Obama Wants Playoffs

Mike Slive, the commissioner of the SEC since 2002, recently sat with The State’s Seth Emerson to discuss a number of topics. Today, Slive talks about football and the BCS.

QUESTION: Let’s talk about the BCS. I know you all presented the plus-one plan last year. (Taking the top four teams in the BCS, No. 1 would play No. 4, No. 2 would play No. 3 in the semis, with the winners meeting for the national title.) Is that something that you as a conference want to address again?

ANSWER. We thought it was worth moving ahead on and having more serious discussion about it. And it didn’t happen. We’re all set for the next four-year cycle, (and) we have one more year in the current cycle. Whether or not after that there’ll be any discussion, we will see.

The idea may have come from here, but it’s in the public domain now, the idea. So now every year you can take a look at what happened, apply the plus-one model to the actual results in a given year, and over time see how it might have been helpful or not.

Q: Who is against the plus-one format?

A: It was pretty clear that the Big 12 presidents don’t want to have the extra game. The Pac-10 and Big 10 were not interested in it from the start. The ACC was wanting to look at it, as we were. The Big East didn’t like the model.

And having said that, I think it’s only fair to say that I’m not a playoff advocate. I don’t think a playoff is appropriate, and I make a distinction between a plus-one and a playoff. A lot of people don’t, but I do.

Q: The thing I hear from a lot of people is that the New Year’s Day experience has been lost.

A: We still value Jan. 1. We’re the only conference that plays three games on Jan. 1. Now, those people who say we devalue Jan 1 probably want a playoff. Which would not help Jan. 1. I mean, the only way you can have Jan. 1 the way it used to be is to go back to the “good old days.”

Q: Will there ever be a playoff?

A: There isn’t a postseason scenario in the sport of college football that can meet all the needs of everybody. We have exams in December. That’s why we don’t play bowl games until the 28th or 29th.

We don’t want football to become a second-semester sport. It’s a long, hard sport. If they did, all of a sudden they’re going to be behind. So if you respect that, it makes a playoff very difficult.

The regular season, even the most cynical people about the BCS have to recognize that the regular season has become much more significant. It’s always significant here in the Southeast.

And the bowl system is important to us in the SEC. If you change it dramatically, I don’t think you’re going to have bowls that want to be the NIT of college football.

http://www.thestate.com/gogamecocks/story/696941.html

All the lobbying on Capitol Hill by Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson to change the football cartel that is the Bowl Championship Series might not bring us any closer to a true playoff system. Any saber-rattling about Utah not having equal access with Florida or Oklahoma to a No. 1 ranking might do nothing more than create a few headlines.

But if nobody speaks up or forces the college football dictators to confront the blatant discrimination they sign off on every fall, how can a broken system get fixed?

We’ll just continue the present haves-vs.-have-nots existence and act like it’s perfectly fine to rig the process in favor of six BCS conferences and Notre Dame, while leaving 51 other schools from five non-BCS leagues to fight for the crumbs.

Last week, Thompson took his crusade to lawmakers in Washington. He met with senior staff members of Congress to “raise public awareness” about a BCS bowl system that guarantees entry to the conference champions of the Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10 and Big East, yet only limited access to winners of the other leagues.

Utah, the nation’s only unbeaten team last season, defeated SEC runner-up Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and still finished well behind 13-1 Florida in the major polls. Boise State also went unbeaten in the regular season, but it failed to play in a major bowl despite a higher BCS ranking than three champions (Ohio State, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech) from BCS leagues.

What’s wrong with this picture? Only everything.

http://www.jacksonville.com/sports/columnists/gene_frenette/2009-02-26/story/commish_chips_away_at_bcs_bloc

“It’s not fair when you take a school like Utah — when I was at Utah, our athletics budget was around $20-22 mil per year. Our budget here is ($84.5 mil) … and the major difference is the bowl revenue and TV revenue they get. I don’t think most people begrudge what we got because of being in the championship game, but all the SEC schools got the same amount of money that we got. And Utah could beat a lot of SEC schools. That’s the unfairness. I think that’s got to be fixed one way or the other. One way to fix it would have been a playoff, more revenue to distribute like you do in basketball.”

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-sportsmachen22022209feb22,0,6616890.story?page=2

Straddling a delicate line between Congress’ urgent national agenda and the Mountain West Conference’s ongoing campaign to break down BCS barriers, MWC commissioner Craig Thompson spent Thursday and today meeting with Congressional senior staff members.

There was no proposal on the table to restructure the BCS.

“We’re not looking for government intervention. We’re trying to raise public awareness,” Thompson said.

He and three unnamed MWC presidents met a week ago with BCS chairman John Swofford and full-time administrator Bill Hancock.

A proposal will be submitted to the other conference commissioners in two weeks.

He wouldn’t say if a national playoff is part of any proposal because any outline won’t be formalized until reviewed by the MWC presidents.

Thompson, who spoke in a national conference call set by the Washington lobbying firm hired by the league, gave few specifics, other than he was representing the direction of the league presidents.

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_11750546

Presidents of Mountain West schools agreed to hire a Washington lobbying firm last month to assist in efforts to change how the Football Bowl Subdivision determines a champion, according to league spokesman Javan Hedlund. With Congress in recess this week, Thompson has been meeting with staffers.

