NFL vs college football

OK, so you're telling a Florida fan, for instance, who has had season tickets for years but isn't a fat-cat, obscenely rich, doesn't make a dent in his bank account ... you're telling that guy he can follow his team for four weeks from Florida Field to Atlanta to New Orleans to Pasadena? Who can afford that? You're going to end up with championship games with either 20,000 people in the stands or a full house of corporate giveaways (like the Super Bowl). And that's better?

 

In hoops teams are rewarded --- not penalized --- for playing in a good conference.

Let Duke (29-3) and North Carolina (27-5) in but tell Wake Forest (27-5) and Virginia (24-6) that they are NIT bound, and you have something closer to what the football playoff proponents are suggesting. Third-place 10-2 or 11-1 team in a strong football conference need not bother. There are only 5 at-large spots because we have to let 8-4 Louisiana-Monroe in.

 

Right now, that third place team has no shot, so what's the difference?
College football teams still would be rewarded for playing in strong conferences.
No one said the at-larges would automatically go to the conference runners-up. If it were a horrible year in the Big Ten and Florida, LSU and Alabama were all great, there would be room for two at-larges from a conference. It also would encourage stronger non-league games -- Penn State's joke schedule this year might leave the Lions on the sidelines.
You're splitting hairs merely to defend a weak position.
As for the position about empty seats at the playoffs -- a joke. A joke! If there are empty seats, who cares? And I'd bet strongly against those seats going unsold. Lots of bowl tickets go unsold now or are corporate giveaways. Why aren't you arguing against that?

 

Good teams don't just come from power conferences. In 2006, when Jim Nantz and Billy Packer couldn't comprehend who the Valley could land four berths, Bradley beat KU (tied for first Big 12) and Pitt (fourth Big East) to make the Sweet 16. Wichita State beat Tennessee (second SEC) to do the same.
George Mason beat Michigan State (sixth Big 10), North Carolina (second Big East) and UConn (first Big East).
Gonzaga beat No. 3-seeded Indiana.
Montana in the second round.
Northwestern State beat Iowa.
Bucknell beat Arkansas.

Sorry, but you can't advocate a Division I playoff and exclude half the conferences from participation. Unless you call it the BCS championship, which would not be a true national championship.

 

Have you ever been to a BCS game? Sellouts, full of fans from both teams. So you're equating the Motor City Bowl with what would be the signature game of the season and it's OK that the stadium is half full?

 

If there were a college "Super Bowl," you really believe the stands would be half full?
That's Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy territory.

 

The biggest BS arguments are people won't go to four weeks of games and it would hurt the student-athlete.

 

Maybe not the championship.

But Joe Gator Fan is going to have trouble traveling, say, to Atlanta, THEN New Orleans and THEN Pasadena.

Right now fans know a month in advance where they are going and can plan for this one trip.

 

That's why home sites for the first and second rounds would be preferred. And anyone who doesn't like Louisiana-Monroe making it in, well, a chance is all they want, so whether it be in Austin or The Swamp, they'll take it. Smaller schools would travel to what would likely be their only game. And the BCS powers could save on travel money for a round, maybe two, should they make the semis or play for a championship.

 

I think the last thing anyone should be worried about is whether SEC fans will travel.