armory
All American
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- Aug 29, 2011
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For decades the BCS & bowl-system has infamously defined the sport of college football. As a football program you competed to make a bowl. Bowls boost revenue and recruiting. Revenue and recruits translate to ticket sales and more wins... perpetuating a program's success. The BCS then manufactured itself a separate higher tier of revenue/status and it ultimately became accepted that if you wanted your program to reach the next level you needed to compete for those bowl bids.
Well, after many mid-major snubs it became a sad truth that if you wanted your best chance at reaching those bowls you would have to join a conference with an AQ bid. These conferences had thus become big-time attractions as it became clear what was at stake. From this spawned gargantuan TV deals. With the TV deals came even more revenue. With revenue came more facilities, recruits and vicariously... more wins. The conferences used their AQ bids to marginalize every other conference until those mid major programs ready for the next level lobbied for their addition.
On the flip side, the ever-present justification of an AQ bid kept constant pressure on the conferences to remain competitive with each other. If your conference appeared weak your AQ bid and its cornucopia of goodies could be taken away. The rising mid majors became the supply, conference fear the demand. Result? Expansion.
But expansion doesn't just imply addition, but also subtraction. When witnessing the transitions of mid majors to major conferences, schools already in major conferences started seeing greener pastures. When these schools move, the whole landscape moves, and the conference fear spreads like wildfire, which brings us to today.
Had there been no bowl system, no BCS, but rather a merit based post-season tournament ...much of this conference shitstorm could have been avoided. As long as being in a specially privileged conference can decide your programs fate - not the quality of your players/coaches - the game will forever be in disarray.
Well, after many mid-major snubs it became a sad truth that if you wanted your best chance at reaching those bowls you would have to join a conference with an AQ bid. These conferences had thus become big-time attractions as it became clear what was at stake. From this spawned gargantuan TV deals. With the TV deals came even more revenue. With revenue came more facilities, recruits and vicariously... more wins. The conferences used their AQ bids to marginalize every other conference until those mid major programs ready for the next level lobbied for their addition.
On the flip side, the ever-present justification of an AQ bid kept constant pressure on the conferences to remain competitive with each other. If your conference appeared weak your AQ bid and its cornucopia of goodies could be taken away. The rising mid majors became the supply, conference fear the demand. Result? Expansion.
But expansion doesn't just imply addition, but also subtraction. When witnessing the transitions of mid majors to major conferences, schools already in major conferences started seeing greener pastures. When these schools move, the whole landscape moves, and the conference fear spreads like wildfire, which brings us to today.
Had there been no bowl system, no BCS, but rather a merit based post-season tournament ...much of this conference shitstorm could have been avoided. As long as being in a specially privileged conference can decide your programs fate - not the quality of your players/coaches - the game will forever be in disarray.
