5th BCS bowl game by 2007

[Guest marlins02]

Associated Press

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- The Bowl Championship Series agreed to add a fifth game Sunday, increasing access for schools not part of college football's most lucrative postseason system.

 

 

 

The champions of the six BCS conferences -- the Big East, ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-10 -- will maintain automatic berths in one of the five games. The remaining four spots will be at-large berths to be decided by a complex formula using national rankings.

 

 

 

The fifth bowl is still subject to final approval based on market viability, but all indications point to it being in place when the new BCS contract takes effect before the 2007 season.

 

 

 

"This agreement is a significant victory for college sports and higher education," NCAA president Myles Brand said.

 

 

 

The current BCS bowls are the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange. One of those bowls pits the top two teams in the BCS standings in a championship game, which will be the Orange Bowl next season. The Rose, Fiesta and Sugar host the other games.

 

 

 

Oregon president Dave Frohnmayer, a member of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, said the fifth bowl would join in the title game rotation. He also said the Rose Bowl would retain its long-standing ties to the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions during years in which it does not host the title game. The other bowls also would have the chance to protect conference ties.

 

 

 

Frohnmayer said existing bowls probably will get the first shot at becoming the fifth BCS bowl. Cities expected to show immediate interest include Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Jacksonville, Orlando and San Diego.

 

 

 

"We are envisioning a bowl of equal stature in terms of its command of television audiences and its desirability from a standpoint of teams," Frohnmayer said. "Whether that would come from the volunteering of an existing bowl system and its own structure or the creation of a new bowl, that's something we simply can't determine at this point."

 

 

 

Smaller schools complain that the BCS makes it impossible for them to win the national championship and puts them at a financial and recruiting disadvantage.

 

 

 

The BCS Presidential Oversight Committee and the Coalition for Athletics Reform, which has been fighting to change the current system, agreed to the changes after a six-hour meeting Sunday. It was third meeting in nine months of wrangling.

 

 

 

Tulane president Scott Cowen, the leader of the Coalition for Athletics Reform, said they agreed on access rules for non-BCS schools but refused to give details until after the new rules are presented to the conferences.

 

 

 

He said that using the new system, a non-BCS school would have played in a BCS bowl in four of the last six seasons. He declined to say which teams or which seasons.

 

 

 

"It's a significant improvement from where we are right now," Cowen said.

 

 

 

The committee and the BCS conceded that the new changes do not guarantee that a team from a non-BCS conference will play in one of the BCS bowls.

 

 

 

The BCS bowls generate more than $110 million a year for the big conferences. The BCS gives about $6 million a year to smaller conferences. Frohnmayer said those figures should increase under the new format.

 

 

 

"It's our hope that the interest in the series will be heightened by the availability of one more game," he said. "It's our hope that this whole new system will generate more revenue."

 

 

 

Because ABC owns the current television rights to BCS games, Frohnmayer said the network would get a chance to negotiate a new contract under the five-bowl format.

 

 

 

Negotiations with the bowls and TV networks begin soon, starting almost immediately with next year's Rose Bowl, putting some sense of urgency to the talks.

 

 

 

"Today is a very good day for college athletics," Cowen said. "This has been a difficult and contentious issue to deal with for the last nine months."

 

i wasnt expecting a tournament anyway

[Rebirth]

I still hate the BCS system.

[Guest Juanky]

Give us a tournament already. Please!

[FutureGM]

This is just a worse change. It doesn't help to fix the awful system.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Terrible idea. Who needs a 5th BCS game? What's that going to fix? Usually, one of the BCS games isn't worth watching as it is. This is just a further dilution.

 

20 years from now, we'll have 20 BCS games, and then some genius will come up with the idea to create the Bowl Mega-Championshop Series (BMCS), which will include, say, the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. The 8 best BCS teams will play in the BMCS games, and the winner of the best BMCS game will be declared the national champion. The top BMCS game will be determined on a rotating basis. Then, a few years later, after numerous complaints that the system sucks, the NCAA will respond by adding a 5th BMCS game, and the cycle will begin anew with the eventual creation of the Bowl Super-Mega-Championship Series (BSMCS), and so on.

 

Or, we can get off the freaking treadmill, and create an 8 team playoff.