“We know what we have to do,” said Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, whose staff briefed him on the meeting. “We’re going to have hearings on this. We are not going to back down. The sooner they come up with a playoff system, the better. The BCS is on a death march.”

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/mwest/2009-02-19-mwestbcs_N.htm

WASHINGTON – It would seem there’s little common ground between Rep. Joe Barton – the Waco-native, proud Aggie and Texas GOP-heavyweight – and President Barack Obama – the Democratic star with international roots and Ivy League degrees.

Football, however, makes strange bedfellows.

Both Barton and Obama have called for college football to have a bona fide championship and scrap the controversial Bowl Championship Series. Barton has filed one of at least three bills in Congress to force action on the matter.

The business-side of the BCS is why Congress should tackle the issue, even as it grapples with weightier problems, like the recession and failing financial institutions, Barton said.

“It’s hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s interstate commerce,” he said.

Still, critics doubt change will come, even with Obama’s support.

“I don’t think there’s a consensus among Division 1-A teams that they want to have a playoff,” said Scott Cowen, the president of Tulane University who successfully lobbied Congress to open the bowl system to more schools like his in 2003.

Cowen said the NCAA won’t force a change unless the conferences ask for one. An NCAA spokesman said what happens with the BCS is not up to the NCAA.

All the schools that are in the top conferences make too much money to want to change, said Gary Roberts, a sports law professor at Indiana University.

“There are always going to be a few congressmen from football areas that feel their team got screwed this season,” Roberts said. “But the vast majority of congressmen and senators are going to be hammered by politically powerful interests that make them go the opposite direction.”

The BCS has spent at least $380,000 in lobbying since 2003.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/021109dnnatbcs.16709d8.html

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim joined the show before his team takes on Connecticut on Wednesday night. Here are some of Boeheim’s takes …

– Dan asked Boeheim if he liked the BCS. “There’s only one sport in college that doesn’t have a playoff system,” Boeheim said. “It’s kind of hard to believe it’s one of our two biggest sports.” Boeheim thinks a college football playoff system would be great.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/blog/48962/

The Legislature honored the University of Utah football team Monday, praising the undefeated Utes as the true national champion.

“A hearty congratulations, gentlemen, you do us proud,” said House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, suggesting that perhaps the officials with the Bowl Championship Series might note the resolution and “bend a little bit.”

The Utes went 13-0 this season — the nation’s only undefeated major college program — and thumped Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The team finished second in The Associated Press football poll behind Florida.

The Senate voted to send a copy of the resolution to President Barack Obama, who has expressed support for a college football playoff.

http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_11664515

Utah’s lawmakers contend the BCS formula is flawed and gives schools from the major conferences an unfair advantage that would make it impossible for a school like BYU to win the national title, as the Cougars did in 1984.

“You look at what happened this year, the University of Utah did everything physically possible to win that championship,” said Senate Majority Whip Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City. “Unless they are arbitrarily put in to that championship game, they will never have the chance.”

However, despite calls from fans and President Obama himself, a playoff is unlikely anytime soon. The BCS recently signed a four-year, $125 million deal with ESPN to televise the BCS national championship game, and the Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls, starting January 2011 and running through the 2014 bowls.

The current deal with Fox runs out after next season. The Rose Bowl has its own separate TV deal with ABC that runs through January 2014.

“You know, when this comes down to it, it’s all about money. The fact is the BCS alliance controls large dollars, and to not be able to be in that group is not right,” Jenkins said. “There’s time to hold a playoff. You just got to do it.”

Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner and BCS coordinator John Swofford has said the majority of university presidents and athletic directors oppose an expansive NFL-style playoff for major college football and that the BCS is in compliance with federal law.

Utah politicians are undeterred, though. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is investigating whether the BCS is violating federal antitrust laws and Gov. Jon Huntsman has suggested having Florida and Utah play an extra game at a neutral site, which is highly unlikely.

Shurtleff and other leaders have taken some flak for using state resources on college football, but they say it’s worth it.

“When you talk about the millions of dollars that potentially come to our universities through these programs, I hardly think it’s frivolous,” said Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse.

The Utah House is expected to approve Senate Joint Resolution 11 later this week.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i0gQ5VJXH4UoAZXfT_CHS6Wy9H2AD968ADQG2

Senate Joint Resolution 11: http://le.utah.gov/2009/bills/sbillint/sjr011.htm

A resolution has been introduced at the Utah State Legislature in support of doing away with college football’s Bowl Championship Series.

SJR11, a “Joint Resolution Urging Football Playoff,” was introduced into the Senate on Thursday by Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City. The resolution calls on the National Collegiate Athletic Association to abandon the BCS in favor of a national playoff system.

“Whereas, the University of Utah football team finished the 2008 football season as the only undefeated football team in Division I-A, with a perfect 13-0 record,” Jenkins’ resolution begins, listing the U.’s victory over the University of Alabama at the Sugar Bowl and three teams from the Mountain West Conference in the top 25 before attacking the BCS system by saying that “although the BCS may be an improvement over past championship determinations, the system is still widely acknowledged as falling short of its goal of establishing a definitive college football champion.”

The resolution seeks to have the full Utah State Legislature urge the NCAA to abandon the BCS in favor of a national playoff so that the “best college football team is the one crowned as national champion.” Jenkins wants copies sent to the NCAA, the BCS, the University of Utah and Utah’s congressional delegation.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705283091,00.html