The last 2 years I have suggested two similar formats for a playoff. Both times, I’ll admit, there were flaws. But in the spirit of improvement and the spirit of tradition, I am going to do another. Why is this one better? For the first time, this event will take the money aspect into account in generating the perfect system. Also, I am going to post in a couple of days the slightly less extreme jump from this that would be evolution of what we have, instead of the revolution that the NCAA should do.
16 team playoff (4 games)
Forget shortening the season. You can keep 12 games every year. However, if this is done, the conference championships should end. The idea of the conference championships were to keep super conferences from having two undefeated teams that never play each other. However, this has only happened twice. Most years, you get two teams that have played each other and sometimes it ruins the other teams run. However, there is a lot of money in these championship games and they have become tradition so we can keep them too. Thus far, nothing is changing.
You require every conference to play a championship game and you also force the independents (namely the Irish) to join a conference risk not being invited to the championship process.
You then have two options on how teams would be selected for the playoff. You could (1) take the 6 AQ champions and fill 2 at-large bids in an 8 team playoff, or (2) take the 11 champions and 5 at large teams. I prefer option number 2 because there is no way of a dispute of a team getting left out that deserved to be there. That leaves 5 at-large bids. These are going to be like the NCAA March Madness selections. They have to be teams that showed incredible presence during the season and could very easily be conference champions. This can include teams that tie in a division or lost the championship game but have showed enough presence during the season to earn a spot. The selection of the five at large could be done by the current BCS or by a selection committee.
The next step is to seed the playoff. This would be done by the BCS or selection committee. This would not cause much controversy because the top 4 seeds should contain all of the “elite” teams of that year and would have 2 home games in the playoffs.
A maximum of three per conference can participate in the playoff to allow a chance for multiple teams of great caliber to play in it. The first round games are to be played after a bye week following the championship games (first weekend in December). These games are to be played in the venue of the higher seeded team (the money side allows for two weeks of time for people to make their plans to travel). Teams with stadiums seating less than an adequate amount of people (preferably more than 50,000 unless something is set higher upon the two teams playing) must find an adequate neutral site that will be there home venue. The second round will also be played in the previous format.
The third round will be played at rotating, but set, sites each year. You would take the big bowls from the BCS with history (Orange, Rose, and Sugar) and make those the venues for the semifinals and finals. These three events would alternate who carried the National Championship and which side of the bracket every year.
Tickets to each game will be offered through schools beginning at midnight ET on the Sunday before the game. All tickets are to be sold through schools with a minimum of a 60/40 split between home and visitor until wednesday at which time the home team can request that tickets be returned that are unsold by the visitor in the case that they are sold out. The away team can also request more in increments of 500 if they sell out before the home team. The tickets for the final two rounds will be split 50/50 and be sold that way up until kickoff where they can be purchased at the gate if it is not a sell out.
As for the bowl tradition. You can keep that. The NCAA would sponsor the playoff so sponsors from corporations are out. This also means all of the money from the TV deal, gate, and concessions, can be funneled right back into the schools (at a better share than currently). It will also allow for a good distribution of the money. The money structure would be based on March Madness and the performance structure for conferences to get more money if there team progresses further.
One possible way would be as follows
- Each of the 11 – Conferences – 5%
- Each team in second round – 2%
- Each team in semifinals – 4%
- Loser of national championship – 6%
- National Champion – 7%
The other would consist of the home team taking the gate and splitting it for the first two rounds and an even split for the next two rounds.
Percentages above are of the revenue that would be in the revenue sharing that is sent to each conferences to spread amongst the teams. (If only gate were counted with an avg attendance of 70,000 and avg ticket price of 40 dollars, this is 42,000,000. This doesn’t include a multimillion TV deal, concessions, or the fact that I horrendously underestimated for those numbers.)
Also, in the spirit of maintaining tradition. You can keep bowls during the weeks. These playoff games would be on Saturday, so you can keep the New Orleans and Las Vegas Bowls during the weekdays to give more football, more money, and keep the tradition of the bowls. These would be all the same and not have the NCAA tag on them and would still be the same thing they currently are. (UNC-UT, FSU-SCAR would’ve still been eligible too, so you don’t kill the bowl season).
Now to put this all down easily so everyone can understand me i will put this years scenario and how it would work out without making bold predictions.
First selections…. Conference Champions
- ACC – Virginia Tech
- Big 10 – Ohio State/Wisconsin/Michigan State (take your pick)
- Big 12 – Oklahoma
- Big East – UConn
- Conference USA – University of Central Florida
- Mid-American – Miami (OH)
- Mountain West – TCU
- PAC 10 – Oregon
- SEC – Auburn
- Sun Belt – FIU
- WAC – Nevada
Then you add in the five at large –
- Stanford
- Boise
- Arkansas
The last two spots will be left open for the co-champions of the Big10 since a conference champion can not be assumed and one was not played.
Then you seed the teams you have.
- Auburn
- Oregon
- TCU
- Stanford
- Wisconsin
- Ohio State
- Oklahoma
- Arkansas
- Michigan State
- Boise State
- Virginia Tech
- Nevada
- UCF
- UConn
- Miami (OH)
- FIU
Now for the matchups – (a’s play each other next round, b’s play each other next round…..)
Round 1
(a)16. FIU @ 1. Auburn (Jordan-Hare Stadium)
(b)15. Miami (OH) @ 2. Oregon (Autzen Stadium)
(c)14. UConn @ 3. TCU (Amon G. Carter Stadium)* (with a capacity of 50,000, TCU may have an agreement with Cowboys Stadium)
(d)13. UCF @ 4. Stanford (Stanford Stadium)* (another on the capacity limit, Stanford may have an agreement with Candlestick Park should this happen)
(d)12. Nevada @ 5. Wisconsin (Camp Randall Stadium)
(c)11. Virginia Tech @ 6. Ohio State (Ohio Stadium)
(b)10. Boise State @ 7. Oklahoma (Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium)
(a)9. Michigan State @ 8. Arkansas (Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium)
Predicted winners – Auburn, Oregon, TCU, Stanford, Nevada, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Arkansas
Round 2
(a)8. Arkansas @ 1. Auburn (Jordan-Hare Stadium)
(b)7. Oklahoma @ 2. Oregon (Autzen Stadium)
(b)11.Virginia Tech @ 3. TCU (Amon G. Carter Stadium)
(a)12.Nevada @ 4. Stanford (Stanford Stadium)
Predicted winners – Auburn, Oregon, TCU, Stanford
Round 3
(a)4. Stanford @ 1. Auburn (Orange Bowl)
(a)3. TCU @ 2. Oregon (Rose Bowl)
Predicted winners – Auburn, TCU
Round 4
3. TCU @ 1. Auburn (Sugar Bowl)
Another solution on the bowl tie-in would be to tie them in back to round two and only have home games in the first round… You could add the Fiesta, Cotton, Peach, and just call the national championship game the National Championship game and rotate it amongst these 6 venues.
But, how fun does this sound.