No college football fan really loves the BCS. Do you remember how it came about? No, it was not because BYU won the National Championship in 1984. It was because the Holiday Bowl decided the National Championship that season. It was the only time outside of World War II where the National Champion was not given to the winner of the Rose, Orange, Cotton or Sugar bowl games.
In 1986, the Fiesta Bowl figured out what people wanted, and created a game that pitted Miami against Penn State for the National Champion that year. That is how this bowl got into the mix in place of the Cotton Bowl. And this arrangement led to what is now known as the BCS.
It is not really about protecting tradition. Look at the Rose Bowl, for example. Do you think that the City of Pasadena could afford a big parade, a ball, a pageant and all of the other New Years Day traditions if it didn't rake in tens of millions from the football game? If the NCAA drops the BCS for a playoff, then the Rose Bowl becomes the NIT of College Football. Instead of matching the champion of the Big 10 against the champion of the PAC 10, the game then become a battle to the third place team from each conference.
The big conferences would still rake in tons of money from a college football playoff. In a 32 team playoff, more than two thirds of the field would be from the big 6 conferences, with some conferences getting four teams. But instead of having USC and Penn State in the Rose Bowl, you would have had Michigan State and Oregon State. Instead of Utah and Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, you would have BYU and South Carolina. Instead of Texan and Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, you would have had Nebraska and Boston College. And the Orange Bowl would have had Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh instead of Virginia Tech and Cincinnati.
And the smaller bowl, well they will all but disappear. There will be no New Mexico Bowl or Armed Forces Bowl. With a playoff, you can say goodbye to almost every bowl that is not currently played on New Years Day. In addition to the Rose, Cotton, Orange and Fiesta Bowl games, the Cotton, Gator, Holiday and Sun Bowls may survive. There will certainly be only one or two if any named-by-a-sponsor bowl. Some bowls my even have to invite some FCS subdivision teams.
Not very many people will miss these smaller bowl games. And the major bowls will not be so big. But what will we get in return? There will be some negatives, no doubt. Look at the NCAA basketball tourney. There will be people complaining about seeds. But there will also be teams whose bubbles will be burst in big rivalry games and in conference championship games. There will be holiday parties scheduled around big playoff games. Kids will put off spinning the dradel until after game winning field goals are attempted. There will be bracket pools with holiday eggnog. Cinderella's slipper will have rainy turf cleats.
Yes, I can imagine that some high school band somewhere will have to work a little harder to earn more money to pay for the higher entrance fee for the Tournament of Roses Parade. I suppose that someone will blow all of his "Santa" money on an office pool. But there will be more college football games played after the first of December that will mean something than there are now. There will be a diversion of our holiday stress. There will be more to talk about around the water cooler than who was under the mistletoe at the office party. And a little more light on the shortest days of the year. But I for one will not miss the Mineke Bowl, and I doubt that there will be many who will.
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