Want a Playoff? Let Realignment Happen...

Sad to say as we are watching years of history get washed down the drain. With the departure of Pitt and Syracuse to the ACC, the Big East will never be the same and may in the end, cease to exist. Hard to imagine early March without the traditional powers like UCONN, Georgetown, Syracuse and Pitt battling it out for the Big East titles at Madison Square Garden. The Saturday night before the selection show was always one of my favorites as it blended tournament basketball with the bright lights of New York City. I always dreamed I would take my kids to the tournament one day there, sadly, it appears that will not happen.

Football is America's sport though and they are king. Football shapes direction... because money shapes direction and football's revenues most likely fund 95% of athletics at any given university sans a few like Duke, UCONN, etc. Here's the silver lining to all college football fans wanting a play-off...this is the first step to a chain of events that will eventually lead to a play-off. Trust me on this...all the pieces are coming together.

I'm not going to bore you with a long diatribe of the eventual outcome but here is a condensed version of events that will happen in the next 1-10 years:

• Conferences will be finalized within the year b/c BCS Contract is up for renewal next year.
• The Big 4 Conferences then (ACC, Big 10, Pac-12, and SEC) will have all the power and will not ok a BCS bid to a school coming from the old Big-12, Big East, Conf. USA or Mtn West, b/c there will be no draw and ultimately they will lose money on the game like almost all other bowls do
• WHICH WILL LEAD TO A NATURAL DISCUSSION OF Bowls and how much money is lost by each school each year. Since the loyalty of conferences sending schools to certain bowls (i.e. Big-12 to Alamo, Cotton, etc.) is gone based on conference realignment and coupled with the lost revenue, bowl games will cease to exist as we know them
• WHICH WILL LEAD TO A NATURAL DISCUSSION OF determining a national champion
• WHICH WILL LEAD TO a playoff discussion, which must include the following considerations (4 super conferences and 2-3 less relevant conferences who will want their shot)
• WHICH WILL LEAD TO A 16-Team playoff with each Super 4 Conference Champion getting an Automatic berth, and each minor conference getting a berth. That would be 6-7 teams meaning only 1-2 at large berths would be available form the Super-4 for a 8-team play-off which is why it will be a 16 team playoff. They want more of their schools in, which means more money. The play-off will be starting in Mid December and be played around the country at famous stadiums that used to hold important bowl games with the conclusion right around New Year and the the Public Relations Promotion of linking the past and present as now important college football will be played again on New Year's day.