A playoff all sounds perfect, but there are still a number of problems with it conceptually. Nowithstanding the fact that any team can beat any other on a given day, unless you get down to about 16 teams, someone is going to get screwed. The number 9 team is always going to claim they weren't given a shot, especially if it is a non-power conference team like Boise that may be 12-0 or 11-1. The games yesterday may have been great (I didn't see them) but that presupposes that at least 8 teams should be involved since LSU-Alabama is coming up at least and maybe two other teams that might be added.
Clearly the money generated by the bowl games as they are is a factor. No one wants to give up those paydays.
But the real problem, even with a 'playoff' of only 4 teams is that they would be playing in half empty stadia. During March, many of the preliminary games are played to non capacity crowds and that only requires that a school sell 3-5K tickets. Imagine that a school has to sell 40,000 tickets, not once, but at least 3 consecutive times. Ain't going to happen. Sure, you could seed the 4 'best' teams and play on campus, but that creates an inate unfairness that impacts who will advance. Those games might generate good television revenue, but for fewer teams and still not result in a deserved national champion. Championship tournaments don't decide who is the best team, just the hottest during those couple of weeks.
A playoff all sounds perfect, but there are still a number of problems with it conceptually. Nowithstanding the fact that any team can beat any other on a given day, unless you get down to about 16 teams, someone is going to get screwed. The number 9 team is always going to claim they weren't given a shot, especially if it is a non-power conference team like Boise that may be 12-0 or 11-1. The games yesterday may have been great (I didn't see them) but that presupposes that at least 8 teams should be involved since LSU-Alabama is coming up at least and maybe two other teams that might be added.
Clearly the money generated by the bowl games as they are is a factor. No one wants to give up those paydays.
But the real problem, even with a 'playoff' of only 4 teams is that they would be playing in half empty stadia. During March, many of the preliminary games are played to non capacity crowds and that only requires that a school sell 3-5K tickets. Imagine that a school has to sell 40,000 tickets, not once, but at least 3 consecutive times. Ain't going to happen. Sure, you could seed the 4 'best' teams and play on campus, but that creates an inate unfairness that impacts who will advance. Those games might generate good television revenue, but for fewer teams and still not result in a deserved national champion. Championship tournaments don't decide who is the best team, just the hottest during those couple of weeks.