t_BuckeyeScott;683311; said:
I don't understand why there still couldn't be the consolation bowls for the also-rans why still having a playoff. Its irrelevant to the discussion.
Irrelevant? What? It's the most relevant question the playoff supporters must answer...
People are now advocating 16 team playoffs. So let's go with that for now. That's eight Bowl games' slots filled in the first round alone...According to the list of Bowl payouts I referenced earlier, that's $7+ million redistributed to the top 16 teams, just in the first round alone
(I used the "lowest tier" Bowls to calculate this). The second round would take 4 Bowl games' slots and another $6+ million to the same teams that got the first round payouts
(I used the next "lowest tier" games, but you would probably have to start paying out the big money in this round, since these "top 8" teams would be getting BCS money, $17 million each, in the Bowl system. So my figure of only $6+ million, or $3+ million each, kills this plan right here most likely, without really ramping up the payouts). Then another $4+ million to the semi-finalists and two more Bowl games filled
(The money goes upwards of $68 million depending on what payout rules you are using. At this point you would almost certainly have to pay the big time money that the BCS currently pays, so it would be much closer to $68 million than to $4+ million). Then $34 million to the finalists. You've now used up 15 Bowls of the 32 Bowls now in existence and given out upwards of $51-115+ million
(depending on payout method) to just the top teams each year. Where did all your consolation games go? They have been used up in this
"utilize the existing Bowls" idea. You have shut out what, 24-30 teams or so to accomadate 16 by using up these Bowls slots. It's not going to happen, ever. You have maybe two non-BCS teams/conferences represented each year, most likely being eliminated in the first round or two (small money). If they make it to the second round and the "Top 8" that would equal the big money in the Bowl system, but not in this playoff system most likely. You expect them to vote for this? All the while, the power conferences not only reel in the big money from the major Bowls, but they also take money away from the lesser Bowls that would normally be filled by the smaller conferences. It's not like I'm the first person to think of this. This is why there is no playoff now...And then none of what I've said has even taken into consideration that aside from the 4 Major Bowls, none of these Bowl games are affiliated with each other in any way. The 4 Major Bowls only being loosely affiliated. These Bowls are all seperate and independant organizations with different payouts and are in most respects competitors, not likely to cooperate...IT'S NEVER HAPPENING...
I say again, the D1AA and Div. III playoffs are not a part of this discussion. I don't care about the brackets or how it's done in the other divisions. Frankly, I don't even care if it's a football to football comparison or not. This is not about the "show". It's about the "logistics", as always. It's about dividing the spoils in a way that everyone would agree. The money generated by D1A dwarfs the other divisions and is not going to be consolidated in the warchests of the top teams/conferences without a fight, period. A fight that the smaller schools/conferences would win, either with their votes or in court/congress later. Those teams/conferences are equal members when it comes to deciding these questions. I explained earlier that even in a "home field advantage" type playoff setup, you are expecting teams to play more games for less income then what's available to them in the Bowl system, unless you somehow believe that the money fairy is just going to add millions and millions of dollars more to the process than what is there now
(a very shaky assumption for a variety of reasons including the fact that according to polls, nearly half of college football fans are fans exactly because it's not like the NFL. i;e no playoffs). These are business decisions and from what I see, this would be bad business or at the very best, "risky" business...
The fact that people continue to ignore this aspect of the playoff problem amazes me. It is the only hurdle of any real significance, yet people just gloss over it like it's unimportant. The BCS and it's conferences were already threatened with lawsuits and congressional action because of the exclusivity of the pre-expansion BCS arrangement. But now you believe that we will do a "super-consolidation" of all that money into the power conferences? It's never happening. Just look at the numbers we're dealing with here...The best any of you playoff supporters can ever hope for is a +1 system, very similar to what this year will be, but you would proabably need to add that 5th Major Bowl payout (Cotton Bowl maybe) to still allow 10 teams to participate or face previously mentioned civil/congressional action. Aside from that, the rest is just the same noise we hear every year...There is too much money on the table and too much at stake in terms of financing these giant athletic departments across the country to expect some easy, "no big deal" transition away from the Bowl system.
