BCS 2.0 will be 6 bowls, with guaranteed spot for highest Big East/non-AQ

[nelsonmuntz]

But would you rather stay in the NNBE than the ACC? Let me guess, your answer is yes because FSU and Clemson batted their eyes with someone else, something something instability? And never mind about the $$$.

Your obvious straw man is obvious.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The way I see it - the insistence on moving to a four team playoff meant that virtually no one will care about the bowls anyway.

So one year the BE champ might go to the Belk Bowl instead of the Cotton Bowl. Does it really matter that much? Either way, the bowls are even more clearly exhibitions than they used to be.

The bowls will be dead within 5 years. They are having trouble selling tickets to Michigan and VTech in the Sugar, imagine what it will be like when there is a playoff that becomes the entire focus of college football. Will anyone give a crap about the Fiesta Bowl?

 

[BG79]

Theres so much this football team needs to do. We need to fire our coach yesterday, and we need to get the hell out of the Big East. I don't see this program moving forward till both of those are done.

 

[Marty Jackson]

The 5 non-contract conferences need to think outside the box...
Maybe create their own playoff within this structure.

Dedicate the final week of the season for a semi-final and then have a championship game featuring the top 4 ranked teams... Winner would at the very least represent the 'Group of 5' in the national host bowl, maybe a spot in the national playoff.

Not sure how the logistics could work from a scheduling standpoint, but Im sure someone could figure it out if there were money to be made...

The games would create discussion and generate exposure for these leagues. Would also help to 'inflate' the ranking for the winning team. And then there is the added revenue for the top programs hosting the games, along with the potential to sell the rights to this game.

 

[Husky25]

NYC, I think a big key for the BE will be whether the playoff remains at 4 teams (there were some quotes a while ago that expansion past 4 is not in the cards for the forseeable future). It won't be easy for NNBE teams to get access to the top 4, I know some will argue that Cinci would have been in the mix but this will be decided by a selection committee and the big traditional schools will have political influence in the process. Granted, there will be public support for expansion for sure, and maybe Boise or Louisville will improve to where they can argue they deserve a top 4 playoff bid. (For any NNBE team, they will have to have multiple years of dominance so they can start the season ranked high). But over the long haul, I just think it'll be tough for the BE to get in the 4 team playoff and that could dampen the ceiling for recruiting at a school like Boise.

This is completely dependent on the definition of "foreseeable future." The BCS may talk big about equality of the new system, but make no mistake that it's all about the Benjamins. Outside the Tournement, the bowls are still merely exhibition games, where interest barely extends passed the host community and the two fan bases. The more games that count = more viewers = higher ratings = more advertising $$ = more overall $$.

I'm on record in that I think the Tourney would have ultimately expanded to 10 teams (10-7, 8-9 play-in, then 8 team bracket from there on out) by 2024. However this proposal makes it easier to go to 16 teams awfully quickly. By that time, hopefully UConn will have righted the ship and contend for one of those spots...

 

[lsuconnman]

The bowls will be dead within 5 years. They are having trouble selling tickets to Michigan and VTech in the Sugar, imagine what it will be like when there is a playoff that becomes the entire focus of college football. Will anyone give a crap about the Fiesta Bowl?

Bowl's located outside of college football hotbeds without traditional schools have trouble selling tickets. Many lowly bowls virtually sell out every year, and well traveled programs result in profits regardless of the invitation. All programs struggle to sell $200 tickets at face value to the public...it's all a matter of successfully absorbing the tickets at the institutional level and then dispensing them for a fraction of the cost.

The stratification effect of the new formula has been obvious for years. The only thing I find surprising is the biggest advocates of the new system are the ones least likely to benefit. The money funnel will prove to be even more predictable. The additional top tier games are simply intended to placate the poor with illusions of opportunity.

