Obviously, it’s not getting the attention that the new playoffs are, but there’s another change being ushered in with the demise of the BCS that has the potential to be even more significant over the long haul. The bowl system as it is today is being dismantled.
The 13-member selection committee will not only provide the final Top 25 rankings, but will determine which teams go to which New Year’s Six bowls that do not have conference tie-ins. In other words, you’ll see fewer bowl reps on campus wearing tacky blazers because they have no control over who comes to their bowl. That’s right: no control over what team plays in their bowl. Nada.
The selection committee will determine who plays where. Another big change: Bowls can no longer skip teams in the rankings to pick a lower-ranked team that travels better. [Emphasis added.] The bowl teams will be selected based on the highest-available ranked team.
Right there is your admission that the power conferences have made the call that the future of college football is in broadcast revenue. The bowls will have to live with that. In fact, with the conferences negotiating lower ticket purchase guarantees, the TV money is going to be their key to survival.
But not as independent entities. Because the other thing being established here is the principle that bowls outside the current semi-final arrangement are being reorganized around a pure seeding arrangement. That makes things smoother when they’re preempted in the name of an expanded playoff.
The conferences have discovered how much leverage they wield. Bowls as we know them are the dinosaurs of college football.
Get The Picture 
Sounds like (potentially) better bowl matchups to me, god knows we need them.
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Hmm, 6 bowls times 2 = 12.
Or minus 1 for the playoff, 5 x 2 = 10.
Methinks that both are more than 4.
Sooner rather than later …
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This might be the sole plus from this new playoff concept.
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Agree, the Committee cannot possibly do worse in terms of bowl matchups on the field. But the Rose Bowl continues to be an obstacle to insuring the best available matchups in those games. I understand one regional team of interest but, come on, give some flexibility about the opponent. The only reason I watch most Rose Bowls is there is no other option. Wish some of the other bowls would take a slot against them, there are some pre-Christmas bowls that are more better football matchups than the PAC12/Big ? every damned year. Remember when they could have had UGA/USC after the 2007 season and took Illinois (I think) instead. That is a tradition worth busting.
I also like not skipping better teams because of ticket commitments in lesser bowls (if I am interpreting that change correctly). Can you hear me now Outback Bowl?
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Sorry, should have been: I agree with the changes on bowl selections, not that the new playoff concept isn’t better than the previous attempt. Have to disagree with Bob on that.
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Since they may be out of the clutching Bowl Committee persons fingers perhaps they are to be used to compress the number of Playoff(?) games when we go to 8 teams. Since the Team Selection folks will be able to match’em, it’s a slam-dunk progression.
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If the end result is fewer bowls with better games, okay with me. If the true end result (as I suspect) is a 16 team playoff displacing the grand ol’ bowls, then I have this sincere wish: success to the NCAA unionization movement. Since the NCAA + power conferences + ESPN + playoffs will = NFL without the player salaries, then the players should get salaries. Not that I’ll be more than an occasional watcher anyway at that point, but fair is fair.
PS: it’s making me sicker all the time to witness the NCAA, conferences and schools hide self-righteously behind “student-athlete” sanctimony while they and their leadership fatten themselves at the trough. Thanks a lot for milking the fun out of my favorite sport, you greedy bast—ds.
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^^This. +1 And I laugh at those who argue that free market forces will impact player pay. No it won’t…it won’t be a free market, but a very controlled cartel just like the NFL, with caps, common contracts, limited rights, etc.
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Away with shitty bowl matchups, away with the “BCS”, better athlete welfare/rights coming, more money for schools, an SEC network……the broadcast money can’t be all bad
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Bowl selection moved to the committee for easier expansion seeding–first slip down the slippery slope of playoff expansion. That slippery slope by the way is called ‘Blutarsky Hill’.
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A meaningless bowl or a playoff game….let me think…
You guys crack me up!
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