College Football Play-off to Start in 2014

[joeybee12]

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A four-team playoff for college football has been formally approved by a presidential oversight committee, a dramatic change for the sport that will begin in 2014. The four teams will be chosen by a selection committee, the semifinals will be held at current bowl sites and the national championship game will be awarded to the highest bidder.


The 12-year deal is through the 2025 season.

The 11 conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick presented their proposal to a board of 12 university presidents at the Dupont Circle Hotel. In less than three hours, the group agreed upon a postseason that college football fans have been clamoring for years.


The group of presidents also endorsed a rotation of the semifinal games among six bowl sites and rotation of the championship game among neutral sites. The championship game will be managed by the conferences and will not be branded as a bowl game. The group also announced the creation of a selection committee that will rank the teams to play in the playoff, "giving all the teams an equal opportunity to participate." The committee will consider win-loss record, strength of schedule, head-to-head results and whether a team is a conference champion.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8099187/ncaa-presidents-approve-four-team-college-football-playoff-beginning-2014

[El Supremo]

1. Does this mean the end of the BCS rankings? Please make it so!

Also does this end the BCS Bowls? Do we go back to traditional bowls except for the semi-finals? And what does this mean for the Big 12-SEC bowl game?

Many questions remain.

[joeybee12]

2. No! And guess where the championship game will be played?

At the location that is the HIGHEST BIDDER!

It's still about the money!!!!

[trotsky]

12. LOL

No surprises there!

[bluedigger]

3. Not for at least another year.

Which should provide plenty to talk about...

[JonLP24]

4. This will be worse than the BCS

A f*'in selection committee will choose the 4 teams. I'd much rather keep the BCS Rankings and put the top 4 in. Much less bias than a selection committee.

[Auggie]

5. I agree. And we're stuck with it for 12 years.

[hughee99]

6. The key phrase in it all "to the highest bidder".

I think everyone here knew they wouldn't change the BCS format until there was more money in it for them. They've figured out a way to make that happen.

I see "giving all the teams an equal opportunity to participate" as code for doing the exact opposite. Rather than taking the 4 most deserving teams, the number of factors the committee will consider will mostly boil down to which teams, of the possible choices, will bring in the most money. It also gives them the flexibility to avoid an All-SEC final (I believe last year's national TV ratings were the lowest ever due, in part, to the limited geographic appeal).

In the end, it's still going to end up the same... with an SEC champion, at least for the foreseeable future.

[JonLP24]

7. 3rd lowest

The previous two lows for the BCS era was Miami-Nebraska in 2002 & USC-Oklahoma in 2005.

I think what makes those two contests even lower (in comparison) than this recent one was those games weren't on cable.

Regardless, the BCS Bowl games overall took a hit. Down 12% from last year. The Orange Bowl featuring West Virginia-Clemson was the lowest rated BCS Bowl in history at 4.5.

[hughee99]

8. Sorry, I quickly googled and found an article that said it was lowest

but I didn't read the full article to see any specifics on how that was figured.

In any case, last years ratings coupled with a rematch of two teams in the same division of the same conference who had already played a boring game early in the season might have played a large role in getting the people in charge to realize that something needs to be done.

[JonLP24]

9. I agree

though I found the game far from boring. Excellent defensive performances. I'll agree it was boring from the fan perspective that like to see high scores and soft defenses but to me, the game was a blast to watch.

I think when you have just 2 seasons of BCS games on cable it needs more time to put the ratings in their proper context. I'm sure what hurt the ratings (as well as plenty of other factors) are fans that were willing to watch the game(like me) but didn't because they don't have cable.

Not that I would advocate that. I would like to see these games back on basic television.

[hughee99]

10. I enjoyed the game as well,

but the consensus afterward of the 9-6 game was that it was pretty boring.

[a la izquierda]

11. This seems like 6 in one...

half dozen in the other. Meh, we'll see how it goes.

By the way, I love your avatar.