Go Mountain West Football!

The BCS Should Be the BFS: Bowl Fundraising Series

First of all, let me applaud the BCS for attempting to pair up the top two teams in the country.  That alone makes the BCS substantially better than the past system of conference tie-ins.  Beyond that, however, there is nothing championship-ish about the BCS.  The four big-money bowls themselves are essentially nothing more than fundraisers for the big schools that will attract the biggest crowds and drive the biggest TV ratings.

To really understand whether or not the BCS is justifiable, you have to understand the historical relationship between bowls and conferences.  Bowls are merely post-season exhibition games that bring money to the universities and provide their teams with a reward for a good season.  Accordingly, conferences developed relationships with the bowls to send their champions to various bowls each year, which became a tradition.  Naturally, the bowls that were fortunate enough to develop a relationship with the big-time conferences became the big-time bowls.  For example, the Orange bowl historically hosted the champion of the Big 8 (now the Big XII), and has been home to the Big East and/or ACC champ(s) throughout the BCS era.  The Sugar Bowl was home to the SEC champ.  We all know about the Rose Bowl’s Big Ten-Pac 10 rivalry.  And the Cotton Bowl hosted the SWC’s champ each year.  However, when four of the SWC’s schools left to join the Big 8 in forming the Big XII, the Cotton Bowl found itself on the outs, and has lost its big-time status.  Over the same era, meanwhile, the Fiesta Bowl came out of nowhere by hosting at-large teams.  That meant big-time schools with no conference affiliation, like Miami at the time, weren’t tied to a certain bowl.  This allowed the Fiesta bowl to create a true National Championship game in years where the top two contenders were independents.  Again, lots of quality schools were independents back then, so it was a good niche for the Fiesta Bowl.  In the BCS era, however, the Fiesta Bowl has been home to the Big XII champ.

Anyway, these lucrative exhibition games historically belonged to these conferences, so they have a legitimate argument in not wanting to let outsiders in.  It gives these schools access to funds they may not have helped much in generating.

With the recent growth in the Rocky Mountain region, the Mountain West conference has seen a significant improvement in recruiting, and overall performance on the field.  Unfortunately, having good teams and profitable programs don’t necessarily go hand in hand.  Up-and-coming programs must be good for a while before they can build a profitable fan base.  This brings about an interesting issue.  Do you let these schools in on money your conference has earned simply because they are approaching parity on the field?

The BCS has fought tooth and nail to keep the outsiders out of the BCS coffers.  I can respect that, but what drives me crazy is that these same parties in positions of power and notoriety have the audacity to claim their advantage in profitability equates to being superior on the field.  So I say if the BCS wants to put the most profitable teams on the field, that’s fine.  But call it what it is–a fundraiser.