Say goodbye to the BCS, at least the name

Say goodbye to the BCS, at least the name

By Dennis Dodd | Senior College Football Columnist
June 21, 2012
CHICAGO – As playoff talk continues to grow, be glad that at least the name “BCS” is all but dead.

College football's 14-year old postseason label will go away when the new playoff structure is determined, according to a source intimately involved in the process. While that move was largely expected at some point, the commissioners have been busy first determining the playoff structure itself.
One source indicated that the old name couldn't be attached to a playoff that will “eventually” be
bigger than the Final Four and second only to the Super Bowl in terms of this nation's sporting events. The term “BCS” simply had too much of a negative connotation. The commissioners couldn't afford for the controversies attached to the “Bowl Championship Series” to accompany major college football's first playoff.

Former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer is largely credited for organizing the BCS in 1998. Since then, it has seemingly had as much criticism as praise. Adding to the frustration is that there was no single person or committee who seemed to be in charge until the commissioners renewed TV contracts every couple of years.

“There really is no entity,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told CBSSports.com earlier this year. “There is no BCS. There is a mark [logo]. There is a series of contracts. That's all it is.”

The new name has yet to be determined as conference commissioners meet here on Wednesday for the latest round of playoff talks. If and when a formal four-team playoff is put in place, the championship game, at least, would be staged as a Super Bowl-like event. A staff of at least five people would be required year-round to run the playoff. Currently, executive director Bill Hancock and a couple of administrative assistants are the only full-time employees.

The commissioners meet here Wednesday from 1-4 p.m. A series of playoff models could come out of that meeting that would be forwarded to the BCS presidential oversight committee for review June 26 in Washington, D.C.

The commissioners are expected to forward recommendations of some form of a four-team playoff. Less likely, a plus-one, two teams playing for the national championship after all the bowls are played.