[NU Sports] Can this day get any better???

[Sportsbiz]

Not that i necessarily want to turn this into an entire thread rehashing the
relative merits or lack thereof of the BCS, but I felt compelled to respond
to the idea that the impending mess posed by the possibility of an
undefeated TCU (not so likely with Utah left) and Boise State (likely since
outside of Oregon they don't play anybody) and a bowl appetizing Miami,
which while they don't travel well, the Florida bowls still love the Canes.
Investigations by Senator Hatch or the House Ways and Means Committee which
is investigating the NCAA's tax exemption and has made noises about taking
on the BCS as well, don't particularly bother the presidents of the BCS
schools, which is where the power lies.

There is no, I repeat NO, sentiment for a playoff of any kind among the
overwhelming majority of BCS school presidents and that includes a plus one
format.  No amount of fan wailing or Senate saber rattling will change
that.  The presidents know what power and money they wield through the BCS
system and have absolutely no intention of giving it up.  When a plus one
format was raised at the last BCS Commissioners meeting, the only president
who indicated an interest was the president of Florida, who was joined by a
couple of other SEC presidents.  The Big Ten, Big East, Pac-10 and Big XII
are nearly unanimous in opposition.  Don't know about the ACC but they're
irrelevant at this point given the stance of the other four.
If a major legal movement that has substance gets underway, the BCS will
simply dissolve and we'll all go back to the system in place before the BCS
began.  There are a number of presidents who would prefer that anyway.

At its heart, this is an argument about power and money, in that order.  The
BCS presidents have a disproportionate say on matters in Division I board
discussions at the NCAA and they are not about to give that up either.
Football means revenue and revenue means power.  When only 18 schools have
athletic departments that are revenue neutral or positive without a subsidy
from the school's general operating budget, you can be sure that no
president is inclined to upset the apple cart no matter how rosy a picture
ESPN may paint of the payoff from a true playoff.

Sorry for the long message but once I got started I couldn't stop.
Mark
Mark S. Ament
sportsbiz at gmail.com
SportsBiz - The Business of Sports
Illuminated<http://thesportsbizblog.blogspot.com>
When it comes to sports, you know it's all about the money
Stay tuned for the exciting new SportsBiz coming your way soon
Chat Skype: marksament
Contact Me [image: Twitter] <twitter:%20msament>


On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 10:10 AM, Jonathan Hodges
<jonathanwhodges at gmail.com>wrote:

> > Miami would bring a "name" program to some of those other bowls, but not
> a
> > large contingent of fans. Boise would easily outdraw Miami for the Fiesta
> > Bowl and TCU could probably rival them for a short trip to New Orleans
> for
> > the Sugar (though with Bama, they should fill seats).
> >
>
> Sorry, couldn't let this go by.  There is no way a bowl would voluntarily
> pick Boise State or TCU over Miami FL.  There may be plenty of mediocre
> teams in the ACC that don't draw well, but if Miami, VT, or Florida State
> are in the mix, they'll be picked over a mid-major any day of the week.
>
> Despite Boise State's success they don't really have a national following
> and likely wouldn't be able to cater to a BCS bowl's financial needs on
> their own (say they play TCU).  And TCU has attendance numbers only
> slightly
> above NU despite tons of recent success (they face many of the same issues
> as NU - small, private school in an area dominated by big state schools and
> are in a pro sports town).
>
> And, as we've seen before, W/L records don't matter when it comes to bowl
> selections, specifically in the BCS - all that matters is filling the seats
> and getting people to watch on TV.  Let's not pretend the system is
> anything
> but a money machine.
>
>
> >
> >
> > So I guess yes, the day can get even better. We beat Iowa. ND loses. AND
> > the B(C)S is losing!
> >
>
> I, too, would prefer a playoff (I support a Plus One system with the
> current
> bowls intact), but no amount of BCS apocalypses will adversely affect the
> current system; in fact, I would argue they make the current system
> stronger.  Just look at issues earlier this decade which seemingly should
> have brought the system to its knees, but it's going on even stronger (and
> is renewed with the biggest contract yet through 2013).
>
> The only way the system is coming down is if the BCS conferences decide to
> give up money they currently enjoy from the BCS.  The big conferences hold
> all of the power and money and they won't give it up voluntarily.  I read
> in
> (NU alum & SI writer) Stewart Mandel's book that a move to a playoff adding
> additional games would require a full NCAA Div. I vote, which would
> definitely involve some monetary concessions to the "little guys" to pass
> (i.e. revenue sharing in the NCAA basketball tournament).
>
> Of course, NU, as a member of a BCS conference that has equal revenue
> sharing, reaps huge benefits from the current system, so it's hard to
> complain about it too much.
>
> I think a "Plus One" is likely to be seriously discussed within the next 10
> years ago, but a full playoff and/or abandoning the current bowl system are
> pipe dreams.
>
> Jonathan
> _______________________________________________
> nwu-sports site list
> nwu-sports at tssi.com
> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports
>