Support Growing For Plus-1 Format In College Football

Support Growing For "Plus-1" Championship Game Format In College Football

Support is "steadily growing for a 'Plus-1' format" in college football, in which there would be a national championship game following two "semifinal" games, according to conference, university and TV sources cited by Lenn Robbins of the N.Y. POST.  One conference source said, "There haven't been any official discussions among conference commissioners, but the overwhelming sense is that that's where we're headed.  There's simply too much money at stake and there's been too much debate with the current system."  A TV exec added, "There's not going to be a playoff so you can forget that.  But a 'Plus-1' is going to happen -- sooner rather than later."  Robbins reports the first title game "could be played in 2011," the year after Fox' current BCS deal expires.  The four top-seeded teams would play in two "semifinal" games "using the existing bowls -- Orange, Sugar, Rose, Fiesta and the current BCS title game on a rotating basis -- with the two winners meeting in a newly created bowl."  However, the Rose Bowl "would have to be willing to loosen its grip" on the top teams from the Big Ten and Pac-10, which is "considered the biggest stumbling block."  Several sources said that "no existing bowl ... would be transformed into the championship game because no conference wants to lose an existing postseason opportunity for its member teams" (N.Y. POST, 7/17).