With School Soccer Playoff growth stalled and frustration hovering, a brand new occasion has been created: The blame sport.
It’s the Large Ten’s fault for insisting on computerized bids for the Energy 5 champions.
It’s the Group of 5’s fault for not caving to Energy 5 needs.
It’s the ACC’s fault for not supporting growth in any kind.
It’s the Rose Bowl’s fault for … being the Rose Bowl.
Solely one of many six main New Yr’s bowl video games has been repeatedly singled out as an obstacle to growth — the one which has been round since 1902.
In media reviews detailing the obstacles, the Granddaddy has been labeled “cussed” and the “large difficulty” and described as in search of “preferential remedy” in a 12-team format.
What function does the Rose Bowl hope to play within the expanded CFP? To what diploma has it contributed to the deadlock? And the way is the Pac-12 working to help its longtime accomplice?
Commissioner George Kliavkoff offered perception late final week throughout an look on the ‘Paul Finebaum Present,’ which airs on ESPN radio and the SEC Community.
Kliavkoff referred to as the will to craft a 12-team playoff whereas retaining school soccer’s bowl custom a “troublesome stability.”
He famous that the Rose Bowl “has been extremely versatile the final couple instances we’ve modified the playoff system.”
And he acknowledged having “a fiduciary obligation to the Rose Bowl, as does the Large Ten.”
He additionally detailed precisely what the Rose Bowl is in search of in a 12-team occasion: “They need to be Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. Pacific each single yr.”
That doesn’t sound like a lot, however the further rounds of competitors complicate the state of affairs.
The present construction permits for the Rose Bowl to take care of the immensely useful New Yr’s Day time slot whether or not it hosts a semifinal or not.
However a 12-team playoff pushes the semifinals into the second weekend in January. The Rose Bowl’s matchup and broadcast window would look one thing like this beneath the proposed three-year rotation for the six main bowls:
Yr One
Jan. 1: Rose Bowl hosts quarterfinal
Yr Two
Jan. 1: Rose Bowl hosts quarterfinal
Yr Three
Jan. 8: Rose Bowl hosts semifinal
“What we’re asking for for the Rose Bowl is a tiny little ask,’’ Kliavkoff informed Finebaum. (Full interview right here.)
“One out of each three years, they might be internet hosting a semifinal. They need the precise to host a standard Rose Bowl sport in the event that they need to.”
That’s proper: Within the years when it serves as a semifinal host on (or round) Jan. 8, the Rose Bowl additionally needs to stage a non-playoff sport on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. that will match the Pac-12 in opposition to the Large Ten.
In different phrases, Granddaddy needs his broadcast window yearly, whatever the playoff rotation.
“In the event that they do,” Kliavkoff defined, “the worth of that Rose Bowl could be considerably decreased” — when the matchup isn’t a part of the CFP — “as a result of if you happen to put 12 groups into the playoff, they don’t get our greatest in opposition to the very best group from the Large Ten …
“To stability out what they giving up, we’ve requested that three hours out of each three years be protected in opposition to having to compete (on tv) in opposition to a CFP quarterfinal.
“And the whole lot we’ve requested for for the Rose, a tiny little ask, if the opposite contract bowls — if the Sugar Bowl, if the Orange Bowl need comparable lodging once they’re internet hosting a semifinal, we’d be keen to provide into that, as nicely.
“It’s three hours each three years we’re asking for cover on.”
Put one other method: With the commissioners grappling over the bigger points delaying playoff growth (12 groups vs. eight groups and the allocation of computerized bids), the Rose Bowl is a handy obstacle for anybody in search of impediments.
As soon as the broader framework will get hammered out, Granddaddy’s request shouldn’t maintain up the method.
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