A Division I Football Playoff System Idea

With the latest rounds of BCS rankings, my thoughts turn to the notion of a playoff system for D-I college football.

The current system produces more questions than it answers, virtually eliminates the so-called mid-majors from participating, and uses mysterious means to determine the participants in the "championship" game.

Why, oh why, can't the powers that be come up with a playoff system that produces a true champion?

Of course they have playoffs for all the other NCAA football divisions, but the long marriage of bowl games to the highest level of college football trumps the common sense of a playoff.

I've lived through the playoff system, as my son played D-III football and routinely played a 15-game season with a 10-game regular season and then a 32-team, five-game run to the national championship.

Implementing a playoff system for D-I would be relatively easy and make so much money for all D-I schools that it would be hard for university presidents to fight such a move.

My idea is to stage a 32-team tournament following a regular season that ends the first week of December. The playoffs would start two weeks later or the third week of December. In addition to the playoff system, my plan would allow 24 teams to go to bowl games, resulting in about 47 percent of D-I teams participating in some kind of postseason game.

So, you start the playoffs with the higher seed hosting the first two rounds of the playoffs. Visiting teams receive a guaranteed amount for their appearance. Round Three, occurring the first week of January, would feature the final eight teams playing in (for example) the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. Round Four and the championship game would be held at pre-determined sites.

Each round through the tournament, each team's conference would receive a set amount for their appearance. The appearance money would come from TV rights payments, advertising, etc. I would think that the championship game appearance payments would be somewhere around $15-$20 million per team.

To make this more attractive, there would be an additional payment of a specific amount to every D-I team in the nation. Again, this amount is covered by TV rights payments.

Consider the amount that, say, ESPN/ABC might pay to have television rights to the tournament. They would basically control a major chunk of sports viewers for five weeks. How much would a guaranteed draw like a D-I football tournament be worth to a major network? Billions. You spread this wealth among all teams, with the advancing teams/conferences earning what they can for surviving each round.

Those teams participating in the other bowl games would enjoy the same level of coverage they currently enjoy and get the benefit of additional practice time, as they do now. The combination of playoffs and bowls would feed the huge interest in college football and produce a national champion that has earned that distinction on the field.

College football is a year-round sport, so extending the season for the teams that advance to the semifinals and championship game is not a big deal. In fact I'm sure the players want to settle things on the field.

More importantly, this plan would give mid-majors like Boise State, MAC schools, or whomever a chance to show if they're the better team on the field.

A playoff/bowl system like this makes too much sense NOT to do. A playoff system has everything a fan could want and the money that the university presidents and athletic departments crave.