[NU Sports] could the BCS form its own division?

[Arthur Miller]

Mark, do you think there's any likelihood that the BCS conferences would ever withdraw and form their own "division"?  Every year, there seems to be more and more of an outcry from non-BCS schools, politicians, and the media about revenue sharing and the lack of "fairness" in the bowl system.  What if the BCS conferences decided to take their ball and go home: create their own division, play games only among themselves, and define their own postseason structure?  Do you think this would be bad or good?

Personally, I tend to think this would be a good thing, even if it meant we'd have to trade nonconference games against MAC or I-AA teams in favor of fellow BCS schools.  The BCS schools are, by and large, those schools that have been playing college football the longest.  They have the most invested, and can take the most credit for its current popularity.  Even though NU hasn't historically dominated the Big Ten, we can take credit for being part of that history.  I don't find it obvious that we should have to share revenue with any school who decides it wants to play I-A football--there are too many programs as it is, and the gap in resources between the top programs and bottom is tremendous--it makes a joke of the idea that we are all at the same "level".  If the NFL does not allow just any football club to join, why should the BCS conferences be forced to share millions in bowl revenue with the likes of Boise State, who has been playing at the I-A
 level since only 1996?




--- On Sun, 11/8/09, Sportsbiz <sportsbiz at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Sportsbiz <sportsbiz at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Can this day get any better???
> To: "Jonathan Hodges" <jonathanwhodges at gmail.com>
> Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009, 8:45 PM
> 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