In large part, the College Football Playoff working group’s proposal to expand to 12 teams has yet to encounter any speed bumps.
People like the opportunity for new faces instead of the same old same old and an opening for at least one Group of Five team and maybe more. No one has proclaimed it as a sign of the apocalypse, as college administrators might have done 15 or so years ago.
“I think generally the first impression was that the working committee, working group did a great job and we’re pretty happy with what they came up with,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said after a commissioners meeting Thursday and Friday in Chicago.
The CFP board of managers (presidents and chancellors) will look at it next week in Dallas and seek more input with approval not likely until September.
The lack of criticism has been curious — outside of one component, one largely driven (so far) by the media: the suggestion to incorporate the quarterfinals into bowls along with the semifinals. Yes, there’s a local connection with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl currently well positioned for a spot in the new rotation should the proposal be enacted.
“There wasn’t significant discussion of that [Friday],” Hancock said. “But that will, again, all be a part of the kicking-the-tires process that will happen between now and September.”
Hancock said Friday that the six bowls that could host quarterfinals and semifinals would be determined later, which adds a bit of uncertainty.
“We don’t know who the six bowls might be if the format goes through,” Hancock said. “In my mind the six bowls that will be a part of this will be delighted to be part of it.”
The Cotton Bowl is currently part of the New Year’s Six with a CFP contract that runs through 2026, the lifetime of the ESPN TV deal. The Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Peach and Orange comprise the other bowls.
After successfully double-hosting its own bowl and the relocated Rose Bowl last season, the Cotton Bowl has enhanced an already impressive industry reputation.
Simply put, the Cotton Bowl personnel are good at what they do, and playing at AT&T Stadium is a significant plus. The prospect of hosting two quarterfinals and one semifinal every three years would be welcome for the Cotton and the other current bowls in the rotation, although the Rose might have special issues because of its traditional Jan. 1 date.
“I think we’ve always honored the sanctity and the tradition of the bowl environment,” said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, a member of the working group that forged the 12-team playoff proposal.
“And we have consistently either through the four-team playoff or the New Year’s Six games honored that and tried to do things that help everybody in the bowl and college football ecosystem.”
Some are wondering about putting the quarterfinals at least on campus sites along with the four first-round games. Joel Klatt of Fox Sports was among those pushing for a rewrite.
“The first AND quarterfinal round of new CFP should be played on campus ...,” Klatt posted on Twitter. “Virtually no need to ‘save’ some bowls which have lost most, if not all, of their significance...6 Champions & 2 highest ranked at-large programs should all get a home game ... Let’s get CFB back to CAMPUS.”
Is the idea getting traction beyond media and maybe a few “power-five” conference ADs envisioning another lucrative home game? We’ll find out in the next few months.
You can make an easy case about the top four seeds being allowed to play at least one playoff game at home and rewarding the local fans and merchants. It sounds good, but there’s plenty of downside as well.
Among the reasons for using the bowls in the quarterfinals:
-- Economics. If CFP extends its deal with ESPN, the price is likely to go up, way up, as in an estimated three times the current amount. And ESPN will be looking for ways to recoup the revenue.
One way they do it is via the title sponsorships. ESPN is the one brokering and getting the cash from Goodyear and PlayStation and Allstate and … you get the idea.
Put a game in Tuscaloosa or Norman or Clemson, and that branding opportunity goes away.
-- Weather. There’s a reason major bowls are now played in domed stadiums or warm climates.
Things like the Ice Bowl can produce nostalgic memories but also frostbite.
“That’s certainly an argument in favor of neutral-site games, in favor of the playoff games being played at bowl games,” said Nick Carparelli, executive director of Bowl Season, which advocates for the bowl industry. “You can be more assured that the outcome of the game is going to be determined by play on the field and not outside circumstances.”
As Bowlsby, once the athletic director at Iowa, noted, it can be pretty brisk come January in Iowa City or East Lansing or Madison or …
“I think those games probably do in significant ways favor warm weather schools,” Bowlsby said. “But there has to be some accounting taken of stadiums that have to be winterized in the months of December and January and the like.”
-- The bowl experience. Yeah, yeah, people roll their eyes at the mention, but playing in an NFL stadium, going to an NBA or NHL game as a team and getting pretty nice bowl swag isn’t a bad thing.
Even for coaches who want to keep players on tight leashes ahead of a playoff game, bowls have tweaked their hospitality. The Cotton Bowl’s game room for players has been favorably compared with the Super Bowl’s setup.
-- Logistics. Most college campuses become ghost towns between mid-December and early January.
Bringing everybody back to campus for a game will be a challenge.
While potential playoff hosts such as Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma know what they’re doing for big games, for other schools it might be a challenge. The New Year’s Six bowls do it every year, have the staff and volunteers and are in large metro regions with plenty of hotel options and easy airline access.
Many have predicted that an expanded playoff system would put the bowls on the endangered species list.
Now, maybe not.
“We’re in favor of anything that’s in the best interest of college football,” Carparelli said. “From the reaction of the fans and all the stakeholders in the game, I think people are pretty excited about this new playoff proposal. The playoff has been here for seven years, and the bowl system has adjusted well.
“We feel like the CFP and the bowl season combined are going to make up one of the greatest postseasons in all of sports.”
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