Interesting article about BCS from President Gee

[Globetrotter]

Pretty interesting stuff and I actually agree with him on some of it.

E. Gordon Gee on the BCS

One of Gee's criticisms of a playoff system is that it would pose a logistical nightmare for fans.

Ohio State fans are notorious for traveling well for road games, but Gee has doubts about their ability to attend playoff games in different cities.

"Ohio State takes 50 to 100 thousand fans. If you go to a playoff system, all of a sudden we call up our fans and say 'OK we're going to Toronto on Monday and then we're going to go to Orlando on Friday,' it just doesn't work that way," Gee said. "Part of the excitement is about our fans and our ability to support them. The playoff system simply doesn't make sense to me."

The post-season tournaments for men's and women's college basketball use a "pod system" to organize teams into geographic locations for multiple rounds of play, cutting down on travel for both teams and fans.

If such a system were used in a potential college football playoff, Gee said it would alleviate some of his concerns, but would not change his mind.

"It would alleviate concerns on that aspect, but my issue is a core concern," he said.


Field hockey more important than football

Playoff systems are everywhere in college sports, except Division I football.

Men's and women's basketball each have tournaments to end the season. Soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, baseball, softball, lacrosse and volleyball all end with post-season tournaments, as do lower divisions of college football.

So in his criticism of a playoff, is Gee saying certitude in non-revenue sports, such as field hockey, is more important than in college football? Yes, he does.

"I guess I am. I don't believe ultimately there needs to be a winner," Gee said. "College football is the most exciting, dynamic sporting event in this country. It's because of the fact that we keep excitement in it; it's not a professional sport, we don't have to have a winner, we have multiple winners."


Arms race

Gee draws an analogy to the Cold War in his criticism of a playoff system, calling it an arms race.

"We've been in an arms race; I don't want to engage in it anymore," Gee said. "If you move to the playoff system, you escalate the arms race.We're already in the middle of an arms race. I want to de-escalate it, that's my whole point."

Prior to returning to Ohio State, Gee was chancellor at Vanderbilt.

During his time there, he eliminated the athletic department, a move which was also criticized but has proved to be beneficial for the Commodores.

"Everyone said, 'That damn fool,' Vanderbilt is going to become a recreational department, and so forth," Gee said. "Five years later the New York Times ran an article saying the most successful experiment in college athletics is Vanderbilt - they moved form 79th in the power rankings to 21st, they have a higher ranking than half to three-quarters of the Big Ten and SEC, and they did it with the highest graduation rates in the country.

"My point is, yes you can play intercollegiate athletics and yes you can have a competitive program and no you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to make it happen, if you think about it totally differently."

An AP story from Sept. 6 confirms some of Gee's statements.

"Today, the SEC's smallest and only private university and the only one without an official, full-time athletic director is enjoying unprecedented on-field success, from high-profile sports like basketball and baseball down to tennis and even the 2007 NCAA champion bowling squad.

"Even the Commodores football team, who've had a losing record every season for the last quarter-century, won five games last year. [...] Off the field, the average GPA for athletes last spring rose to 3.1, narrowing the gap with other students, while Vanderbilt's NCAA graduation success rate was a conference-best 94 percent," according to the AP.

Now back in Columbus, Gee would almost certainly not be able to replicate his plan with the OSU athletics department as he did at Vanderbilt.

Ohio State has the largest athletic department in the country, with a budget of more than $109 million dollars.

According to an Oct. 2007 Wall Street Journal report, OSU spends $110,000 on each of its 980 athletes, which is triple the amount the university spends on each undergraduate student for education.

A major difference for Ohio State compared to other institutions is that its athletic department is self-sustaining and contributes to the university.

"I happen to be the president of the university with the largest athletic department in the country, which, by the way, has the largest budget," Gee said. "But I am also the president of only five or six athletic departments in the country that are entirely self-supporting. It totally supports itself, plus it provides support for the rest of the institution; they just provided $10 million for our library renovations.

"Of the 126 division 1-A schools, that means 120 of them are engaged in an arms race that they are already losing because … they can't support what they're doing right now. We happen to be one of the fortunate few."

However, the BCS, which Gee strongly advocates, is also an arms race of sorts.

The share to each conference with an annual automatic berth in the BCS (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC) is approximately $18 million. When a second team from one of those conferences qualifies to play in one of the games, that conference will receive an additional $4.5 million, according to the BCS media guide.

In contrast, the next highest bowl game payout is for teams in the Capital One Bowl, which paid out $4.25 million last year to Florida and Michigan.

So how does Gee rationalize both his support of the BCS and his concern about an arms race? He simply refers to a playoff as "a real arms race."

"If I had to vote on something, I would vote back to the old system, the bowl system, as opposed to the playoff system," Gee said. "What [a playoff] is, is a drive toward professionalizing collegiate athletics in the worst possible way."


Not about the money

ESPN was just rewarded the rights to the BCS National Championship, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange bowl games starting in 2011, for $125 million a year for four years. ESPN/ABC already held the rights to the Rose Bowl, which is negotiated separately.

Fox, who currently broadcasts all the BCS games, with the exception of the Rose Bowl, lost to ESPN after bidding $100 million.

With enormous broadcast rights, sponsorship deals and payouts, the BCS is a very lucrative operation.

