So the main arguments against a football playoff are...

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

1. It diminshes the regular season.

2. It takes away from class too much.


Now with the expansion of the NCAA tournament, those factors don't matter anymore? What an absolute joke. Could this group be anymore transparent and hypocritical?

First of all, even if you had a 16 team football playoff, the regular season would still be of huge importance, far more than what basketball will have now.

Second, the playoff games would only affect a very small number of schools, and many of them would likely be played during winter break. Oh yeah, and of course all the smaller divisions somehow work around this difficlut problem, all the while playing guys who are much more likely to be serious students and actually attend class in the first place.

If this weren't all so obviously ridiculous, it would actually be funny.

 

[Ski U Master]

Biggest factor in both football playoff and NCAA expansion:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Pewterschmidt]

I'm convinced that a playoff in CF would be a huge boost to revenue. The reasons it hasn't happened yet:

1. Stubborn NCAA folks and University Presidents
2. Relationship with the people that run the bowls.

That's it. They think they know better than us common folk and that's just not the case. Expanding the field to 96 is just another exercise in arrogance and trying to outthink the room (and let everyone know you're able to out think the room)

 

[tjgopher]

There is some hypocrisy, but in fairness, let's be clear.

It isn't the NCAA that is against a football playoff. They already implement playoffs at the DII and DIII levels. In fact, the big wigs at the NCAA would LOVE to have a football playoff for D-I. They would be champing at the bit to do that. Because, then they would control the $$$$ for football.

But, as it stands right now, the power conferences and schools control the money through the BCS. The NCAA doesn't get any of it. The presidents of the universities and the commissioners of the conferences are the ones saying they cannot let the kids miss class time as an excuse to keep control of the football $$$$. The NCAA is saying nothing about it. They already have DII and DIII kids missing classes, so they aren't touting that aspect at all. That is all presidents, commissioners, and ADs.

 

[The Truth]

I hope everyone is looking forward to that thrilling opening round matchup between the 11th place Big East team and the 9th place SEC team on ESPN Deportes! Maybe we can just have a round robin, award participation medals to everyone and if one team gets up by 20 shut off the scoreboard so as not to embarrass anyone.

Can we get the NCAA to change its motto to "Has the check cleared yet?!" It's this exact line of thinking that almost destroyed the NBA in the late 70's and early 80's (along with a league wide drug abuse epidemic) and I don't think a cunning and vicious tyrant like David Stern nor a rivalry like Magic vs. Bird to capture the popular imagination of America is in the wings. If there is one good that will come of this it is that it will start opening the eyes of people about the reality of major college athletics and the corrupt system that props it up.

 

[year of the gopher]

The whole expansion is very disappointing. The last few years I planned a 4-day weekend to get all the first and second round action packed into a few days. It was great. Now I fear the action will be more spread out, including in the middle of the week (making it more difficult to take the time off) and there will be less exciting games in the first and second rounds. At the end of the day, I'll really lose interest in the tournament other than following the Gophs.

Thumbs up to a football playoff (16 or 24 teams).

Thumbs down to hoops tourney expansion.

 

[Ron Johnson Super Fan]

Biggest factor in both football playoff and NCAA expansion:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Correct. Its all about the cash. Trying to give any other reason why is nothing but pure rationalization. I wish they would just come out and say that they need to maximize their cash intake, other factors be damned.