Here in the Dead Zone of sports, one of the most common and misunderstood
topics is that of a college football playoff. Many fans (even whose occupations
would give them the background to understand the factors involved) view this
issue through "fan eyes" instead of approaching it the same way the
decision makers in the process do. Those fans are then confused when the
athletic directors and school presidents don't act as fans would. In this
article, I will explain what I see are the issues currently preventing a college
football playoff, propose a workable solution to those issues, and then explain
some of the unintended consequences of those actions.
Collegiate athletics effectively operates under the umbrella of the National
Collegiate Athletic Association, a non-profit corporation comprising of roughly
1,200 institutions at multiple levels of participation. The Power Schools are
(currently) 65 institutions in the six major conferences, plus Notre Dame, all
of which are members of the NCAA.