The ACC supported the SEC plus-one proposal last month. The other five entities -- Notre Dame, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, Pac-10 and Big Ten -- were against it. Wetherell said that within the ACC, he and Boston College president Rev. William Leahy are playoff proponents.
"If you said, take away the 12th game and go to 11 games, I bet 10 of them (ACC presidents) would (support a playoff)," Wetherell said.
Georgia president Michael Adams proposed a playoff in January that involved cutting out the 12th regular-season game. The NCAA did not take action.
Wetherell operates a university with a $1.5 billion budget. His athletic department employs the second-highest paid coordinator in the sport (Jimbo Fisher at $625,000 per year). But he already sees signs that the good times are over.
Selling out for Miami and Florida at Doak Campbell Stadium, Wetherell said, is no problem. Playing the likes of Chattanooga in non-conference games "has us scratching our heads." When there starts to be empty seats at major programs like Florida State, that's when the economic reality sets in.
Answering a question from a Boise, Idaho, reporter, Wetherell said: "The reality is we will have a playoff at some point. If gas goes to $5 a gallon, we can't afford to come play in Boise."
Note: The other panel participants were Kansas coach Mark Mangino, TCU coach Gary Patterson, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, Washington coach Ty Willingham, Army AD Kevin Anderson, Notre Dame AD Kevin White and Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe.
The forum was sponsored by the National Football Foundation and the Football Writers Association of America.
