One main reason why this will not happen any time soon:  MONEY.  The BCS bowl games make a killing.  Heck, most all bowl games make a killing.  Let's assume you have a 16-team playoff, as redbird suggests.  The NC game will be the game game that is played today.  The "final four" would be two of the remaining current BCS games.  You could rotate bowls so everyone gets their share of the pie.  Some of the other bowls that are a little higher up on the food chain (Gator, Cotton, Holiday, Outback), could have games within the tournament. 

But here's why it will never work.  Let's say that #16 seed South Carolina is facing #1 seed LSU in the first round.  Further, the game just so happens to be the Holiday bowl in San Diego.  If I'm a LSU fan, I wouldn't bother trying to go see this game.  It's essentially another SEC game, and LSU beat the snot out of S. Carolina 4 weeks ago (I'm just painting a scenario here).  That's why we all have high-def now, right?  I'll just catch it on TV.  For my travel expenses, I'm holding out until LSU gets further into the tournament.  So now, the Holiday bowl has a total stinker in which nobody is going to come see (in person, at least).  Both schools are thousands of miles away from San Diego, and LSU fans will save their money for a better game if they're going to travel.

The Holiday bowl, or any other bowl, would never let this happen.  Currently, it's the final game for two teams, where fans from both schools rally around their team for their big (singular) bowl game.  They will sell many more tickets, which means more sponsorships, advertisement, etc.  More MONEY.

The BCS schools would REALLY throw a fit, because they'd potentially go from a #3 vs. #5 to just a playoff game in the "elite eight" of our new BCS tournament.  Talk about lost revenues.

This is why I think that it will be a long time before our current bowl system would even think about budging on this issue.  Their jobs as businessmen and women is to make as much money as possible.  It's against their bests interests, and that's ultimately what makes the decisions easy:  MONEY.

Redbird is dead on with this blog. Until the NCAA implements an all-inclusive playoff system for division 1 football we will continue to deal with a popularity contest! The solution is simple 16 teams, 11 conf champs plus 5 at large (highest ranked non-conf champs). Drop one patsy from the schedule and only four teams end up playing more games than they do now. This is the only real solution. And it works. I have yet to see anyone run a scenario from the last twenty years where anyone would have been excluded that should not have been. If you don't like this you are in one of two categories: You love the tradition and like it the way it is. Thats fine, no way to argue that one except you are in an ever-shrinking minority. Or you can't stand the thought of a Boise State winning an undisputed national championship! If you are in the second category then you are in fact an idiot and no real way to argue with that either. It would be like teaching a pig to talk, all you will accomplish is frustrating yourself and irritating the pig! I'm done here, nicely done Red!

parrish 4 pez, jelly

parrish 4 prez of of the NCAA athletics board: the old stuburn bastards keeping collage football ncaa championship from being the greatest sporting event, having a 16 team brackett makes to much sence. someone with a vote would lose money,thats the reason we dont see the playoff happen. you would think there would be plenty of money to be made for the bowl commities & schools.

Parish 4 Prez, Jelly

This system also includes the smaller conferences, giving them a chance at some glory. A team like Boise State two years ago could have made some noise, and a team like Hawaii this year would have given a #1 seed an easy first game! Teams like Georgia, and USC who were arguably amoungst the best in the nation, teams like Kansas, and Missouri would have been afforded the opportunity to prove that they were either a contender or a pretender. People would not be as upset by a 9-3, or 10-2 team being left out, as they would a 12-1, or 12-0 team.

The regular season would not be dininished, because only 5 teams who didn't win their conference would get an at-large bid, thus making every game still extremely important! Teams who didn't win their conferences this year......Kansas, Missouri, Georgia, Florida, to name only a few!

jelly

You have a point, but the #17 team doesn’t have nearly as much right to gripe than the #3 team currently does.  While it’s certainly possible #16 could walk away with the crown, it’s not as likely as #3 being capable of doing so.  By including the top 16, the validity of the gripe for those excluded becomes less and less.  They simply didn’t do enough to be considered one of the best.  #3 on the other hand has done so.  This way, we won’t have any 12-0 teams excluded from the championship picture like we had a couple of years ago.  The title is decided on the field, with a much more legitimate field, thereby producing a real champion.

 

Parish 4 Prez,

In my last paragraph, I in fact agreed with Red Bird that a playoff would be better than the current system.  However, at the end of the season, instead of the focus being on who is #2 and gets into the game, it will be on who is #16 and gets in the playoff.  There will still be controversy.  There will be games late in the year between powerhouses with one loss that won't matter in a playoff system as both teams are already in.  Having a terrific regular season will have no significance, except to provide a better seed.  So will somehow surviving key injuries throughout the season.  Most important will be to get on that roll going into the playoffs.

Parish r Prez,

I a

Missouri would be given justice for it's snub from the Orange Bowl with a playoff.

sorry, I agree with redbird.

 

fact is, 16 out of 109 1-A teams is hardly half of the "league".  it's about 14%, actually.  This does not at all diminish the importance of the regular season. 

Your argument about 1 bad game in the tournament and poof your gone is 100% true in the CFB regular season!  Who this year didn't think that USC was better than Ohio State at the end of the year?  Look, I'm a big 10 guy, but a 2 loss USC team would have hammered the 1 loss OSU team.  USC/LSU would have been a better matchup.  With a playoff, that matchup becomes possibility.

Think of the added excitement for teams 15-30 during the year.  They are still in the hunt, creating widespread excitement to alot more fans than currently exists.  The one and done regular season format needs to be done away with.  And writers and computers and pollsters need to stop deciding champions.  Let the players decide it.  On the field.

 

The early upsets in a tournament aren't entirely a good thing.  It's exciting, but who really thinks Davidson is a better team than Georgetown, for example.  The meaning of the regular season is greatly deminished when all it does it seed you in the tournament.  One bad game in the tournament, and poof, your gone and forgotten.

It would also be true in football.  The deeper and more important a football playoff, the less important the regular season.  We know this is true from the NBA and NHL with about half the teams making the playoffs.  What was the six month regular season for?

I'm inclined to agree that a football playoff would be better than the current system, but I don't see any solution that will make everyone happy.  Just won't happen.