No Playoff in Sight

I was sitting with my father watching the inaugural New Era Pinstripe Bowl, which utilizes the pantheon that is Yankee Stadium and the huge market of New York City to feature the match-up between perennial powerhouses Syracuse and Kansas State (note the sarcasm here).

He asked me, "So how many bowl games do they have now?"

I replied, "Thirty-five."

He chuckled for a few seconds and simply said, "Ridiculous."

And that got me thinking. It is ridiculous that 70 out of 120 teams in major college football have a chance to play in the postseason. It is absurd that even the most mediocre of programs are able to reap millions of dollars in financial incentives. The minimum payout to schools playing in bowl games is $750,000, according to USA Today, and the NCAA and conferences often lend additional funds to subsidize the costs incurred by the universities. But the worst part of the whole racket is that these "mid-major" schools (to use a basketball term) often see a bottom-line deficit, even after all the money is paid out. Between travel and housing for the team and absorbing the cost of unsold tickets, many schools end up in the red by the time the game is played. So why continue with this practice of the NCAA and sponsor companies throwing around millions of dollars if many schools never see any of it?

The answer: the BCS automatic qualifying conferences have a stranglehold on the money. See, this is where the light bulb should begin to flicker above your head. AQ conferences receive over 90 percent of the profits from the bowl games. So the long and short of it is that smaller schools get left by the wayside because smaller schools are not making anyone any money. People pay to see Ohio State play Florida, not to see Ohio University play Central Florida. Most of the funds from the postseason are diverted to Ohio State and Florida (in this scenario), while the OUs and the UCFs of America put in the same amount of work for little or no money (didn't that used to be a civil rights violation or something?).

So how could one address this natural inequity that exists in the current college football system? Aha! A playoff! That light bulb should be shining brilliantly now because a playoff system is a brilliant solution. All things are equal when two teams step on the field. Obviously, one team will be more talented or well-prepared than the other, leading one to win and one to lose. However, we are all familiar with the "every given Saturday" phenomenon, meaning that any team can beat any other if given the chance. If a playoff system existed, the NCAA could drop all of the 6-and-6 stragglers that make it into the Armed Forces Bowl now and let the best 8, 12, or 16 teams settle it among themselves. That's right, no December 18 bowl games that no one besides the parents of the players care about. No automatic qualifiers; as one can readily see, UConn is not one of the top ten teams in the country (in fact, they are not even one of the top 25). Just the best teams competing for the ultimate prize. It truly seems like the answer. Small school do not have to incur any losses from bowl expenses, and the fans see the best possible product on the field. So what's stopping the NCAA?

Unfortunately, we can't forget the big schools in this whole situation. Although sponsors will undoubtedly line up to get their names on anything related to a college football playoff, it will admittedly be awkward to market a football game with the moniker "Under Armour First-Round Game." If sponsors disappear, then so does a large chunk of the profits. If the profits disappear, then the big schools will be unhappy. And an unhappy baby makes for uncomfortable parents.

The parents in this case: the NCAA. The NCAA does not want its breadwinners to turn on it. What course of action the major schools would have in this situation is a question I cannot entirely answer. But the question of a college football playoff, I believe, has been answered vehemently for the near (and possibly distant) future. The NCAA goes where the money is, and the money is more likely to come from the Little Caesar's Bowl than a playoff game. Unless, of course, you're a non-AQ football program. But let's just keep that between us.