Why Money Is Ruining College Football

Why we don’t have a playoff, a question any college football fan hears quite frequently doesn’t have all that complicated an answer.  In fact, there is just one reason, one word really…money!

The BCS, Division I football, the FBS, the NCAA, whatever you want to call it has no interest in picking the best two teams.  They have no interest in the best match-ups, they don’t even care who wins the National Championship.

$300,000 is a lot of money…it would certainly pay off my student loans, that’s for sure and I would imagine most people reading this would consider it a lot.  Now, when you have a lot of something, wouldn’t that mean you are satisfied? 

Well, that number is the amount of money paid to EACH team playing in this years Papajohns.com Bowl game between NC State and Rutgers.  Apparently, it is not enough, because you know what Boston College is getting paid for playing in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, $1.6 million.

Not satisfied, how about Georgia getting $4.25 million for the Capital One Bowl.  Which brings us to the BCS National Championship where each team is going to get a whopping $17 million, you’d need to go to Med school for a REALLY long time to rack up that much debt. 

If this isn’t enough money, what about ticket sales, merchandise, attire and anything else you can think of that brings in money for these schools.  How much money do you need, seriously?  You want a Jacuzzi in every dorm room, an airport on every campus…I thought we were in a recession, what the hell?!

Ohio State has no business being in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.  Every possible ranking system including the whacked-out computers have Boise State ranked higher.  Boise State lost no games, Ohio State lost 2. 

Boise State isn’t even an unknown anymore after beating Oklahoma in that famous 2006 Fiesta Bowl (actually played Jan. 1, 2007).  There is no reason Ohio State should be playing Texas, oh wait…I forgot, money. 

Who is going to fill seats faster…Ohio State fans that practically have a fan base in every city in the country, or Boise State who has a blue field? 

Makes sense, why should the better team, the team that earned the right to play get the chance when there is money to be had.  Justice and fairness clearly aren’t of interest to anyone who has any control over these decisions. 

Case in point: the bowl games' names.  Remember the Peach Bowl…well, then it was the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl…now just the Chick-Fil-A Bowl…seriously I’m not kidding, look it up. 

How about the Sun Bowl…nope…try Brut Sun Bowl (you know the cologne).   Ok you need sponsors, I get it, but there has to be a better way.  As a fan, I just lose interest in the Peach Bowl… 

It’s like if all of a sudden the Super Bowl wasn’t the Super Bowl it was the Burger King Big Game…you think fans would bitch about that?  What kind of tradition is that? 

My kid is going to look at me in 25 years and say “Hey Dad, you see that catch last night in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl?!”  Oh wait…my bad Boise State and TCU are playing in that this year…Whoops.  Eh, I’m sure they’ll come up with some new stuff for my kid.

I don’t claim to be an economist by any means, and I don’t know all the ins and outs of who is making what amounts of money and how it gets spread around to each school and each conference which seems to get more convoluted every year anyway, but what I can tell you is that a whole lot of people are making a whole lot of money on each and every Bowl game. 

The schools don’t care what happens as long as they get exposure and coin. 

And until that stops we are stuck with the BCS. 

That’s okay though, I mean I have been waiting all year to see Houston and Air Force square off in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, haven’t you?!