College Football: Playoffs Are Gaining Steam Every Year

While Florida was voted the national champion for 2008 (congrats, by the way on the impressive win over Oklahoma), more and more people (besides President-Elect Obama and myself) are jumping on the playoff bandwagon.

It's not just a case of Utah doing everything within its power, going undefeated and knowing that they will NEVER be given an opportunity to win the national championship. It's the other one-loss teams such as USC and Texas, who also won their bowl games, who are left thinking, "What did Florida accomplish that we didn't?!?"

I found this article by Andy Staples of SI and found something interesting that should be brought up to all of the university presidents who oppose a playoff (E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State can be even front and center on this one, as he is the most vocal college or university president opposed to a playoff).

The BCS contracts recently signed with ESPN will bring in $125 million/year. Not bad. How much would a 16-team playoff (some clown recently proposed that, I seem to recall) potentially generate? $400 million.

Anyone who knows me even remotely well knows how mathematically challenged I am, but I know that $400 million is certainly larger and more economically compelling than $125 million. In these challenging economic times, university presidents should be more receptive to a playoff system, not less.

What to do in the meantime? We will all have to wait and see if the Utah AG's lawsuit against the BCS can gain some momentum and give college football fans a logical method for determining a national champion through a playoff system.