There is a lot of talk of having a college football playoff and economic arguments have been used. The argument is that the NCAA and in particular the six BCS conferences have formed a cartel in the market for end of season games and the money that comes with them. They are able to do this by limiting the number of games played at the end of the season thus increasing demand and profits for the teams in those games. The BCS conferences are able to keep the cartel together by sharing bowl game revenue within the conference and guaranteeing bowl games for each conference by having bowl games sign long term conference commitments and having an automatic conference bid to a BCS game.
The losers in the deal are all the small schools that do not share profits or have guaranteed bowl games. Also it is also very difficult for a non-BCS conference team to make it to a BCS game where the payouts are 18 mill compared to all other bowl games which all pay under 5 million. This makes it hard for a small team to raise the money necessary to invest in their program, attract players, and become a major program.
It does appear that the NCAA and the BCS may be a cartel but I do not think the cartel should be broken up by creating a playoff and neither should any good Buckeye (or Gamecock) because we are a charter member and benefit immensely. The Big Ten and the Buckeyes (also the SEC and Gamecocks) were instrumental in setting up the BCS, the cartel, and did so in a way that benefits their program’s and their university’s. I am not saying that nothing should change, I would just like to see the cartel get stronger not weaker.
In case one is unsure of how the cartel benefits all us buckeyes go enjoy the new Library or try out for one of the 30+ varsity sports.
I agree we do not need a playoff system. The money generated from this "cartel" like system is fine. I go to the library almost every day and cannot think of a better or more relaxing place to study than in the grand reading room. When I am not at the library, I am relaxing in the hot tub or doing laps in the pool. The Ohio State University is an amazing place. There are still a lot of improvements still needed on campus and the surrounding areas so if OSU has the money to do them then how they get it is no concern. I like that we have a beautiful campus and that the university is consistently making improvements. I can just imagine what the Ohio Union is going to be like. The BCS bowl system is a giant source of income.
ReplyDeletei think that we do need a playoff system. not only would we be able to generate even more money. with this extra income that we could generate with a playoff system, we could do much more than build better facilities. we would be able to have better scholarship support, better learning equipment, and better college experience. with a playoff system at the heart, we would be able to do many things that would be impossible in the current economic hardships.
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