[Guest Juanky]

I say 8 teams isn't enough IMO, because it still doesn't allow room for a Cinderella team or two to sneak in there. TCU or Fresno State (of a couple years back) wouldn't make that top 8 tournament, especially if conferences are guaranteed spots (which you know will be a requirement if such a system is put into place).

 

I say 12-16 is better. Sure, it'll take an extra week. But you have a frigging month between the last conference championship game and the first major bowl. Shorten that period to maybe 2 weeks, and you can do it. A 16 team playoff would need no explanation. Just seed the teams, and it would be like one bracket of the NCAA Tourney for basketball.

 

The 12 team would be interesting though, the setup anyways. Just give the top 4 teams a bye in the first round. These could be the winners of four major conferences: ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12. Yes, I know the Pac10 and Big East aren't there, but the Big East is not a MAJOR conference anymore with its two big guns gone and the Pac10 is in it some years not in it others. The ACC (especially with two juggernaut programs on the way), SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 are in it every single year. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Then just play 5 vs 12, 6 vs 11, etc. in the first round. Winner of the 5 vs 12 game faces the 1 seed, 6 vs 11 faces 2 seed, etc. Then you move on from there in a normal tournament way.

 

Imagine the attention this would draw. I love college basketball and all, but there is no question that college football is America's favorite colllege sport. All the attention and anticipation that goes with the NCAA Tourney for basketball would be multiplied at least 5 fold by such a tournament for football. The attention would be enormous, the games would be awesome, and the two teams in the title game would have definately earned their trip there.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Yeah, but these kids are students. There's a limit to what you can ask them to do. I mean, part of the reason for that break that you talk about is so they can finish out the semester without having to worry about football. I would lean toward making a 4 team playoff before I went to 16.

[Guest Juanky]

What is the difference then between a football student and any other student? The football schedule does this, but none other. All the other sports have some sort of tournament at the end of the year to decide titles. Most teams in NCAA Basketball have to participate in TWO tournaments every year, the Conference tourney of their respective conference and the NCAAs/NIT. Other Divisions do tournaments as well and those workout fine, no one complains. And those students are likely more at their respective for academics than big scholl students are.

[TarHeel324]

6 teams is the way to go

 

just imagine it:

week 1: #3 vs. #6, #4 vs. #5

week 2: #1 vs. 4/5, #2 vs. 3/6

week 3: championship game

 

now that would be great

[Guest Juanky]

Six just isn't enough IMO

[farmer_fran]

There is no need for more than 8 teams. I believe a non-BCS conference team should only be considered with the elite teams if they go undefeated, and if they go undefeated I believe they will be in the top 8.

[TarHeel324]

Six just isn't enough IMO

6 is better than 2

[Das Texan]

the system is already set up where the little guy has to go undefeated or else they are dead.

 

 

if you goto a playoff system....then that eliminates the problem in some ways.

 

 

you have to have at least 12 teams.

[Guest Juanky]

There is no need for more than 8 teams. I believe a non-BCS conference team should only be considered with the elite teams if they go undefeated, and if they go undefeated I believe they will be in the top 8.

Why? Why does Southern Illinois have to run the table to go all the way? And what do the big programs have to lose? If they suck so bad they'll beat them easily. But if they don't suck so bad (which they don't) then they will make a dent. But if there is 8 teams or less you are not allowing that dent to ever occur, leaving college football the same old system forever.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

What is the difference then between a football student and any other student? The football schedule does this, but none other. All the other sports have some sort of tournament at the end of the year to decide titles. Most teams in NCAA Basketball have to participate in TWO tournaments every year, the Conference tourney of their respective conference and the NCAAs/NIT. Other Divisions do tournaments as well and those workout fine, no one complains. And those students are likely more at their respective for academics than big scholl students are.

Well, the baseball is played when school is out. So, that arguement doesn't really hold up.

 

The basketball? You might have a point there. Maybe they should shorten the NCAA tournament. We all love it, but no team seeded above 8 has ever won, as far as I know. Cut the damn thing in half.

 

On the other hand, the NCAA tournament is a full week shorter than a 16 team playoff would be, and at least it happens more than a month before exam time.