Dennis Dodd and CBS Sports obtained documents detailing an NCAA task force that is looking into the idea of allowing conferences to be responsible for governing the bowl system. As it stands now, the NCAA's own Postseason Task Force handles the bowls, creating requirements for participation and certifying the new bowls and/or sponsors.
The new plan would put these issues of governance into the hands of the conferences, but with an asterisk.
The NCAA and Mark Emmert, the NCAA president, would still oversee the system as a whole with a veto card of sorts for title sponsors. This caveat comes into play after the GoDaddy.com Bowl raised a few eyebrows with the NCAA, according to Dodd:
The task force prefers that the NCAA—basically president Mark Emmert—retain oversight over approving title sponsors. More than one source mentioned NCAA concern over the image projected by title sponsor GoDaddy.com aligned with the Mobile, Ala.-based bowl.
This is not something this writer particularly cares for. If the NCAA's goal is to put the power in the hands of the schools, then this next venture should be truly laissez-faire. However, if the NCAA is simply just going to poke their heads in to turn down title sponsors, that is something that we can stomach in the grand scheme of things.
As for the proposal itself, set to be discussed on April 26, this is a move that the conferences should be campaigning to push through. It would serve a couple of different purposes; most importantly, it would work to further decrease the importance the NCAA has in the world of college football. Through moving to run the bowls themselves, it would help ensure that they handle the postseason as a whole in the years to come.
We know about the shift set to take shape 2014, where all signs point to a plus-one or four-team playoff. This move, on a smaller scale, would serve to pull more of the decision making in-house for college football's power players.The SEC working with their bowl games. The Pac-12 working with their bowl games. The MAC working with their bowl games. All 11 conferences working with their respective bowls to determine the best possible way to stage the postseason events.
Plus, given the way bowls are intertwined, it would mean that not only are the schools working with the bowls, but the conferences would be working with one another. Every bowl has two teams; that's two conferences working together to maximize success. It is in everyone's best interest to normalize the rules for eligibility and to maximize the contribution of title sponsors.
Put another way; every league wants to make sure they can fulfill its bowl obligations, and every league wants to maximize the amount of money earned.
For college football, a sport that is teetering on the verge of another split, this move would help strengthen the fibers of the game. It would prove not only to fans of the NCAA, but also to the leaders, that self-governing cuts out the middle man and staves off any NCAA involvement in their postseason.
The conferences have already proved themselves to be quite capable of working with television networks in negotiations. By taking on more responsibility, they could work to find a recipe that appeals to all of the parties involved in the postseason.
Now, for all of the people who think the NCAA should be involved in the postseason, all I can say is no.
No, to the NCAA gaining more control in an effort to "make things fair" for everyone. No, to the idea of someone other than the sport itself moderating the playoffs. College football has long been its own animal, and it did not get to be the second-most popular sport in America, behind the NFL, by allowing the NCAA to call the shots.
Whether it was going to court to get their television rights or forming the BCS to eliminate split-nation titles, college football has worked to further the game on its own.
The game got to where it is now through all of the major players working together. This proposal would serve to continue the progress of college football—a good thing for the health of the game.
Link: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1129094-college-football-2012-ncaa-should-step-back-and-allow-conferences-to-run-bowls?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=college-football
The new plan would put these issues of governance into the hands of the conferences, but with an asterisk.
The NCAA and Mark Emmert, the NCAA president, would still oversee the system as a whole with a veto card of sorts for title sponsors. This caveat comes into play after the GoDaddy.com Bowl raised a few eyebrows with the NCAA, according to Dodd:
The task force prefers that the NCAA—basically president Mark Emmert—retain oversight over approving title sponsors. More than one source mentioned NCAA concern over the image projected by title sponsor GoDaddy.com aligned with the Mobile, Ala.-based bowl.
This is not something this writer particularly cares for. If the NCAA's goal is to put the power in the hands of the schools, then this next venture should be truly laissez-faire. However, if the NCAA is simply just going to poke their heads in to turn down title sponsors, that is something that we can stomach in the grand scheme of things.
As for the proposal itself, set to be discussed on April 26, this is a move that the conferences should be campaigning to push through. It would serve a couple of different purposes; most importantly, it would work to further decrease the importance the NCAA has in the world of college football. Through moving to run the bowls themselves, it would help ensure that they handle the postseason as a whole in the years to come.
We know about the shift set to take shape 2014, where all signs point to a plus-one or four-team playoff. This move, on a smaller scale, would serve to pull more of the decision making in-house for college football's power players.The SEC working with their bowl games. The Pac-12 working with their bowl games. The MAC working with their bowl games. All 11 conferences working with their respective bowls to determine the best possible way to stage the postseason events.
Plus, given the way bowls are intertwined, it would mean that not only are the schools working with the bowls, but the conferences would be working with one another. Every bowl has two teams; that's two conferences working together to maximize success. It is in everyone's best interest to normalize the rules for eligibility and to maximize the contribution of title sponsors.
Put another way; every league wants to make sure they can fulfill its bowl obligations, and every league wants to maximize the amount of money earned.
For college football, a sport that is teetering on the verge of another split, this move would help strengthen the fibers of the game. It would prove not only to fans of the NCAA, but also to the leaders, that self-governing cuts out the middle man and staves off any NCAA involvement in their postseason.
The conferences have already proved themselves to be quite capable of working with television networks in negotiations. By taking on more responsibility, they could work to find a recipe that appeals to all of the parties involved in the postseason.
Now, for all of the people who think the NCAA should be involved in the postseason, all I can say is no.
No, to the NCAA gaining more control in an effort to "make things fair" for everyone. No, to the idea of someone other than the sport itself moderating the playoffs. College football has long been its own animal, and it did not get to be the second-most popular sport in America, behind the NFL, by allowing the NCAA to call the shots.
Whether it was going to court to get their television rights or forming the BCS to eliminate split-nation titles, college football has worked to further the game on its own.
The game got to where it is now through all of the major players working together. This proposal would serve to continue the progress of college football—a good thing for the health of the game.
Link: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1129094-college-football-2012-ncaa-should-step-back-and-allow-conferences-to-run-bowls?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=college-football