Presidential Involvement in College Football?

As most of you know, President-Elect Barack Obama has publicly said that he would like to see College Football move towards a playoff system. Set aside for a moment if you will whether a playoff is a good thing or a bad thing.

How is government involvement in a private enterprise at that level of detail a good thing? Shouldn't the free market decide what sort of product (or method for deciding victory) is "best."

College Football ratings have an aggressive upwards trajectory. TV rights are selling for an all-time high for the sport as evidence by the $2.25 billion deal TV between the SEC and ESPN. It's not a product that needs government intervention to be "fixed."


Be Careful What You Wish For
All of that said. A College Football Playoff is a "Be Careful What You Wish For" endeavor. If we could get a system whereby the "Best" 8 Teams would battle it out for post-season supremacy, I'd be opened minded about it. That will not happen. To think that's what you would get would be to ignore everything that's happened over the past 20 years politically within college football.

The "Best 8 Teams" model is not what the NCAA, BCS Conferences and Non-BCS Conferences would give us. Instead, we would get a system with rules very similar to this:

1. An 8 Team Playoff whereby the 6 BCS Conference Champions are guaranteed an automatic birth. Any BCS conference commissioner agreeing to a system whereby his "champion" didn't get automatic access to the playoffs would be fired on the spot.

2. An accessible entry point for the best non-BCS Conference Champ to enter the playoffs. They would open the door for them slightly wider (like Top 10 or Top 12 finish) in order to avoid pesky lawsuits from non-BCS Conferences. Also, the 53 teams not involved in a BCS Conference would never vote in favor of a playoff system that didn't give them an accessible entry point.

3. Most years there would only be one at-large spot left. What criteria would be created to make sure that an independent like Notre Dame would be invited to fill that spot? A Top 8 Finish? A Top 10 Finish? There would most certainly be a loophole to grant them access, and no one is forcing ND into a conference against their will.

If you are an SEC or Big 12 fan, your conferences are most likely to produce a playoff champion. That's why all other conferences would aggressively work to limit your access to that one remaining at-large spot.

For instance, Big 10 Conference members -- who don't play an championship game -- would have a much easier path to the one at-large spot.

In the scenario above, it's very easy to see the #4, 5 and/or 6 teams in the nation being left out of an playoff in favor of lesser ACC, Big East, non-BCS conference members and/or Notre Dame. This year either the SEC runner-up or the Big 12 runner-up would be sitting at home in favor of a 4 or 5 loss Big East or ACC Champ.

How is that a better system? How does that bring on less controversy? Because that's the outcome you most certainly will get if we make a change for an 8 team bracket.

I keep hearing, "It's what everyone wants." I would argue that's only because "everyone" doesn't understand what it is that they are going to get if they make their request.

See Also:

-- How can it be a good idea if Mike Adams supports it? - AJC
-- How can it be a good idea if Urban Meyer supports it? - Blutarsky
-- Recognizing the Complexity - Mandel

PWD


(NOTE: This is a FOOTBALL discussion. If you hate / love the president-elect or the sitting president, I respect your opinion. But I don't want to moderate a discussion on The Presidency. I'd rather...if at all possible...have the comments centered around the existing BCS debate. I know that's asking a lot. But please help me out. You're not going to convince anyone reading a football blog comments area that their views on the 43rd or 44th president of the US are "wrong.")