The carcass of an over matched Ohio State team not even cold yet and Georgia is crying about a playoff.
An 8 team playoff that starts at the major bowl games? Won't work functionally. Bowl games are destinations. How are fans supposed to travel for three straight weeks and sell out a stadium?
No one ever talks about that. If UConn played Wake Forest in the first round of a 32 team tournament in Charlotte there would have been maybe 20000 people in the stadium. Few UConn fans would travel. No sport has neutral site opening round games except the NCAA tournament. And, that is a made for TV sport and doesn't bring in nearly the revenue as the bowls do.
Going down to Charlotte opened my eyes even more. I am a proponent of the bowl system. The fans of each bowl team go to the city and attend the game, visit the city, spend tons of cash, and complete their season in a festive atmosphere. The game is final and win or lose the fans go home. The bowl games are for the fans of each school and provide a great experience to fans and players. Must that experience be sacrificed because of a made for TV event? For one game, we have to ruin the experiences of 60 teams?
It's a lousy way to choose a national championship, but that's not the purpose of a bowl. Does football really need a national champion? Why for 80 years has one not been necessary, but now suddenly it is imperative to have one?
Because ESPN and Fox want the programming? Everyone says a tournament will be lucrative. Yes it will be, but for whom? The networks? The conferences? What happens to the bowls? It won't be lucrative for them.
It will kill the non title game bowl games. And, those are important. Yes, there are too many bowls, but these exhibitions are pretty attractive to teams such as UConn and mean something to these schools. What do you do to the first team left out of the 8 team playoff? Hawaii and WVU would have been on the outside this year. The playoff fixes nothing. It just puts more teams in the pot, and increases the likelihood that a 2 or 3 loss team wins it all.
Why not have an SEC tournament and declare that conference the national champion every year? That's what the SEC wants anyway. They will argue for 4 teams in the playoff every year. I can't wait for a 3 loss Florida team to run the table.
Unless you do an NCAA tournament type football playoffs with 32 teams it's going to be unfair anyway. I just find the thirst for a national championship a little selfish. Networks want the "Game to end all games." They don't care about anything else. It's always about creating history and a narrative. It will be a sad day when all that matters is the national championship tournament.
I also think the playoff format is not practical.
In football, you can't have 3 neutral site playoff games. No way could they sell out a 70,000 seat stadium doing that on less than a weeks notice. The mighty NFL goes higher seed at home until the Super Bowl, which is marketed years before. Why is that? Because the Giants playing the Cowboys in Miami is a tough sell in a weeks time. Probably would get 40000 fans and no atmosphere.
The loss of the bowl system (which benefits college football), the impracticality of neutral site playoffs, extending the season into mid January are all fatal problems with a playoff.
But there is another...
The Rose Bowl has tremendous influence and would have to agree to a part of this. And, why would the Big 10 want to get into a tournament? Notre Dame will also not want this. The Big 10 (which runs college athletics) doesn't benefit from the playoff. ND doesn't either, they would have to get into a conference. That's the reason why it isn't going to happen.
There is no playoff without Big 10 support and the Rose Bowl. I see no reason for either the Big 10 or the Rose Bowl to move towards a playoff. It diminishes their power and cheapens the game.
It is an imperfect system for setting up a national champion. But, that isn't what it is designed to do.
The question you have to ask is -- Is having a national championship more important than the bowls?
3 comments:
Amen! The Georgia president wants a playoff this year but he didn't last year when they played in the Peach Bowl or two years ago when they played in the Sugar Bowl.
I made the trip to Charlotte, first bowl game for me, and it was awesome. Just put the bowl system back the way it was and let the polls decide it after Jan. 1. I like college football's regular season too much for a playoff
Sean, hope you had fun. I thought Charlotte was tremendous. The players loved it also. Why would you want to get rid of that experience for only one game?
Playoffs only benefit TV.
I was expecting a good time, but had a great time in Charlotte. I was shocked to see that many UConn fans. And I enjoyed the article in the Charlotte paper about UConn fans spending a lot downtown, that was awesome.
I go to games with my dad and four friends...we only dream about going to the Orange Bowl, not national titles.
Post a Comment