From this point forward the challenge for the lower class teams will be balance of scheduling. You'll begin seeing SEC/PAC12/B12 offering $2m+ for home games. Will schools risk guaranteed money for the chance to sandbag the rankings? Only if Title IX can be separated from football...highly unlikely. Troy spent the better part of a decade playing 3-4 away games against SEC schools each season. In exchange for funding 1/5 of the entire $20mil athletic budget, they were rewarded with 8-4 and 7-5 seasons and a $300k bid to the N.O. Bowl. The majority of schools will be happy to sacrifice football glory to pay the bills of their non-revenue sports.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Bowl's located outside of college football hotbeds without traditional schools have trouble selling tickets. Many lowly bowls virtually sell out every year, and well traveled programs result in profits regardless of the invitation. All programs struggle to sell $200 tickets at face value to the public...it's all a matter of successfully absorbing the tickets at the institutional level and then dispensing them for a fraction of the cost.

The stratification effect of the new formula has been obvious for years. The only thing I find surprising is the biggest advocates of the new system are the ones least likely to benefit. The money funnel will prove to be even more predictable. The additional top tier games are simply intended to placate the poor with illusions of opportunity.

From this point forward the challenge for the lower class teams will be balance of scheduling. You'll begin seeing SEC/PAC12/B12 offering $2m+ for home games. Will schools risk guaranteed money for the chance to sandbag the rankings? Only if Title IX can be separated from football...highly unlikely. Troy spent the better part of a decade playing 3-4 away games against SEC schools each season. In exchange for funding 1/5 of the entire $20mil athletic budget, they were rewarded with 8-4 and 7-5 seasons and a $300k bid to the N.O. Bowl. The majority of schools will be happy to sacrifice football glory to pay the bills of their non-revenue sports.

I also think you are seeing curious outcomes in these guarantee games. The Louisiana-Lafayette/Florida ending was ridiculous. I don't think I have ever heard of a game ending that way in my life. Did ULL realize that the right thing to do was to pack it in if they ever wanted to be invited back? You tell me.

How many guarantee games have ended with the underdog who has played toe to toe all game long suddenly fold up shop in the last 2-3 minutes? Utah State has had like 4 of those games in the last 2 years. The ULM/Auburn game was suspicious too. These small schools know they get to have a few upsets, but if those outcomes become too frequent, they will stop getting the paychecks.

 

[JayRU09]

I've been going back and forth on this, and while it sucks to be seen as a 'lower conference', the fact is we may come out pretty well financially.

It seems as though the 'Power Five' will top out at 16% of the total revenue each (proposed 80% divided by 5).

However, the 20% the other conferences get has yet to be decided. And since the formula used to determine who was the 'power 5' puts the Big East at being better than the other four combined, we should fight and claw for 8-10%. Plus with extra revenue for sending a rep to a BCS bowl and extra revenue for academics (apparently), if we could get double digits we could end up fine.

Everything goes back to the TV deal. BYU is now the number one priority.

 

[junglehusky]

I also think you are seeing curious outcomes in these guarantee games. The Louisiana-Lafayette/Florida ending was ridiculous. I don't think I have ever heard of a game ending that way in my life. Did ULL realize that the right thing to do was to pack it in if they ever wanted to be invited back? You tell me.

How many guarantee games have ended with the underdog who has played toe to toe all game long suddenly fold up shop in the last 2-3 minutes? Utah State has had like 4 of those games in the last 2 years. The ULM/Auburn game was suspicious too. These small schools know they get to have a few upsets, but if those outcomes become too frequent, they will stop getting the paychecks.

Now that post is a saucer of milk for Conspiracy Kitty if I ever seen one.

 

[huskymedic]

I'm sure all the news is still a bit garbled but I saw or read that combined the little 5 will get one share of the ESPN $475M that will be less than one of the 5 equal shares that will be received by the "big 5" conferences (i.e., ACC and SEC will get the same share payout). The little 5 will have to figure out how to split their smaller share payout. If this is the case, the NNBE will have a hard time keeping up in a long run competition w/the ACC.

Another fear I have is the access we have under the little 5 arrangement will not translate to 2 teams in the premium bowls if our champ goes to the playoffs. As I understand the arrangement now, if the big 5 get a team in the playoff, their second best team goes to their respective "champion"contract bowl regardless of quality/merit. I suspect the little 5 access is just one of the 12 spots and it stops there even if that spot is a playoff spot.

This was what USA Today had:

"The question of how the revenue will be distributed has apparently been settled, at least in broad terms. Though presidents and commissioners at the Hyatt Regency would not discuss the terms because they hadn't been finalized, CBSSports.com reported Sunday the "Group of Five" would split at least 20 percent of the overall bowl revenue.

