Sticking To The Game Plan: BCS Not Changing Format This Year

BCS Not Going To Change Format This Year

SEC Commissioner and BCS Coordinator Mike Slive said at the conclusion of the BCS meetings in New Orleans yesterday that there would be “no change to the current format and that there was no discussion of alternative postseason models,” according to Pete Thamel of the N.Y. TIMES. Slive said that alternatives, including adding a plus-one championship game format, “would probably be discussed at next year’s meeting in Miami.” Fox’ contract to televise four of the five BCS bowls ends after the 2010 bowl season, but the “negotiating window for the next [contract] would open around this time next year” (N.Y. TIMES, 4/26). Slive: “That gives us a couple of years to evaluate the current model” (USA TODAY, 4/26). In L.A., Chris Dufresne notes the BCS “has been tweaked almost annually since its inception in 1998.” Discussions of a “full-blown, NFL-style playoff in college football are all but dead” (L.A. TIMES, 4/26). Slive said, “If we really thought we had to have a playoff, we would have gone that route already.” In New Orleans, Ted Lewis notes supporters of a plus-one game “are urging caution.” Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg said, “Simply adding a game doesn’t mean addressing the issues for which the BCS has been criticized in the past. We’ve got to make sure there’s true improvement” (TIMES-PICAYUNE, 4/26).

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Slive said that the first year of the current “piggyback” set-up was a “success, with the Fiesta Bowl setting a high bar.” With New Orleans set to host both the Sugar Bowl and National Championship game next year, there have been concerns about the city’s ability to host two such events, but Slive said, “There’s a sense we’re in good hands” (L.A. TIMES, 4/26).