By James Finck, Ph.D.
Normally, government and sports shouldn’t mix, but in the current college playoff system, including mostly public schools, it may be time.
College football has always been controversial in the way it chooses national champions. Because teams don’t all play each other, it has depended on the ‘eye test’ of which schools did a committee think would win if they played against each other. As that system left no one satisfied, several tweaks have been made to determine national champions. It started with the top two teams playing against each other, but there were complaints about who were the top two teams. To fix the issue, the NCAA went to a four-team playoff, which still left everyone fighting about the fifth team. Finally, it was decided to go to a 12-team playoff.
But here we are again. Still relying on the eye test. Currently sitting right outside the playoffs is Brigham Young University, a one-loss Big 12 school. In front of BYU are three two-loss teams. Why are the three two-loss teams ahead of a one-loss team? The eye test. The committee has determined that if BYU played those teams, the two-loss teams would win. The committee feels that the fifth-place team in the SEC (with two losses) is more deserving than a second Big 12 school. Is that true? We can’t know. That is why there is a playoff.
I am the first to say the SEC is a stronger conference than the Big 12, but I will not agree that the fifth-place SEC team is automatically better than a one-loss Big 12 team (whose only loss was to the No. 5 ranked team).
As for government, if this is just about a championship, then I would say stay out. But it’s much bigger than that. It’s all about the money.
Last year, each team that made the playoffs received $4 million just for the first round. They received another $4 million for the next round, then $6 million for each of the next two rounds. The conferences received $300,000 for each team. If the playoffs happened right now, the SEC would receive $1,500,000; the Big 10, $900,000; while the ACC and Big 12 only $300,000. Notre Dame, a two-loss team and the only private college, would receive $700,000 because they are independent.
In 1890, Congress passed The Sherman Antitrust Act to curb monopolies, ensure a fair market and promote free and fair competition. When a committee decides that one power conference receives $1,200,000 more than another because it values its twoloss teams more, maybe it’s time for the courts to get involved. I know this could all change before the end of the season, but if does not Sherman may need to be applied.
James Finck is a professor of American history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.