Outgoing Pac-10 Commissioner Hansen Talks BCS, Future Of Pac-10
Outgoing Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said everything about college football is "much better than before the BCS started," according to a Q&A with Chris Dufresne of the L.A. TIMES. Hansen: "The BCS, through obvious great foresight of the commissioners who were involved, has been an extraordinary success in terms of the regular season being so strong. ... I think many of the people who advocate a playoff have no real understanding in the difficulty of a playoff." Hansen said he does not think President Obama, who has called for a playoff, "begins to understand the difficulties of a playoff." Hansen: "I think he's probably very well-versed on North Korea and the Middle East but not particularly the college football playoff. I would be much more concerned if a president in our conference came out in favor of a playoff than I am of President Obama saying it." Hansen also said ESPN, which takes over the BCS TV package in '10, is "not going to influence the (university) presidents" on a playoff. Meanwhile, Hansen said the difference in time zones is a "major impediment" to the amount of national exposure Pac-10 teams receive. Hansen: "We've been criticized a lot because we're not on ESPN, particularly in basketball. We talk to them. ... ESPN would put us on Thursday night almost every week of football season, but they'd want us to play at 5 o'clock. Our campuses are not emptied by 5. Your (parking) garages are full. Traffic is horrific. We just can't start a football game at 5." Hansen said the conference is "going to look" at possibly starting a Pac-10 Network. Hansen: "One of the reasons I find it particularly attractive is that it would give more coverage to these great Olympic sports teams that we have" (L.A. TIMES, 6/16).
ASSESSING THE BCS: Mid-American Conference Commissioner John Steinbrecher, who assumed his new role May 1, said his first impression of the BCS is that it is an "interesting setup." Steinbrecher: "It is outside the NCAA. So there is a different mindset to it. It's very much a market-based organization, quite frankly. That's part of the challenge of it." Steinbrecher added, "Football has always been treated differently by the NCAA at the Division I level. ... I need to get up to speed on the politics of the BCS" (CLEVELAND.com, 6/16).
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