When the 11 major conference commissioners and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick “convene in Pasadena for three days next week, they’ll tackle the pivotal issues facing" the first college football playoff setup for the '14 season, according to Kirk Bohls of the AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN. Almost everyone "considers it a slam dunk the game will be held at Cowboys Stadium.” There has been no “leaked out information on a possible name,” but it could be “something very basic and classy like The Champions or The Championship.” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby yesterday said, “Are we close to a name? Yes. That one’s probably done. I think it’s going to be pretty cool.” He added, “This is going to be what I grew up with, having football on New Year’s Day. I think college football is going to recapture that two-day holiday. I think people are going to plan their holiday festivities around it. I think the consuming population will be surprised how good the new playoff will be.” Bohls wrote college football for “too long has given away its game to the bowl games, the guys in the brightly colored blazers and the television networks.” Big 12 Deputy Commissioner Tim Weiser also noted that conferences also are “discussing taking over bowl games themselves and all that entails -- lower ticket guarantees for the schools, greater share of the revenue, times and locations.” Even though Bowlsby “has said the Big 12 has considered petitioning in the name of deregulation that conferences be allowed to play a title game even if they don’t have the requisite 12 members, it has not gone forward with the idea” (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 4/17).
