The Bowl Cartel Series - BCS Commissioners Say "What Me Worry?"

Players:  Mike Slive, SEC (above); John Swofford, ACC; Tom Hansen, PAC 10; Jim Delaney, Big 10; Mike Tranghese, Big East; Dan Beebe, Big 12; Kevin White, ND, others

Echoing words similar to the immortal Alfred E. Newman, eleven conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s Athletic Director, Kevin White, rejected the proposal of Mike Slive, SEC Commissioner and former BCS Chairman.  

Slive had proposed a Plus-1 model, which would use the current bowl system to seed the top four teams in college football at the end of the year with a playoff game for the winners.  

After an exciting, upset-laden football season ended with the top two BCS teams losing in the last week, the bowl season was ripe with mismatches, fan apathy and mediocre television ratings.  Three of the five BCS bowl games this past year declined in television ratings.  The championship game between LSU and Ohio saw a 17 percent decline over the previous year. The Rose and the Orange bowls saw only a slight increase.  Contrast this with NCAA Basketball March Madness.  Every other NCAA collegiate sport, including football Divisions I-AA, II, and III has championship playoffs.  But this is not the NCAA. This is the BCS, a cartel which has usurped the NCAA in decision-making in the most profitable of collegiate sports, Division I football.

Slive's Modest Proposal

"I thought this (was) a modest proposal. I thought it contained enough concrete barriers."  Slive said.

"It wasn't a negative with regard to three thingsthat I always felt were incredibly important to protect," Slive said. "One was the academic calendar, two was the bowl system and three was the regular season. It didn't offend those three principles." 

Slive also felt his Plus-1 would be healthy and profitable for college football, while generating increased fan excitement. 

Now that seems very reasonable.  Team that were just nudged out in the BCS rankings like Miami ’00, Colo ’01, USC ’03, Auburn ’04, and Michigan ’06 and hot teams like Georgia and USC in ’07 would have the chance to play for a national championship. What did the other commissioners think?

Money v. Fans

Prior to the meetings, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen had publicly opposed to the seeded Plus-1 format.

The Big Ten and Pac-10 have long wanted to protect their historic and profitable relationship with the Rose Bowl, which has been regarded as a major hurdle to changing the BCS.

After the meeting, Tom Hansen, Pac-10 explained, “It isn’t really a case of being open-minded. It’s a case of having certain goals and certain historical relationships that we are very protective of.”

“There’s a sense of comfort with the current status of things with the BCS, and these several days of meetings have underscored that,” John Swofford, ACC Commissioner and current BCS coordinator said. “Whether it be with our bowl partners, our television partners, as well as with our athletic directors and commissioners.”

Whoa! The silent presences of others in the room! And we thought this proposal would be decided on its merits.

On Tuesday, the day prior to the meeting, the BCS commissioners had met with representatives of Fox, whose current four year television contract of $320 million ends in 2009, and with ESPN/ABC representatives. 

ABC intends on bidding on the contract with the other bowls through ESPN. Fox has said that signing a new BCS contract is “our number one priority”.  After that meeting, Swofford said the Plus-1 discussions could come to end Wednesday.

At the conclusion of Wednesday’s meeting rejecting the Plus-1 proposal, Swofford said, “We have decided that because we feel at this time the BCS is in an unprecedented state of health, we feel it’s never been healthier during its first decade, we have made a decision to move forward in the next cycle with the current format.”

TV Contracts

The new BCS TV contract, without the Rose Bowl, should bring close to $1 billion for four yearsto BCS coffers.  Negotiations begin this fall for the new contract which will run through 2013.

At least the commissioners realize what most fans feel.

"I know this is not what a lot of fans want to hear," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. "But they're not responsible for crafting what we have in college football."

“I did feel like the notion that the Big Ten and Pac-10 were obstructionist and blocking the way was too narrow a way to capture where the conferences were on this issue,” Delany said in defense.

Their Rose Bowl enjoys high visibility status, its own exclusive TV deal, a choice Jan. 1 kickoff for ratings, protection from ever having to include a non-BCS school like Utah, Boise State or Hawaii and is the only bowl that is allowed to waive a $6 million annual fee to be one of the four BCS games.  

Such BCS concessions may also translate into the Rose Bowl choosing a weaker Illinois last year instead of Georgia, Florida or Missouri, who had beaten Illinois.

