College Bowl System Loots Universities

Donate To GopherHole

He fails to take into account TV revenues either for better or worse.
 

The simple truth is that a playoff, along with eliminating the bowl sugar daddy model, would generate at least $3 billion more for college athletic departments over the next ten years than the bowls will. Look at the NFL tv contract just renewed, the Universities are losing out. Time to end the charade and put the schools budgets ahead of the bowls and the fat cats.

The University presidents have acknowledged this already...will they have the guts to actually do something about it...thats the question. I think we will see a Federal lawsuit, or several as we approach the 2014 renewal of the BCS...by states with schools locked out and by Attorneys General who want to go after the NCAA as a monopoly.
 

GopherinPhilly said:
The simple truth is that a playoff, along with eliminating the bowl sugar daddy model, would generate at least $3 billion more for college athletic departments over the next ten years than the bowls will. Look at the NFL tv contract just renewed, the Universities are losing out. Time to end the charade and put the schools budgets ahead of the bowls and the fat cats.

The University presidents have acknowledged this already...will they have the guts to actually do something about it...thats the question. I think we will see a Federal lawsuit, or several as we approach the 2014 renewal of the BCS...by states with schools locked out and by Attorneys General who want to go after the NCAA as a monopoly.
Click to expand...

The problem isn't the money. There is plenty of it. Frankly, too much already flows into athletics, so getting more isn't going to solve any issues. The arms race would just increase in football, and that's about it. Urban Meyer would simply make $8 million per year instead of $5 million per year. Instead of Michigan staying at the Marriott, they will stay at the Westin on road trips. Instead of Texas flying one charter jet to recruit, they'll fly three. And, the Minnesota's of the world will just continue to try to play catch-up with less of a chance to play in the postseason. The women's hockey player or men's wrestler isn't going to be impacted by it, unless negatively. And, that's neither here nor there, anyway. Again, it is all about football.

And, I'm not sure they are leaving that much money on the table. The TV networks pay lots of money to televise the BCS games, the regular bowl games, and the conference title games. Will networks pay that much more to televise fewer games? Right now, there are five BCS bowl games, plus the national title game. That is six marquee events - including some with great tradition. Will some network decide it is more valuable to televise a national quarterfinal game between Boise State and Georgia on December 10th than it is to televise the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Day?? Doubtful.

The debate really is whether people prefer a playoff system or not. And, the issue with that is who controls the money. The college presidents enjoy the current BCS setup the way it is right now, because the schools directly get the money. If it shifts to an NCAA playoff system (like in basketball), then the NCAA gets its hands on the billions (as it does in hoops right now) and controls it, with little or no guarantee that the major conference schools will get even as much as they did in the old system. The presidents don't want to yield control of the money. Therefore, no playoff.

As to lawsuits, remember, any lawsuit to end the BCS would almost certainly empower the NCAA further and give the NCAA more money. Ending the BCS and creating a playoff gives control of the playoff to the NCAA, which in turns gives the NCAA the $$$$. Currently, the NCAA sees $0 of the BCS pool. All of that money is controlled by the universities and their presidents. Careful what you wish for.
 

Thompson Heftyshot said:
A long article from City Pages. Didn't see this posted yet.

College Bowl System Loots Universities
Click to expand...

Don't click on it and whatever you do do NOT click on all 6 pages! Here, I'll save you the trouble "The Gophers pay to go to bad bowls. People hate the BCS. They think we need a playoff. Please click on this."

Bowls loot Universities? No they don't. There's a national discussion on playoffs vs. the BCS. It's just not discussed here. Amateurish "cut and paste job". Ignoring income and only talking about costs? City Pages declares: "Oil companies lose tens of BILLIONS of dollars selling oil every year!"

The biggest problem for the BCS schools is any playoff money would go through the NCAA and not directly to the Conferences. The Big Ten, and Minnesota would lose big time in that system. That wasn't discussed here. Unless it was somewhere between pages 5 and 400!
 


tjgopher said:
The problem isn't the money. There is plenty of it. Frankly, too much already flows into athletics, so getting more isn't going to solve any issues. The arms race would just increase in football, and that's about it. Urban Meyer would simply make $8 million per year instead of $5 million per year. Instead of Michigan staying at the Marriott, they will stay at the Westin on road trips. Instead of Texas flying one charter jet to recruit, they'll fly three. And, the Minnesota's of the world will just continue to try to play catch-up with less of a chance to play in the postseason. The women's hockey player or men's wrestler isn't going to be impacted by it, unless negatively. And, that's neither here nor there, anyway. Again, it is all about football.

