For all the crap that was tossed yesterday in the general direction of Jim Delany’s novel approach to rejiggering the BCS, it’s worth noting that another part of what’s being considered for the next version of the D-1 football postseason is getting a lot of favorable attention. Here’s Paul Myerberg’s take:
In essence, B.C.S. officials would consider the creation of a 10-, 12- or 20-team postseason event. The goal would be to create top-tier bowl games from the teams not included among the four-team playoff “with the aim of providing the most evenly matched and attractive games that make geographic sense for the participants.”
The games would be chosen by committee, not by conference affiliation. Under this proposal, instead of taking the top team in the Mountain West and the sixth team out of the Pac-12, the Las Vegas Bowl might feature two teams ranked among the top 10 teams in the country. Instead of being beholden to the Big 12 and the SEC, the Cotton Bowl might always be in line for a bowl game pitting the top two seeds not included in the four-team playoff.
My, doesn’t that sound great. What red-blooded American football fan wouldn’t be in favor of “evenly matched and attractive games”?
A couple of things: first, nobody can guarantee that what a selection committee puts together is going to work. Those people can’t predict the future. (If they could, wouldn’t every 8 vs. 9 game in the basketball tourney be a barn burner?) All they can do is provide pairings that everyone looks at in advance approvingly. Fine, but the results are going to be just as random as what we get from the bowls now.
But there’s a bigger issue here, I think. Who’s going to pay for this? The bowls pick their participants with an eye towards putting asses in the seats. What happens when, say, the Sugar Bowl is told it will be hosting two evenly matched teams which aren’t great draws? And what happens when ESPN is given the same news?
For that matter, using one of Myerberg’s examples, what’s Mike Slive’s reaction to seeing an SEC school get bumped from the Cotton Bowl?
I’m not sure I’d get too excited about this proposal yet.