There is little doubt, however, that a playoff would lead to even more money, which Gee says displays his conviction to his philosophy.

"This is not a money issue; if we want to make money then let's go to the playoff system," he said "We would have huge television contracts, we would be rolling in money. Every time I say we're not going to move to a playoff, I take $25-30 million off Ohio State's table, so it's not about money. It's about the academic integrity of the institution and our willingness to just say this is the Maginot Line, we're not going to cross it and I think the university presidents have to make that choice, and I think that's the choice we made. There will be no president in the Big Ten conference who will vote in favor of a college playoff system."


James Crepea can be reached at [email protected].

[hammb]

He's lying. Any playoff system would require the inclusion, at least on some level, of additional non-BCS teams. Whether it's the top 16 teams (which would get Utah, Boise, and Ball State in this year), or automatic bids to every conference, any true playoff would open more doors to non-BCS conferences to get more money.

Right now Gee is president of a university that benefits greatly from the current scheme. Of course he doesn't want to change it. His university and it's conference brethren consistently pull in huge dollars from the BCS. At the same time it ensures that the non-BCS conferences will never get enough revenue equality to even hope to compete budget wise.

Of course he's in favor the current system. All BCS school presidents are. It's why we'll never see real playoff in college football. The non-BCS schools would never support a playoff that didn't include them, and the BCS schools would never support a system that did. It's all about the money, no matter what anyone tells you.

[Globetrotter]

He's lying. Any playoff system would require the inclusion, at least on some level, of additional non-BCS teams. Whether it's the top 16 teams (which would get Utah, Boise, and Ball State in this year), or automatic bids to every conference, any true playoff would open more doors to non-BCS conferences to get more money.

Right now Gee is president of a university that benefits greatly from the current scheme. Of course he doesn't want to change it. His university and it's conference brethren consistently pull in huge dollars from the BCS. At the same time it ensures that the non-BCS conferences will never get enough revenue equality to even hope to compete budget wise.

Of course he's in favor the current system. All BCS school presidents are. It's why we'll never see real playoff in college football. The non-BCS schools would never support a playoff that didn't include them, and the BCS schools would never support a system that did. It's all about the money, no matter what anyone tells you.

There are atleast a handful of schools in the SEC who are for a playoff system. THe hangups are teams in the big ten and the pac ten.

[hammb]

He's lying. Any playoff system would require the inclusion, at least on some level, of additional non-BCS teams. Whether it's the top 16 teams (which would get Utah, Boise, and Ball State in this year), or automatic bids to every conference, any true playoff would open more doors to non-BCS conferences to get more money.

Right now Gee is president of a university that benefits greatly from the current scheme. Of course he doesn't want to change it. His university and it's conference brethren consistently pull in huge dollars from the BCS. At the same time it ensures that the non-BCS conferences will never get enough revenue equality to even hope to compete budget wise.

Of course he's in favor the current system. All BCS school presidents are. It's why we'll never see real playoff in college football. The non-BCS schools would never support a playoff that didn't include them, and the BCS schools would never support a system that did. It's all about the money, no matter what anyone tells you.

There are atleast a handful of schools in the SEC who are for a playoff system. THe hangups are teams in the big ten and the pac ten.

The only time I ever hear of any BCS team wanting a playoff is when it benefits them that year. Generally the guys that finish on the outside of the title game looking in.

And I assure you any university presidents of BCS schools that are in favor of a playoff system are not in favor of one that gives additional opportunity to non-BCS conferences. They'll be in favor of some 4/8 team system that is still just THEIR best teams duking it out...they don't want to share that money.

[tiznow]

He's lying. Any playoff system would require the inclusion, at least on some level, of additional non-BCS teams. Whether it's the top 16 teams (which would get Utah, Boise, and Ball State in this year), or automatic bids to every conference, any true playoff would open more doors to non-BCS conferences to get more money.

Right now Gee is president of a university that benefits greatly from the current scheme. Of course he doesn't want to change it. His university and it's conference brethren consistently pull in huge dollars from the BCS. At the same time it ensures that the non-BCS conferences will never get enough revenue equality to even hope to compete budget wise.

Of course he's in favor the current system. All BCS school presidents are. It's why we'll never see real playoff in college football. The non-BCS schools would never support a playoff that didn't include them, and the BCS schools would never support a system that did. It's all about the money, no matter what anyone tells you.

Hammb, your exactly right.

[tiznow]

Texas is crying this year, when a few years back they benefited. Screw the BCS and the BCS conferences.

[Falconfreak90]

He's lying. Any playoff system would require the inclusion, at least on some level, of additional non-BCS teams. Whether it's the top 16 teams (which would get Utah, Boise, and Ball State in this year), or automatic bids to every conference, any true playoff would open more doors to non-BCS conferences to get more money.

Right now Gee is president of a university that benefits greatly from the current scheme. Of course he doesn't want to change it. His university and it's conference brethren consistently pull in huge dollars from the BCS. At the same time it ensures that the non-BCS conferences will never get enough revenue equality to even hope to compete budget wise.

Of course he's in favor the current system. All BCS school presidents are. It's why we'll never see real playoff in college football. The non-BCS schools would never support a playoff that didn't include them, and the BCS schools would never support a system that did. It's all about the money, no matter what anyone tells you.

Hammb, your exactly right.

He sure is. Gee is arrogant and likes things just the way they are.