Solving
the Playoff Problem
Before the 2009-10 Bowl Season, the BCS created a web site entitled Playoff Problem, which purported to identify numerous downsides to a playoff system. The Playoff Solution solves all of those problems and more, creating a system that respects the tradition of the college bowls while providing a playoff to determine the national champion.
- Who would participate?
- Ten teams would participate, selected using the current BCS ranking system.
- How many automatic qualifiers?
- Six teams would automatically qualify, the same as the current BCS system..
- What would be the criteria to qualify?
- The winners of the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-12 would automatically qualify, just like the current BCS system.
- Four at-large teams
would be selected
using the current BCS ranking system.
- What would be the criteria for seedings?
- There would be no formal seeding.
- Bowl tie-ins would determine where teams play, as they always have in college football.
- Where would the games be played?
- The games would be played at the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Orange Bowl, just like the current BCS system.
- When would the games be played?
- The Play-In Games would start around Christmas, at the start of the traditional bowl season.
- The BCS Bowls would be played on their normal schedule around New Year's.
- The Semifinals would be played one week later in early January.
- The National
Championship Game would be
played on a Saturday in mid-January.
- Would this satisfy the major conferences? The mid-majors? The bowls? The fans?
- The qualifying teams would be the same as under the BCS, so the teams would be just as satisfied.
- The mid-major conferences would get a chance to play-in and compete for the national championship, so the smaller schools would be satisfied.
- Each BCS Bowl would have an additional game each year in a consecutive week, so the bowl organizers would be satisfied.
- The National Champion would finally be determined on the field, so the fans would be satisfied.
- Would a playoff diminish the regular season?
- No, because winning your conference would still be the most important qualification for making the playoffs and earning a bye week.
- The competition for the last four at-large spots would be fierce. In a conference without an automatic qualifier, the team would have to be undefeated.
- Would there be too much travel?
- Since games would be held at each site in consecutive weeks, travel would be minimized for both players and fans. Families could plan week-long vacations in California, Arizona, Louisiana, or Florida.
- Since bowls would be tied to their traditional conferences, the travel would be minimized since eastern teams would typically play in the east, while western teams would typically play in the west.
- Would it be hard to sell
tickets to playoff
games?
- There would still be a few weeks between the end of the season and the first bowls, so fans could easily make travel plans.
- Each bowl could sell packages of tickets for two consecutive games, and there will actually be at least three fanbases trying to buy advance tickets for many games rather than the usual two.
- Would the season be too
long?
- The BCS system already extends into the first (and sometimes second) week of January, so the schedule through the semifinals is similar to the current system.
- Only two teams would
be playing in the National Championship Game, which only extends the
season one week.
The Playoff Solution is better than the BCS for determining a champion and better than the BCS for respecting Bowl traditions. It requires only incremental changes to the current BCS system, and it could be implemented almost immediately. Here are ten reasons to support the Playoff Solution:
- The Playoff Solution uses the existing BCS ranking system to select ten teams for the playoffs, so no changes would need to be made for ranking or polling.
- The Playoff Solution maintains existing BCS conference tie-ins, so no contracts will need to be re-negotiated with the BCS Bowls.
- The Playoff Solution returns to tradition for the New Year’s Day Bowls by guaranteeing a Big Ten/Pac-12 Rose Bowl, an ACC/Big East Orange Bowl, the SEC champion in the Sugar Bowl, and the Big 12 champion in the Fiesta Bowl every single year.
- Each BCS Bowl would have two games each year, so the Playoff Solution would benefit each of the BCS Bowls equally by doubling their potential revenue. The current rotating schedule for the National Championship game can remain intact.
- Travel is minimized by having games in consecutive weeks at each BCS Bowl location. The Fiesta and Sugar Bowls will host Christmas and New Year’s games while the Rose and Orange Bowls will host New Year’s and semifinal games. This will also make it easier to sell tickets, and should attract more tourists to each site for the entire week.
- The regular season will still be critical since winning your conference earns a bye week and is the only way to guarantee entrance ot the playoffs.
- The Mountain West, WAC, and other conferences will compete for the same four at-large spots currently provided under BCS system, but in the Playoff Solution, they would all have a chance to make a wild-card run through the playoffs and at-large teams could compete for the national championship.
- The Playoff Solution would not affect other bowl games because the ten teams that would qualify for the BCS would go to the playoffs, and all games would be played at the BCS Bowls.
- The Playoff Solution only extends the bowl season for the championship game, which would be played on a Championship Saturday in mid-January before the NFL Conference Championship games with potentially huge ratings potential.
- The Playoff Solution is ideally suited for ten teams, and it would be a stable system that could not expand without breaking relationships between the conferences and the bowls.