I am a huge college football fan, heck I am a huge sports nut in general. Â Today kicks off the 2010 Division 1-A bowl season with the amazing New Mexico Bowl pitting BYU against University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Â Woohoo?!?!
There are some great college post season tradition like the Rose Bowl, and even in more recent history the Holiday Bowl has had great moments, but lets be honest, no top Bowl moment ever can compare to the NCAA Basketball tournament.
So this week, along comes Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, saying he is willing to payoff each college or conference to end the charade that is the Bowl Championship Series.  Mark is an outside the box thinker, and in this case he is spot on.  The BCS exists for one simple reason, money.  See while the NCAA Basketball tournament is awesome for the fans and student athletes,  colleges lose money playing in the tournament due to travel and ticket costs.  The BCS and Bowls in general literally make or break athletic department budgets.  Even when you see half empty stadiums, teams are guaranteed a payout thanks to ESPN and those awesome sponsors like ‘uDrove‘ who is sponsoring the Humanitarian Bowl.
When I worked in the athletic department at Syracuse, I can remember see plaques in specific conference rooms thanking the Fiesta Bowl for providing the audio and video technology in the room. Â When Syracuse made it to the Sweet 16 in the spring of 1998, the university was not sure they could send the cheerleaders or band due to costs. Â Did I mention the university was giving away their bowl tickets every year, but students slept outside for NCAA Basketball tickets each year. Â Things are upside down. Â Fans want a tournament, but sponsorship money keeps the bowls alive and colleges coffers lined.
The format of the playoff does not matter, but breaking the cartel that is the Bowl Championship Series needs to happen. Â The world needs to be spared of the Beef O’Brady Bowl featuring Southern Miss and Louisville.