"There will be plenty of money for everybody," BCS executive director Bill Hancock said. "The bottom line is 'more.' "

Northern Illinois president John Peters, who represented the Mid-American Conference, said the vote on revenue distribution was unanimous.

"We think it's fair," Peters said. "It does recognize that some conferences contribute more in a revenue way. … From my point of view for my conference, what it means is more."

Said the Big East's Aresco: "The fairness aspect is definitely there."

Somebody else can do the math...

 

[JayRU09]

The pie is at base $470+ million. I believe I have read that 10% will used for an academic achievement payout (basically the Big Ten's backup plan for sucking), which could mean $47 million off that $470 number, so $423 million.

80% goes to the power five, which is $338.4 million. Each 'power conference' will get $68 million. These are rough numbers as the actual calculation regarding bowls will be much more complicated. $84.6 at the very least will be left for us and the other conferences, and it's to be determined how to split that.

Judging off the criteria of how the 'Power 5' were determined, us being better than the other four COMBINED should get us $40 million if all things were fair.

But they're not.

 

[BlueMAB]

The reason I'm saying that it's not misleading is that the author is including Boise on the Big East side of the ledger. So it was clear what his/her intent was.

If you think there is a better way to represent what "would have been" with this system in place, then go for it. Look them up and see if the author has over-stated, under-stated, or appropriately stated what would have been the Big East representation throughout the last decade. Or don't. I'm not sure I care, but if you care, and if I were you, that's how I would handle it...

There is no way to know whether it's over or understated, that's what you're not understanding.

Think about it. We have no idea what Boise would have achieved playing in the big east all those years. It's impossible to ever know. But the author assumes all results would have been the same if the teams were in different conferences.

 

[UConnDan97]

There is no way to know whether it's over or understated, that's what you're not understanding.

Think about it. We have no idea what Boise would have achieved playing in the big east all those years. It's impossible to ever know. But the author assumes all results would have been the same if the teams were in different conferences.

What YOU'RE not understanding is the part where I typed, "I'm not sure I care," which was code for, "I don't care"...

 

[BlueMAB]

What YOU'RE not understanding is the part where I typed, "I'm not sure I care," which was code for, "I don't care"...

And yet you continue to respond to things you don't care about. Strange behavior. What you were suggesting I do is moronic, that's what I was trying to point out to you.

If you don't care about the discussion, you can save us both time by not contributing to it.

 

[UConnDan97]

And yet you continue to respond to things you don't care about. Strange behavior.

No. I responded to you. I still care about you, WingU. I still care about you...

 

[Carl Spackler]

This structure may not even last as long as the "contract" bowls contracts are supposed to last.

THe first time that 4 or 5 deserving teams from the "group of 5" (btw - these changing terms are becoming quite comical) but the first time, that a couple of deserving teams are being forced to take only 1 spot in one of the six "High revenue" games, while a garbage team from the ACC, or any other "contract" conference is given an automatic spot, all hell is going to break loose. People are becoming educated to the college football post season.

The entire thing is about money. the entire college post season, for 120+ years - is about money. Who makes, it who keeps it. The conferences, and programs, and handful of corporate big wigs that have a century of getting fat on it, aren't going to let go of that cash flow without a fight.

The greatest hurdle has already been crossed, in the spring. It's only going to accelerate now, until we actually get a true playoff of conference champs.

 

[junglehusky]

The money is going to keep the group of five quiet. I mean, the fans will make noise, but the presidents won't complain as long as they're getting hush money. This report from CBS says 20% to the group of five. Yeah it sucks the BE has to share it with the Sun Belt and the MAC. But I bet that's only going to be motivation for UConn to join the ACC and Louisville to B12, despite what the #ClapHarder crowd imagines. The only way I can think for the group of five to actually protest would be to walk away or sue, and they're not going to do that when they can get a a bigger pile of table scraps.

 

[junglehusky]

I'm sorry, I read that again, and the idea that "all hell will break loose" when deserving teams are left out of the playoff is a joke. Does anybody care when Dukie V goes on ESPN and rants for three minutes straight about so-and-so getting snubbed by the selection committee? Nobody cares, except for fans of that school.