Bowl Championship Series administrators have begun in earnest, and earlier than expected, developing the postseason landscape for college football beginning in 2006.
At their annual meeting last week in Phoenix, they discussed the possibility of adding another game that would create a permanent slot for a non-BCS team, SportsLine.com has learned.
The impetus for the discussions apparently comes from the Rose Bowl's desire to retain its traditional Pac-10-Big Ten matchup and the addition of college presidents and athletic directors to the process.
The current four-bowl BCS lineup includes the Fiesta, Rose, Sugar and Orange.
A five-bowl BCS would allow the Rose Bowl to keep its traditional lineup. The winners of the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and Rose bowls, to be played on or around Jan. 1, then would be in the mix for the BCS championship game that would theoretically be played in mid-January.
How the four winners would be pared down to two is not known.
"I'm not sure of the level (of discussion)," said BCS spokesman John Paquette. "Does that mean they talked about it for eight hours, did they talk about it for eight minutes? Yeah, it was talked about but I don't know to what degree and I don't know the degree of earnestness."
Rose Bowl executive director Mitch Dorger barely could conceal his anger in December after his game was left without its traditional matchup for the second consecutive year. Because of the little known "selection preference," the Orange Bowl was allowed to pick both Iowa and USC and the Rose Bowl was left with a Washington State-Oklahoma matchup.
The crowd of 86,848 was the lowest in Pasadena since 1944. Dorger did not return a phone call Wednesday but his comments at the time would probably suffice.
"We did not anticipate all the subtleties of the system," he said.
"If they add a fifth bowl it will be a lot more about the Rose Bowl," said one commissioner at the meeting, "than accommodating some of those other teams."
Adding a fifth bowl to the mix would at least address a lingering criticism of the BCS: That it doesn't provide fair access for the so-called non-BCS leagues -- the WAC, MAC, Conference USA, Mountain West and Sun Belt.
"You've got the issues but they're not easy ones," said bowl executive Tom Mickle, formerly an ACC associate commissioner. "The real issues that are on the table are how to approach the Rose Bowl situation. There's access for non-BCS (teams) and then I think whether to stay with one television network or two. (In addition) what the format would be if they went to a fifth bowl."
At the least, a broad outline was seemingly developed to give a new BCS presidential commission some talking points when it meets by conference call on May 8.
Six presidents, one from each of the BCS leagues, were asked to join the process by the BCS in February as a way of formulating the postseason landscape after the 2005 season.
The presidential involvement is expected to take 18 to 24 months before recommendations are passed on to TV rights-holder, ABC. The network has an exclusive negotiating window with the BCS during the second half of 2005.
On the morning of the last Fiesta Bowl, BCS chairman Mike Tranghese said he thought the reshaping of the postseason would go on "underground." Since then, the process has opened up with the naming of the six presidents and attendance by athletic directors at BCS meetings for the first time.
"We've discussed a wide range of possibilities or had them suggested to us," Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said. "Everything is on the board, nothing has been taken off the board. The process now is to narrow down our focus."
The presidents, who have yet to meet formally, are: Mary Anne Fox, North Carolina State (ACC); Donna Shalala, Miami (Big East); Graham Spanier, Penn State (Big Ten); Harvey Perlman, Nebraska (Big 12); Robert Khayat, Mississippi (SEC); and David Frohnmayer, Oregon (Pac-10).
There was one AD from each league, except the Big Ten, in Phoenix.
Those from BCS leagues included Gene Smith of Arizona State (Pac-10), Dave Hart Jr. of Florida State (ACC), Jim Weaver of Virginia Tech (Big East), Joe Castiglione of Oklahoma (Big 12) and Jeremy Foley of Florida (SEC). Illinois' Ron Guenther could not attend because of a previous commitment.
Those factions are being brought in after the BCS commissioners have almost exclusively controlled the system since it started in 1998. The current BCS is in its second rotation through the four bowls. After the 2006 bowls, the BCS' contract with ABC expires.
On the table until then are a wide variety of subjects:
- Whether the current television contract is undervalued. If ABC declines its option, there is no doubt other networks would be interested. Could the lucrative slice of programming even be split up between two networks?
- What to do with non-BCS leagues. Major college football is controlled by the 63 schools in the Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, ACC, Pac-10, SEC and Notre Dame. The remaining 54 teams in the WAC, MAC, Conference USA, Mountain West or the Sun Belt have never played in a BCS game. That inequity, the addition of college presidents to the process and at least the threat of legal action against the BCS, may spur the commissioners to change the five-year-old system.
The momentum to create the BCS essentially started in 1996 when WAC officials lobbied Congress for more equal access to the bowl system.
- A fifth bowl. A Liberty Bowl executive told SportsLine.com that it has made it known to the BCS that it is interested in becoming that fifth bowl. Mickle, who runs the Capital One and Tangerine bowls, has long been interested in getting into the mix as well. The Peach and Gator bowls also have been mentioned as candidates.
- The postseason landscape itself. Tranghese is on record as saying the next postseason will probably have one of four looks: a) Stay the same; b) go back to the traditional bowl system; c) tweak the BCS or d) stage a playoff.
There is no interest, he said, in going back to the old system or conducting a playoff.
The emerging answer seems be C. Adding an extra game doesn't make the BCS a full-on playoff system. Creating a spot for the have-nots makes the BCS more politically correct.
Tranghese, who was not available for comment on Wednesday, said in January:
"They want access. If I were them, I'd want access and money, too. All I said to my (Big East) schools is, 'I'm not giving them your money.'"
Several sources said this week they see the climate changing.
"I think it's way too soon to determine what the end result is going to be," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said. "... (but) I think there will be some change. It gives the non-guaranteed conferences a better shot and a fairer shot."
Currently, non-BCS leagues have to finish in the top six of final BCS standings to get in a BCS bowl. No non-BCS school has ever gotten close.
Tulane finished 10th in 1998 but at that time there was no access for non-BCS members. Since then the highest ranked non-BCS teams in the BCS ratings were: Marshall (12th in 1999), TCU (14th in 2000), Fresno State (19th in 2001) and Boise State (18th in 2002).
"There has to be some benchmark," Benson said. "I proposed that that team has to be at least in the top 20."
The Liberty Bowl is interested because it is one of only four bowls with spots for two non-BCS members, the champions of the Mountain West and Conference USA.
There is some thinking that BCS leagues would have to give up a bowl spot if the extra bowl was in the Peach (SEC vs. ACC), Capital One (SEC vs. Big Ten) or Tangerine (ACC vs. Big 12).
"We have thought it would be a natural," said Steve Ehrhart, the Liberty executive director. "The other six conferences don't have to give up a slot. The best way to resolve it is to create a fifth bowl."
The Liberty is the seventh-oldest bowl in existence (45 years) and pays each team $1.3 million. The Liberty Bowl seats 63,000. But unless the payout increases to the BCS minimum of $13 million per team, it will be a BCS bowl in name only.
Currently, the bowl is sponsored by France-based insurance firm AXA.
"The issue is the right sponsor," Ehrhart said. "The table is set for some thoughtful resolution."