The Big 10 and Pac-10 and the Rose Bowl have a television deal worth $300 million over eight years, which expires in 2013.  

Hmmm, $300 million divided by 21 schools….

"There is a strong feeling in the Big 12 that what we have is working well," Dan Beebe, Big 12 Commissioner said. "There's great satisfaction with the regular season and postseason."

Who Gets The Money?

Outside of television money, how much postseason bowl money do the conferences make from all bowl contracts?  Here’s the official revenue results for the last five years from the NCAA.  The last official results are for 2006-’07, but unofficial revenues from this latest year’s bowls are about the same.  

http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/postseason_football/finances

In the link, click on “Summary of Gross Receipts” which includes all revenues to see that all bowl revenues were $313+ million, of which the NCAA kept $96 million, leaving $217 million.  After costs and expenses, the conferences got a profit of $147.9 million.  

Show me the money: Who gets the most?  In the above link, click on “Summary of Revenue over Expense by Conference”.  

In 2007, the SEC (12 schools) was the big winner with $28+ million or 19% of all profit.  The Big Ten (11) was second with $24.5+ million or 17%.  The other BCS conferences ranged from $20 to $15 millions or 10-14%.  Notre Dame got $1.67 million profit or 1.1%.

Rose Bowl revenue was not included for 2006-07.   

The bowl revenues go to the conferences, who have signed the agreements.  Every conference divides their profits according to their own formulas.  Most conferences allot money to cover a participating team’s costs, then divide the profits equally among all their members.  The SEC has the most guaranteed bowl contracts – eight – with the potential of a ninth with a team in the title game.

The Bowl Championship Series began In 1998, afterthe Big 10, Pac-10 and Rose Bowl agreed to join with the other four major conferences and three top bowls the Bowl Championship Series began.  An annual national title game was created.

Do you think that the Big Ten, Pac-10 and Rose Bowl threatened to withdraw from the BCS if a Plus-1 was approved?   No one is talking.  

Who lost?

The fans lost. Schools who may have valid claims to participation in a national championship game lost. 

Clearly, the five non-BCS conferences (51 universities/football programs) continue to get a small slice. With some independents, their total of 51 universities and football programs got $19.8 million - or 13.3%, including the revenue that goes with one representative in a BCS bowl.  

Hmmm, $19.8 divided by 51 schools…..$388 thousand per program, if divided equally!!!

The BCS conferences raked in 86.7% of the bowl profits.  It could be worse -- when the non-BCS conferences do not have a BCS bowl team, their profit drops to about 5% of bowl profits or roughly $130 thousand each.

“I would say that a lot of people from an operation and a working standpoint seem to feel pretty good about the BCS as it exists,” said Swofford of the ACC.  

The Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt and Western Athletic conferences are just worried about keeping their place at the table.  Speaking for the other four non-BCS conferences after the meeting, WAC commissioner Karl Benson said they were still "very pleased with the current system."  Translate that into: “At least they invite us to the party”.  

After his Plus-1 proposal was rejected, Mike Slive, SEC Commissioner said, “I’m not unhappy.  There’s no such thing as standing pat. I think we’ve done a service. We owed the fans and media an explanation as to why we’re not moving ahead.”

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," said Kevin White, Notre Dame Athletic Director.

Any what were the real excuses why Slive’s “modest proposal” with “concrete barriers” to all concerns rejected?  

Changes?  We don't want no stinking changes.

“There's a strong sense in that room of the slippery slope view that there's never been a collegiate or professional playoff that's stopped at four teams.'' Delaney of the Big 10 said.

“Even though we could construct barriers at this time, we felt like … there could be easily an erosion of that; more pressure to add more teams with an ability to get to the national championship game as we went over time,” said Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe. “Our league is not favorable to a playoff system as a whole, and viewed this as the first step in that direction.”

So, the decision rejecting a Plus-1 playoff - which would be locked in for four years until 2013 - was made due to some concerns about what may happen in 2014??  Why couldn’t football fans, the NCAA, teams and conferences see how the Plus-1 worked for four years?

A Plus-1 format with its “concrete barriers” should not affect revenues from lucrative televised conference championship games or individual team's twelfth games, usually at home against cupcake teams.  Those revenues are deposited directly into the conferences’ or teams’ pockets without having to give the NCAA any cut.    

"I know this is not what a lot of fans want to hear. But they're not responsible for crafting what we have in college football."  

Leave it to the Cartel, boys and girls.