Saint Paul’s College to shut down Athletics Program
Saint Paul’s College intends to shut down its intercollegiate athletics program on July 1 in an effort to resolve the school’s ongoing financial difficulties.
A statement issued today by Saint Paul’s office of public relations called the move, approved by the board of trustees at its recent spring meeting, “a bold step” in the direction of “financial stability”. The statement acknowledged that the 123-year-old school’s “longstanding financial problems have yet to be remedied.”
Saint Paul’s, a member of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, currently fields 14 teams — seven for men and seven for women.
The school said Saint Paul’s president Dr. Robert L. Satcher and his executive cabinet are studying implementation of a full-scale
program of intramural athletics. The school also said “consideration will be given to reinstating the athletic program” once financial stability is achieved.
Pac 12 to start own TV Network
PHOENIX, Ariz. (Sports Network) – The Pac-12 Conference has announced plans for its own television network to go along with new blockbuster contracts with networks ESPN and Fox Sports.
Pac-12 Media Enterprises will own the Pac-12 Network, the Pac-12 Digital Network and Pac-12 Properties. It will control and distribute all Pac-12 games not licensed to ESPN and Fox Sports.
Commissioner Larry Scott would not divulge financial terms of the new 12-year agreements with ESPN and Fox Sports, calling it only a “landmark deal” that will enable each of the conference’s institutions to share equally in revenue.
“We are especially delighted to be strengthening and expanding our relationship with ESPN and FOX Sports to deliver an unprecedented level of innovative sports programming to large national audiences across the country,” Scott said in a statement. “With this agreement, we will deliver our events over two broadcast networks and at least five premiere national cable platforms. In addition, we will have our own Pac-12 National Cable TV platform and Pac-12 Digital Network platform.”
All football games not televised by the two networks will be broadcast on the Pac-12 network. Men’s basketball and women’s basketball games will also be featured prominently, along with other Olympic sports.
The Pac-12 football championship game will be broadcast by Fox Sports for the next two years and will then alternate years with ESPN. It will also be held on a Friday night in prime time.
This summer, Utah and Colorado will officially join the conference to expand it from 10 schools to 12.
Bowl Games or Playoffs? How about both?
By Bob Metz
One of the most discussed issues surrounding college football is the issue of how to crown a National Champion.
The BCS – the current system – was established in 1998 and was created in efforts to better crown a champion each year, while putting what proponents consider more emphasis on the regular season. In recent years, however there has been an increasing amount of pressure put on the NCAA by fans and sportscasters as well as politicians to implement a playoff system.
College football is the only ball sport to not utilize a playoff system in order to crown a champion, and some say it has to change. Even college basketball has the March Madness tourney to crown a champion.
There are many factors to consider however when making such a decision. Is there really anything wrong with the current system? How would a playoff system be implemented? What impact would it have on the NCAA football’s biggest stage? Would it be fair that if a team has one off week, they’d be eliminated? Would the regular season have to be extended? What impact would this have on academics? What about the money generated from the BCS sponsors (a la Tostitos)?
Those are just a few factors. No matter which side you are on, I ask you to consider what I am about to suggest. I believe that a BCS playoff system would open up college football and attract many more fans. I will help you explore by answering the above questions.
- Is there really anything wrong with the current system?
In a word – Yes. The BCS is two thirds decided by humans. The Associated Press poll and the coaches’ poll. The other third is computer rankings. Call me silly, but this does not sound like a fair way to crown a champion and furthermore it’s much too involved.
Anytime you involve people’s opinions to decide which teams should play, it leaves the door open to human agendas. Like it or not, it’s just in our nature as humans to hold grudges, favor certain things, and let personal gain affect professional decisions. Before we go further, know that I am not saying this is happening. I am simply stating our natural instincts as people. There is a lot of money at stake in sports, even college sports and money makes people do things they wouldn’t normally do. Why leave it to chance? In a playoff system, this human element would be eliminated for the most part. As for the other third, numbers on a computer should only be used as tie breakers.
- How would a playoff system be implemented?
Easily. Implementing a playoff system that does not rock the boat is both efficient and fair. But there isn’t a need to rip apart the bowl games, either. I believe that the best way is to keep the bowl games and make them individual playoff games. They can even keep their bowl names to preserve some of the tradition for those to which that is important. Bowl games would simply be used as playoff games.
- What impact would it have on NCAA football’s biggest stage?
It would be HUGE! Take March Madness as the best example. March Madness is far and away more popular than the BCS. Why? Two reasons.
1. People who don’t even watch college basketball fill out brackets and many of them watch the games to see how their teams fare.
2. Because it’s exciting! Lose and go home. It’s the same reason the NFL playoffs are so popular as well as (to a slightly lesser extent) the NBA playoffs and the MLB playoffs. It’s an element that can only exist in a playoff system. If NCAAF used the bowl games as a playoff system, more fans would watch in droves because of the newness of a playoff system (this could be massively advertised) and because there would be no question as to who should have been given the chance to compete. No more debating on which same-ranked team should be in the big game. No more harping on why the bigger schools are favored over a Boise State for instance. Also, the smaller schools would have a legitimate shot at shocking the world, much like you see in March Madness. Butler came to within a single shot of winning the whole thing against powerhouse Duke. George Mason a few years ago thrilled many when they made it to the Final 4. Imagine this happening in football. A playoff would add a lot of excitement and bring in a larger audience, as even those who do not understand or agree with the BCS would want to watch. More fans plus more advertisers equals more money.
- Would it be fair that if a team has one off week, they’d be eliminated unfairly?
This is the most ridiculous question I’ve heard on the subject. In every other sport, there have been teams who fared the best in the regular season have fallen short of the championship game. The Indianapolis Colts come to mind. That’s the great thing about elimination. Raise your game in the playoffs or go home!
- Would the season have to be extended? No. If several teams have the same record, tie breaking procedures would be enacted. This is where the computer statistics would come into play. Should there be an ultimate tie, a play-in game would then be in order. Winner gets the spot.
- What about the money generated from the BCS sponsors (a la Tostitos)?
They’ll reap the benefits of a larger audience and still be sponsors of the bowl playoff games. Who gets to be the sponsor of the National Championship game? The highest bidder! That’s business at its finest. The deeper the playoff round, the more a sponsor must pay. It’s fairer than the BCS is on the teams.
In Conclusion:
Everyone benefits from a playoff system except for those who are so entrenched in the history of it all, but if they love the game already, they won’t stop watching just because the system is fairer. There is no perfect system; NCAAF is the only holdout to a proven, successful formula. Take the BS out of the BCS and you are left with a Championship!