Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Yeah, about that playoff...
225 million reasons why the bowls won't go away
While the BCS vs. playoff debate may be fun for the whole Sportsmeat family, it's an exercise in futility. Unless the college football playoff includes 64 teams and pays out $225 million, we're stuck with the status quo. Yes, that's right: 64 teams will go to bowls this year. More than half of Division I-A. That would be akin to having a 168-team men's college basketball tournament. Payouts range from $17 million for winning a BCS game to $750,000 for losing the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (TCU vs. Northern Illiniois Dec. 19, great seats still available). For a complete list of bowl payouts, check out Inside Higher Education.
While the BCS vs. playoff debate may be fun for the whole Sportsmeat family, it's an exercise in futility. Unless the college football playoff includes 64 teams and pays out $225 million, we're stuck with the status quo. Yes, that's right: 64 teams will go to bowls this year. More than half of Division I-A. That would be akin to having a 168-team men's college basketball tournament. Payouts range from $17 million for winning a BCS game to $750,000 for losing the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (TCU vs. Northern Illiniois Dec. 19, great seats still available). For a complete list of bowl payouts, check out Inside Higher Education.
# posted by Budds @ 9:02 AM 
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But that's not necessarily a valid point. We can still have the lesser 28 bowls, and 8 teams battle it out in a playoff. And in that scenario, there will be 35 postseason games, rather than 32.
I realize this, but I liked the link and needed a lead-in.
But there is an argument to be made here. In the current scenario, only one game matters, and the rest is the NIT -- one helluva NIT, with Notre Dame, possibly Michigan, Auburn, etc., and most of it happens in a one-week span that includes vacation days for many Americans. If you go to the eight-team playoff, you're still in a situation where only one game matters at the end, but by then six of the eight best teams in the country are sitting at home, and the NIT of football looks even less important by comparison.
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But there is an argument to be made here. In the current scenario, only one game matters, and the rest is the NIT -- one helluva NIT, with Notre Dame, possibly Michigan, Auburn, etc., and most of it happens in a one-week span that includes vacation days for many Americans. If you go to the eight-team playoff, you're still in a situation where only one game matters at the end, but by then six of the eight best teams in the country are sitting at home, and the NIT of football looks even less important by comparison.
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