Fans get football playoff; big schools keep payoff

In college football, the most professional of all the so-called amateur sports, the major decisions nearly always come down to money — mostly more for those who already have it.

We must, however, thank goodness and the BCS presidential oversight committee for a couple of things that only look like over-sights.

» The big conferences managed to create a playoff while "protecting the regular season."

Yes, that same regular season that last year led to a rematch of conference rivals Alabama and Louisiana State in the national championship game.

Wouldn’t want to do anything to change that. Everybody wants to see the sequel after a 9-6 score the first time around, right?

The status quo advocates like to say every regular season game means something. That one just meant fewer people would watch them in January.

» Three cheers for academic integrity.

The BCS presidents want a 12-year TV contract for a three-game playoff, in effect a football final four. We’re talking double the current rights fees.

No mention is made of providing room at some point for a playoff including more teams — and therefore the occasional upstart from a smaller conference, and the occasional fifth team seriously capable of beating anyone among the first four (Georgia in 2007 comes to mind).

The stated reasoning for locking in at four teams? This guarantees fewer student-athletes will be tasked with playing championship-level football while somehow struggling through the academic rigors of … winter break and maybe the first couple of days of spring semester.

This is especially weak when we consider that lower divisions of college football have survived a full-blown playoff system for decades.

And how about the NCAA volleyball national championship tournament that coincides with the end of the semester? Several University of Hawaii players studied for and took finals while at the final four in 2009.

YES, CYNICISM ASIDE, it’s a big step in the right direction. That is, if there are going to be any more steps, steps toward the inclusion an eight- or 16-team tournament would bring.

The power brokers disguised as high-minded academicians don’t seem to be in any hurry for that.

The first question at Tuesday’s news conference announcing the playoff came from Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples. It was perfect, and I think he spoke for all of us with an interest in college football.

"What took you guys so long?"

And as you might expect, he didn’t get a straight answer.

Plenty of other questions remain.

How will the newfound money be distributed? What about access for the inevitable undefeated teams from the minor conferences?

A new selection committee? Isn’t the Harris Poll committee supposed to be the experts? Maybe you need a committee to choose the committee.

Why is Notre Dame still relevant, still part of the policy-setting group?

OK, we know the answer to that last one: TV money.

We can be happy in the fact that four teams will have a shot at the championship instead of two. The clunkiness of the flawed system has been cut in half.

And at a profit. But for whom?

Don’t be fooled. This playoff is all about the payoff. Anything resembling progress toward fairness or inclusion is happenstance, and possibly a mirage.