you have a system that decides who can be a champion by a vote, not on field performance, you open yourself up to criticism. i've heard the argument about hte diminishing of the regular season time and time again, but exactly what did kansas' regular season mean this past year? or oklahoma's or hawaii's or georgia's. n. o. t. h. i. n. g. the regular season in the bcs only matters to the two teams that they pick at the end of the year.

and no. the bowl system was never intended to be a playoff, fact is, it was never intended to determine a national champion. it was a way for college football to showcase their teams to a national audience. that's not an opinion, that's why there are affiliations in the first place. going meant you were the best in your conference and it meant something then because you didn't have to be selected. you went out and earned it. the higher bowls are still prestigious because there is no selection process. the standards are set, if you don't meet those standards, you don't go.

and last i checked, college sports on any level is about winning and winning makes money. you don't win, you get fired if you're a coach. you don't produce wins as players, they find new players. in fact, the only time sports is about setting goals and being kids is right around the Freshman, JV team in high school. after that, you win or you go home. period. and a bowl system was never, EVER, for the players. it is all. about. money. don't fool yourself.

[LC]

IMO, the worst thing about these new bowls is that the Big East will have another bid. This means the entire conference except for one team will make a bowl game.

[HedleyLamarr]

IMO, the worst thing about these new bowls is that the Big East will have another bid. This means the entire conference except for one team will make a bowl game.

It could be worse. It could be the ACC getting another bid.....

[LC]

It could be worse. It could be the ACC getting another bid.....

Well, the Congressional Bowl is Independent vs. ACC, so they both got another.