Greydrake wrote:Wheaton' you pretty much hit it on the head with the comment that the BCS is pretty much cash driven objectivity. The objective is to sell seats and drive revenue, not create a valid process to crown a national champion that all program at Div. 1 have a chance to compete for. Sadly it appears to be the only system being considered, perhaps as it appears that the SEC/ESPN( which now can be designated as ESECPN due to the tv contract) benefits the most from the current status quo.
Just to play devil's advocate, since nobody here is representing the pro-BCS side, they will say "So what?" They will say that the BCS is a business and that they should be trying to maximize profits. "It's economics, my friend."
And I will say, "not so fast, my SEC friend." Demand for football is not dependent on any configuration of a post-season system. People will be loyal to their team and want to watch football no matter how good or bad the system is. It's misleading to say that the BCS wants to maximize profits. They want to maximize profits for specific people, at the expense of others. That is not a legitimate use of a "free market" argument because free market economics assumes that it is best for the economy of the industry
at large.
There is no evidence that I have seen that shows that the current arrangement creates more profit from college football in general. It just places more of the profit in some peoples hands instead of others. More than likely, that creates a net LOSS in over-all profit for football. That's because if more profit was more available for over-achieving mid-majors, they would be more motivated to invest in their programs and make them better, thus broadening the size and number of fan bases across the country.
It is no coincidence that the pro-BCS arguments are coming from SEC fans. I have a strong stomach. But, that makes me ill to think about. I enjoy conference rivalries. But, when you get down to it, I don't hate the SEC. I appreciate, am interested in and respect the SEC as a major part of college ball. However, to actually want to promote a system that gives you major advantages due to fan-base size, over merit on the field, takes a corruption of sportsmanship, imo. It takes a lot of narcissism to be ok with your conference being "the best" not with proven merit on the field via innovation, heart, toughness, etc. but via market manipulation. I can't think of much that is more cowardly than that.
