Fans who have always wanted to see the college football champion decided by a tournament rather than the BCS may soon get their wish. AP is reporting that the BCS Commissioners reached a consensus yesterday on a tournament model that decides the national champion using a four team seeded playoff. Now all that needs to happen is for the university presidents to sign off for approval and the 2014 national champions will be decided in this manner.
“I am delighted,” said Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive to the Associate Press. “I am pleased with the progress we have made. There are some differences, but we will work them out. We’re trying to do what is in the best interest of the game.”
The BCS Presidential Oversight Committee will meet in Washington next Tuesday to decide the fate of the new plan, or introduce one of their own. The proposition is ultimately their decision, so there is still a chance that it could be shot down.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 presidents have shown support for this model, which would replace the method of creating a pair of national semifinalists based on ranking. The new method would take place after the bowls have been played, which leads me to believe the Presidential Oversight Committee should have no problem adopting this method. Making the season longer by adding a tournament on top of the bowl games should create some huge advertising dollars. Their only concern might be that it could disrupt the ratings for bowl games, but that is seriously doubtful. Football has become an American obsession — even downplaying the importance of bowl games could not harm the following.
The Commissioners may have reached a consensus for the tournament style but may details are yet to be worked out. For instance, there has been no consensus on whether or not the semifinal sites would rotate between major bowls, ar if they will play at the site of one of the team’s. The method for discerning the final four teams is also a subject of hot debate. Right now they are talking about the use of a selection committee that gives preference to teams that win their conference, similar to NCAA basketball.
