ORLANDO, Fla. -- Supporters of a playoff for major-college football believe they have a strong advocate in new President Barack Obama.
But will the inauguration Tuesday of a man who won the presidency on a platform of change lead to a shake-up of college football’s postseason?
The Bowl Championship Series was formed in 1998 to crown a definitive national champion. It relies on a combination of polls and computer rankings to determine which teams play in the BCS national-championship game and help set the lineups for the most prestigious bowl games.
The formula has been tweaked over the years, but changes have done little to quell discontent. This year, undefeated Utah and one-loss USC and Texas all complained after they were left out of the national-title game.
Obama has voiced his support for a playoff at least four times.
“If you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear decisive winner,” Obama said on 60 Minutes in November. “We should be creating a playoff system.”
After Florida won the BCS championship game and was declared the national champion despite Utah’s 13-0 record and a 31-17 win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, Obama continued to question the system.
“That’s why we need a playoff,” Obama said.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, has drafted a bill that seeks to prohibit the promotion, marketing or advertising of any national championship game that isn’t part of a playoff system.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, has sponsored a measure that would declare the BCS an illegal restraint of trade.
Rep. Aldolphus Towers, D-N.Y., the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told USA Today that he plans a hearing on how to get the BCS to use a playoff system.
Will these power players be able to speed up an evolution of the game that rarely bows to pressure and moves at a glacier’s pace?
Experts say a playoff is unlikely despite support from high-ranking officials.
Even Tulane President Scott Cowen, who in 2003 led successful lobbying of Congress to gain more BCS access for schools like his, doesn’t expect change to come to college football even if it has come to Washington.
“Even though there is a cry for a playoff, I think it’s unlikely we will see it in any reasonable period of time,” he said.
Resistant to change
To understand why, one must first understand what the BCS is.
The BCS is simply an agreement between Division I-A’s 11 conferences and Notre Dame to control college football’s postseason revenue and keep it out of the hands of the NCAA, which controls postseason championship revenue distribution for all other sports. The mission is simple—produce teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in a computer ranking so they can play for a trophy. In that regard, the system has never failed even if there is annual debate over the matchup.
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