Mark Cuban Exploring BCS Alternative

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Wouldn't this be quite the feat

 

DALLAS -- After two failed bids to buy a Major League Baseball team, billionaire Mark Cuban is seriously considering trying to use his money to create a playoff alternative to college football's Bowl Championship Series.

 

Cuban, the outspoken owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, told ESPNDallas.com on Wednesday that he is "actively interested but in the exploratory stage" of creating and funding a playoff system to crown a champion for major college football.

 

"The more I think about it, the more sense it makes as opposed to buying a baseball team," said Cuban, who tried to buy the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers within the last few years. "You can do something the whole country wants done."

 

Cuban said he has talked to two athletic directors from BCS conferences who were extremely enthusiastic about the idea. He intends to contact several school presidents and state senators in the coming weeks to determine whether the idea is worth pursuing.

 

Cuban said he envisions either a 12- or 16-team playoff field with the higher seeds getting homefield advantage. The homefield advantage, Cuban said, would ensure the college football regular-season games would not lose any importance.

 

The bowl games could still exist under Cuban's plan, but he said he would make it more profitable for programs to make the playoffs than a bowl.

 

"Put $500 million in the bank and go to all the schools and pay them money as an option," Cuban said. "Say, 'Look, I'm going to give you X amount every five years. In exchange, you say if you're picked for the playoff system, you'll go.' "

 

One way to push school presidents toward approving the idea would be to lobby major donors of college athletic programs, Cuban said. He suggested convincing the donors to cut off their donations until their presidents approved a playoff system.

 

Cuban, who is reading the book "Death to the BCS," said he thinks it would take about three or four years of planning before enacting the playoff system. He believes it's a better business opportunity than owning a baseball team, and he admits he's intrigued by the idea of revolutionizing a major sport.

 

"It's an inefficient business where there's obviously a better way of doing it," Cuban said. "The only thing that's kept them from doing it is a lack of capital, which I can deal with.

 

"The one thing every college football fan wants you can probably create for less than it takes to buy a baseball team."

[Soxbadger]

A problem with his idea is that he believes he could negotiate with individual teams. In reality he would have to negotiate with conferences. And that is going to run into some issues. With a 12 or 16 team format, SEC/Big 10 are going to want at a guarantee of 2 teams, if not more. You then would have to at least give 1 spot to each of Pac-10, Big 12, Big East and ACC. That is potentially 8 of the 12-16 spots. Most of these conferences are going to want 2 guaranteed bids.

 

So one of the biggest obstacles is to some how get an agreement on:

 

1) How many teams.

 

2) How are those teams decided.

 

 

[Rex Hudler]

Why does the NCAA need Cuban's money? Does anyone really think the schools don't realize more money can be made with a playoff? The lack of a playoff isn't about money. It's about power, tradition, control, tv contracts, etc. Eventually it may happen, but it won't because Mark Cuban throws money at it.

[southsider2k5]

Why does the NCAA need Cuban's money? Does anyone really think the schools don't realize more money can be made with a playoff? The lack of a playoff isn't about money. It's about power, tradition, control, tv contracts, etc. Eventually it may happen, but it won't because Mark Cuban throws money at it.

 

If he can find a way to make it more valuable than the BCS system, I have no doubt the NCAA would jump on it.

[Balta1701]

If he can find a way to make it more valuable than the BCS system, I have no doubt the NCAA would jump on it.

I disagree. Everyone already knows that a playoff would be more valuable overall in revenue terms than the current bowl system. The problem is that there are certain very powerful schools, very powerful conferences, and perhaps most importantly...very powerful bowl coordinators and sponsors who are heavily invested in the bowls, and they'd be the ones with the most to lose from a playoff system.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Why does the NCAA need Cuban's money? Does anyone really think the schools don't realize more money can be made with a playoff? The lack of a playoff isn't about money. It's about power, tradition, control, tv contracts, etc. Eventually it may happen, but it won't because Mark Cuban throws money at it.

fixed that for you.

Its 100% about contracts and money.

[Texsox]

The first step was organizing the major bowls and sharing the title game -- done.

 

Now organize the bowls into a playoff format. That will take some tooling. You would need seven bowl venues s to get started, or some bowl venue would do double duty some years.

 

4 bowls 1st round with 8 teams

2 bowls 2nd round with 4 teams

1 bowl Championship Round.

 

I have a retired Division 1 AD in the next room, I think I'll get his input.