And, I'm not sure they are leaving that much money on the table. The TV networks pay lots of money to televise the BCS games, the regular bowl games, and the conference title games. Will networks pay that much more to televise fewer games? Right now, there are five BCS bowl games, plus the national title game. That is six marquee events - including some with great tradition. Will some network decide it is more valuable to televise a national quarterfinal game between Boise State and Georgia on December 10th than it is to televise the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Day?? Doubtful.

The debate really is whether people prefer a playoff system or not. And, the issue with that is who controls the money. The college presidents enjoy the current BCS setup the way it is right now, because the schools directly get the money. If it shifts to an NCAA playoff system (like in basketball), then the NCAA gets its hands on the billions (as it does in hoops right now) and controls it, with little or no guarantee that the major conference schools will get even as much as they did in the old system. The presidents don't want to yield control of the money. Therefore, no playoff.

As to lawsuits, remember, any lawsuit to end the BCS would almost certainly empower the NCAA further and give the NCAA more money. Ending the BCS and creating a playoff gives control of the playoff to the NCAA, which in turns gives the NCAA the $$$$. Currently, the NCAA sees $0 of the BCS pool. All of that money is controlled by the universities and their presidents. Careful what you wish for.
Click to expand...

Well stated.
 

Just an educated guess:

In the next BCS contract negotiation the BigTen, Pac12 and SEC part ways with the ACC, BigEast and BigXII. What comes out of the new alliance is a Plus-One system. The Rose Bowl becomes a semi-final. The SEC Champion plays whoever the new committee decides to invite in whatever other NYD Bowl agrees to fully-cooperate (probably the Orange Bowl).

Once this system is implemented people will bitch louder than they ever have, but it will make even more money for the SEC, Pac12 and BigTen.
 

GopherinPhilly said:
The simple truth is that a playoff, along with eliminating the bowl sugar daddy model, would generate at least $3 billion more for college athletic departments over the next ten years than the bowls will. Look at the NFL tv contract just renewed, the Universities are losing out. Time to end the charade and put the schools budgets ahead of the bowls and the fat cats.

The University presidents have acknowledged this already...will they have the guts to actually do something about it...thats the question. I think we will see a Federal lawsuit, or several as we approach the 2014 renewal of the BCS...by states with schools locked out and by Attorneys General who want to go after the NCAA as a monopoly.
Click to expand...

tjgopher's post is VERY good! +1

Few things about taking the NCAA to court:

(Again, I am suggesting to every cfb fan to read the book by Stewart Mandel- "Bowls, Polls, and Tattered Souls")

1) BCS is not an actual organization. You cannot go into a building and ask to "speak to someone with the BCS", because the BCS physically does not exist. (Mandel p. 10),

2) The NCAA has NEVER awarded an official National Championship for its highest level of football (formerly called I-A) and in fact, has almost NO authority over college football's post-season, (pp. 10-11), and

3) The BCS is not, nor was ever intended to be a playoff (p. 11).

So, in essence, they would be taking the NCAA to court over a Bowl System for which they have no control over, nor have ever awarded an NCAA title in. In other words, I believe there is no legal standing.

One can argue that the NCAA should be mandated to have an NCAA playoff for Division I. They will can then counter by saying "We already do now so can we expand it, get the TV contract, and have some more $$ for our Cartel.

Lastly, the Supreme Court found in the NCAA vs Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, that the NCAA was in violation of the Anti-Trust law in controlling broadcasts / limiting exposure of NCAA teams - a root cause of why we now see Longhorn Network, expansion of Bowl Games, TV contracts, and more than likely, the very thing cfb fans sabre rattle over every year after the BCS Selection Show. CFB fans should, at the very least, google that court case to better understand some of the whys and hows we ended up here.

Buck
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom