BCS Extension Really Stinks

The worldwide leader has secured rights to the BCS, a four year deal that is set to begin in 2011. ESPN's bid far overwhelmed what FOX was willing to offer, and the network will airs its final BCS game in January 2010. It was short, but not that sweet, era of covering big time college for the network. FOX never televises a single game during the regular season, but will be hosting some of college football's biggest at the end of the year. They don't even do a good job with the honorable opportunity, with everyone other than the insightful Charles Davis not being any good. When it comes to the networks, the biggest reason to enjoy ESPN's decision to rake out the cash is because it means we will be seeing plenty of Erin Andrews, or whoever her 2011 equivalent is.


Ah, that's nice. Now to the real reason I wrote this post.

Even though this announcement assures that a major American sports Championships will be broadcast on a cable network for the first time ever, it also has a far worse consequence. The agreement assures that the BCS will be in place until at least 2015, which means we are looking at almost a decade before a playoff format would even be possible.

This definitely is not what fans of college football are looking for. The stubborn college presidents have sold out and used the BCS to get themselves really rich without looking out for the best interest of its game, its players, and the fans. The game's biggest coaches have been powerless. Everyone from Pete Carroll to Mike Stoops to Urban Meyer has pleaded for the consideration of a playoff. Those requests have been ignored for the large part. The biggest problem has been the lack of a system the majority could agree on. It seems everyone has "the best way" to settle this, but really no one's been able to agree. The current college football set up, everything from the bowl structure to the students' finals schedules has complicated matters and hard for a plan to take shape. At worst, a proposal would get the ball rolling towards getting a reasonable to settle the nation's best team, but their simply hasn't been one good enough to come to the forefront yet.


Everyone, including President-elect Barack Obama, has spoken out on the atrocity of the lack of a college football playoff, but it's something they can only dream about for the next seven years now. During this period, the fates of the top college football teams will be decided by a computer no one knows anything about. Controversies like Nebraska's questionable inclusion in 2002 and Auburn's unfair exclusion in '05 will be an annual routine come December. The BCS may in fact spit out the correct matchup for its championship game this year, but it will be the first time since the epic 2006 Rose Bowl Game between USC and Texas that it has done that. More often than not, this system has caused us to shake our heads in despair. But it will be the system for the foreseeable future, and that's a shame.