In life, it’s usually a good thing to be on the side of the billionaire. If it’s possible that is. I had a billionaire call my cell phone once (for an interview piece I was doing on the Washington Wizards ownership change) and believe my that was a fun day of tweets and Facebook status updates for me.
However, billionaires are different than the rest of us; they have way more money. But they also see the sick joke that the BCSย is/has become and clamor for something better. At least in Mark Cuban’s case. The owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks weighed on the biggest disgrace that plaques college football.
And what he intends to do about it.
By Paul M. Banks
Here’s what he said to ESPNDallas.com this week:
Cuban said he has already spoken to two athletic directors at BcS conferences that were โextremely enthusiasticโ about a proposal that would, essentially, throw a boatload of money at the schools, and that he intends to contact several school presidents and state senators in an attempt to gauge whether itโs an idea worth pursuing further.
โThe more I think about it, the more sense it makes as opposed to buying a baseball team,โ said Cuban, who tried to buy theย Chicago Cubs andย Texas Rangers within the last few years. โYou can do something the whole country wants done.โ โฆ
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 Cubanโs plan, but he said he would make it more profitable for programs to make the playoffs than a bowl.
โPut $500 million in the bank and go to all the schools and pay them money as an option,โ Cuban said. โSay, โLook, Iโm going to give you X amount every five years. In exchange, you say if youโre picked for the playoff system, youโll go.โ โ
Obviously, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, but we can dream right? I like CFT use of “BcS” and their labeling of the group as a cartel.
And since we’re on the topic, I invite you to check out Brandon Kennedy’s open letter to Ohio State University president Gordon Gee. And check out the Kennedy Proposal which outlines a plan that integrates the bowls into a playoff system; at NCAA Revolution.com
I write to respond to Head Coach Jim Tressel, Mike Brewster, Cameron Heyward, Dane Sanzenbacher, and Dexter Larimoreโs call for a playoff system in the highest level of football in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), or known as the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
As you are aware, I have sent a letter to the President of the NCAA, CCed it to the administrators of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and have emphasized seeking a response from Automatic-Qualifying (AQ) Presidents to put the Kennedy Proposal (KP) on the 2011 NCAA Convention Ballot. We seek responses from AQ Presidents because I personally feel that itโs a little fairer to ask your personal opinion on the topic before I file lawsuits and write to lawmakers asking that certain BCS administrators be indicted and others receive subpoenas.
The players at OSU have spoken and they desire a playoff, the Head Coach has spoken and he prefers a playoff, and here is a video of a fan asking for you to please change the system. Any student at OSU that reads the KP is well informed that the champion of the Big Ten (12) will continue to represent the conference in the Rose Bowl game unless they advance to the National Championship Game.
If you would need me to explain why the antitrust lawsuit against the โAssociation of Conferencesโ is forming, say this, โMy Coach wants a playoff, my players want a playoff, I want the Rose Bowl, and the Kennedy Proposal provides both.โ This letter is also a follow up to the email regarding the Probe of the Fiesta Bowl.
Read more, with especially telling quotes and poll numbers here.
