When Will College Football Have a Playoff?

The only question now that most football fans have in mind is that – will there be a playoff in reality? Some of them may consider it as a dream especially the BCS opponents. Currently, the BCS has a television contract through 2013. And the BCS feels no pressure to change before or after that date.

Today, the big schools have no incentive to share the wealth they generate from the big time bowls. Conferences such as the SEC treat their season as a playoff since the national champion has come out of that conference the last three years, and five times in the eleven year history of the BCS. But most theoretical playoff formats include the champion of each BCS conference. So why should lesser conferences such as the Big East, Big Ten, and Pac 10 be able to participate in a playoff.

Although it seems like a playoff would create more wealth to be spread to everyone, college presidents have very different ideas on how to distribute the money. It is true that a playoff would probably produce more than the $17.5 million payout to the SEC and Big 12 on behalf of Florida and Oklahoma for the 2009 National Championship game. However, although the pie would grow, there would be many more teams trying to grab a piece. A playoff would allow four, eight, or by some plans sixteen teams to play for the national championship. That would create a lot more teams looking for a cut.

Teams such as Utah, Boise State, and others schools that have had undefeated records in the past few years believe that they should have been granted a chance to play for the national championship. The attorney general from Utah went so far to bring an antitrust lawsuit against the BCS for refusing to allow the Utes a chance to play for the championship.

On the other hand, these big state schools in the SEC, Big 12, plus a few others like USC and Ohio State invest so much money in their athletics and have built programs; they don’t think they should be bumped by a new “BCS Buster” each year. Utah’s head coach, Kyle Wittingham, is the 80th highest paid coach in college football. That is lower than every school in the SEC, including lowly Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Teams like Florida and LSU pay their coaches the most and also, maybe coincidentally, are at the top of the standings every year. Their presidents believe that their commitment to producing a top rank football team should be rewarded.

It looks secure that the BCS will have to honor their TV contract through 2013. However, after that, the college presidents and NCAA may no longer be responsible for the future of their sport. Since President Obama announced he was a proponent of a playoff, the issue has gained some traction in Congress. According to ESPN, attorney general Mark Shurtleff of Utah is expected to file his antitrust suit in June 2009. If the BCS is found guilty of antitrust violations, they would be forced to create a new “open, inclusive system”: a playoff.