Normally Monday is the day we scour the ACC Blogosphere for what’s going on in the ACC, but today with the release of the new playoff format well I have some thoughts on it.
@HokieGuru has sent me the press releases he receives as a member of the ACSMA and you can read that after a couple of comments from myself on the topic.
First from an ACC perspective, I think things have worked out extremely well for the conference. The ACC as we already know has a contract bowl in the Orange Bowl. Academics will play a role in the revenue distribution. Who says academics don’t matter anymore? I’m certain that’s something the ACC had a role in.
From ESPN playoff guru @BrettMcMurphy in his playoff article.
The SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Pac-12 will receive the biggest chunk of the new revenue. Each of those leagues will receive the same “base” amount of revenue, sources said. The remaining “Group of Five” leagues — Big East, C-USA, MWC, Sun Belt and MAC — will split a smaller amount amongst themselves. How the “Group of Five” will divide that revenue between them is still to be decided.
Now we don’t know yet what percentage of the base revenue will be, but I suspect it’s in the 50%-70% range. Given the ACC’s relative lack of football in recent years, the conference positioned itself very nicely in the new format. If there is one complaint I have it’s this.
Under the new format there will be no limit to the number of teams from a conference in the 4 team playoff or access bowls. This is not an ACC issue, but an everybody but the SEC problem. I’m surprised there wasn’t a cap of teams, maybe at 3. This years BCS rankings have a whopping 6 SEC teams in the top 10 of the BCS rankings, 1 PAC 12 team, 1 Big 12 team, 1 ACC team, 1 independent, and 0 Big 10 teams. Now the new ranking format won’t be the BCS rankings, but under any format there could be a lot of SEC teams in these games.
This year for example, what’s to stop the selection committee from doing this if they feel the SEC teams are truly the best teams? Heck if I’m the SEC I don’t schedule anyone notable out of conference. I just play the teams from my conference. If the new playoff format were this year could it look like this?
Chick-Fil-A: Kansas St. vs. Alabama
Cotton: Oregon vs. Notre Dame
Rose: Nebraska vs. Stanford
Sugar: Georgia vs LSU
Orange: Florida St. vs. Texas A&M
Fiesta: Louisville vs. Florida
Something think about, and hopefully we’ll see some additional criteria added to the selection process being released.
OK now lets look at what @HokieGuru gave to us…
From ACC Commissioner John Swofford.
“I’m pleased with the action taken today by the Presidential Advisory Committee under the leadership of Virginia Tech’s President Charles Steger. We’ve reconfirmed the four-team seeded playoff in a way that maintains college football as the strongest regular season in sports and upholds the tradition of the bowl system. The integration of having academics play a role in the revenue distribution is certainly appropriate and the approach is fair, lucrative for everyone and has unanimous approval from the group. We are closing in on the final aspects of what will be a superb television agreement. In short, this entire approach is proving to be beneficial for both college football and for the Atlantic Coast Conference.”
Presidents and Commissioners Announce Final Agreement on Playoff Structure
Four-Team Playoff Moves Forward On Schedule, with Agreement Reached on Revenues and Format
Denver, CO – The BCS Presidential Advisory Committee and the Group of Commissioners today unanimously approved additional details to implement the new four-team playoff for college football’s post-season, beginning as scheduled in the 2014-2015 season.
In the group’s first meeting since June 26th in Washington, D.C., unanimous agreement was reached to:
- Lock-in a four team seeded playoff. The teams that will play will be chosen by a selection committee.
- Create three “contract bowls” and three “host bowls” as part of the post-season format. The highest-ranked champion from the five conferences that are not in contract bowls will be guaranteed a spot in a host bowl.
- Share revenue, for the first time in college football history, based on academic performance as part of the funding formula.
- Share revenue with a higher portion of revenues going to the conferences of the four teams that qualify for the playoff and participate in the other games. Distributions will also be made to conferences whose teams don’t qualify for either a contract or host bowl. Since the new format is projected to be so popular, there will be more revenue for all conferences and independent institutions.
- Move forward to complete a television rights agreement for the new format.
- Begin hiring staff so the new structure can begin operating.
“Today’s meeting is a unanimous ratification of what we announced last June in Washington, D.C., said Charles Steger, the Chairman of the Presidential Oversight Committee. “I’m delighted that additional details have been resolved and that everything is on track so fans can enjoy the post-season they’ve been asking for. College football, with its great regular season, is strong and popular – it’s about to get stronger and more popular.”
“This format is good for college football in both the short-term and long-term and I think it’s great for the game,” said Bill Hancock, the Executive Director of the BCS. “The four-team playoff will be wonderfully popular and because fans can’t get enough college football, the other bowls will benefit too. I’m proud of how everyone came together and that agreement has been reached.”
Additional details, such as the name of the new structure, details of the selection committee, and location for the first playoff games, including the championship game, remain to be announced.
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