College Football: The Four Team Playoff System

To start it off, most of the viewers minds have changed on how viewers watch the sport. One way the college football has influenced our society is when it brought attention when it went viral in the 1890 (Gridiron Football). Everybody was looking forward to what they were doing with football. It spread rapidly throughout the whole nations. (Gridiron Football). Where nowadays every college has football or has sports sorta similar to the game of football. They were spreading news by putting it in the newspaper and telling all of their friends. (Gridiron Football). Now days with the invention of the smart phone you can get on your phone and within seconds you know what is

Many men go to work every single day, making big money for other people, and are the best at what they do in the country, yet they still do not get a chance to get a raise or promotion. The College Football Playoffs (CFP) decides the best college football team in the nation and declares an outright National Champion. The #4 Ohio State Buckeyes were crowned National Champions of the first ever College Football Playoffs and almost did not even get into the playoff. Even though there is a better system in place than the Bowl Championship Series, the CFP has imperfections. The playoff should be expanded to 8 teams to give a better idea of who the best team in the nation is that year, because often times some

The NCAA also makes money from the advertising and gate receipts for this tournament. Colleges with winning football and men’s basketball programs also bring in huge amounts of money. Among the 62 football teams in the major conferences, those who make it to a championship bowl game receive $13 million, which, after shared with the other members of their conference, comes out to about $1.3 million per school per year.

When it comes to college athletics, there always will be a problem that arises. It is one of the most controversial topics there is. One of the main issues within athletics is the idea of whether to pay college athletes or not. Several studies have been done along with articles from various sources. This has been on the rise especially since “March Madness” is coming up. “March Madness” may only consist of three weekends, however, an 11 billion dollar deal is made to televise the games (Wilbon). This is when you have to take the time to sit back and contemplate whether these college athletes really are getting the fair end of the stick. Under NCAA laws it is forbidden to pay these athletes for their performance yet at the same time they

The BCS rewards undefeated BCS teams, so schools sometimes try to schedule games against weaker opponents to protect their records. A

Each university had to cut a men’s athletic program of unlimited funding and Title IX. Title IX has also hit close to home. Cal Poly has felt the affects of Title IX. The most devastating being the incident with John Madden donating $10 million to Cal Poly football. Madden was unable to give his donation just to football. Administration said it would be divided up evenly among all sports. Madden was so upset with this, he severed all ties with the university. This was a huge let down. The money John Madden nearly donated would have been used to rebuild Mustang Stadium and the athletic weight room. All athletic programs at Cal Poly, not to mention the local high school championship games, use both of these facilities. This money would have benefited Cal Poly as well as the community. Yes, the left over funds were for the football program to help with scholarships and equipment. Other Cal Poly women’s sports were allowed to receive donations from alumni, but not football, because of the size of the donation. It is not the football program’s fault, they happen to have one of the most famous football icons of all time as alumni. The amount of the donation should have nothing to do with whether or not a team is able to accept a donation.

The Bowl Championship Series has worked for years. The overall effectiveness of the Bowl Championship Series shows when you look at its track record. The Bowl Championship Series consistently puts the top two college football teams from the regular season against each other. With a playoffs, it is a shot in the dark. A playoff rewards teams that do well in the post season rather than the regular season. So in essence, it is taking away from the importance of the regular season. The excitement of the college football regular season is unparalleled. Because every professional sport and every other collegiate sport uses a playoff system to determine it’s champion, the

One view point in this issue is the view point of the higher up people at universities and the NCAA. College athletics are fully commercialized and is also a huge money making business. The benefactors of this largely successful corporation are the

8. An article called “Reforming Big-Time College Sports” that appeared in The CQ Researcher Online database. The article was written by Joseph Tom Price and was accessed September 14, 2010.

With another academic school year passing by, college football fans were able to join another out the seat nail-biting highlighted NCAA football season. Majority of the people would agree that college football is just as competitive and popular as the NFL. The annual revenue of the top 25 college football teams can reflect that assumption by grossing over 1.2 billion dollars alone. There is one major difference between the two associations which is NFL players are paid off the money they help bring in and college student athletes are not. Providing scholarships to the athletes isn’t enough anymore if the NCAA Football wants to perceive themselves as a money making competitor, and not reward the athletes that helped bring in that type of money.

When looking at NCAA division programs, one will notice different factors that make it that type of division. These factors all have to be considered when an athletic administrator is looking to move their program up or down in divisions. These decisions are crucial to the university because the outcome can have a positive or negative effect on more than just the athletic staff. One thing an administrator needs to look at is the athletic competition for that university. This is important, because you want to be able to compete at that type of level. You don’t want to waste time and money on a team that can’t compete at the division’s level. Another factor you have to look at is the amount of people. This is important because you need the right amount of staff and people in general to help the program function, whether that be coaches, game-day operators, or fans bringing in revenue. Money is another factor; without money the program won’t survive. Without money, the programs won’t have the means to succeed.

Most of the time the decision made by the NCAA is dis-liked and undesired by most.

Statistics from the Gallup poll stated that, “85% of college football fans supported a change to a playoff system of some kind. 69% of fans surveyed preferred the idea of a playoff tournament involving the top four, eight, or 16 teams to replace bowl games while 16% preferred a one-game playoff between the top teams emerging from the post-season bowl games.” The way that the sport runs is from the money the teams make from their fans. If the fans get what they want, more people will come to the games, and more money will be

The “contradiction at the heart of big-time college football,” as Michael Oriard describes it, is the competing demands of marketing and education. The 1890s proved to university administrators that there was an enormous market for collegiate football, which postulated opportunities for university building. Since this ubiquitous realization, there has coincided this blatant, yet unchanging contradiction that academic institutions are permitted to profit off of the services provided by its student-athletes while the athletes must idly accept that they are amateurs, donating their efforts to their respective schools. The schools then direct this revenue toward strengthening their athletic departments, and thus continues this seemingly endless growth of big-time college sports, all while athletes remain uncompensated and academics continue to take a backseat.

"Surely, the NCAA and Division I-A football can join the other 23 intercollegiate sports and devise a system that determines a true champion, preserves the integrity of the game and levels the playing field, LaVell Edwards, Former Brigham Young University Coach.” This statement was made to the Senate last summer by the only coach to win a national championship at Brigham Young. In every other collegiate sport in the United States the champion is decided by a playoff system. Even the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL the champion is decided by a playoff. The excuse that most of BCS executives is that you cannot have one hundred twenty teams playing in a playoff. Nevertheless, the FCS formerly Division 1-AA who has one hundred forty teams plays under a very effective 16 team playoff format. The BCS has infringed themselves among college football due to the root of all sins, money. In January 10, 2010