Scrap the Bowl Alliance

Call me a cynic, but there's something wrong with a college bowl system that delivers as one of its premiere post-season showcases a clash between...Syracuse and Arizona State?

Is this for real? Surely the Fiesta Bowl made some mistake, right?

The sad truth is that at the time this article goes to press, the hugely-anticipated showdown between the washed-up Sun Devils (9-2) and the Big Least champion Orangemen (8-3, pending the Miami game) will more likely than not become reality on New Year's Eve. The reason? Economics. The supposedly "in football's best interests" Bowl Alliance is contractually obligated to take the champion of the Big East; since that unfortunate pick will fall to the Fiesta this year, Fiesta Bowl (excuse me, Tostito's Fiesta Bowl) organizers will take Arizona State as an at-large team to insure regional interest and ticket sales. (Small coincidence that the game is played in Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe). The logical pick would of course have been Notre Dame with its legions of traveling fans and television watchers, but since the Irish are out of the Top Ten, we get ASU and 'Cuse.

Which is leaving a lot of deserving folks out in the cold.

Take Mack Brown, whose Tar Heels are 10-1 (their only loss coming at the hands of Florida State) and ranked #8. Or Bill Snyder's Wildcats, also in the Top Ten at 10-1 after the greatest season in K-State history (their only loss came to Nebraska). Or Bob Toledo's UCLA squad, arguably playing the best football of anybody right now, standing at 9-2 and ranked #6. Number six! You mean to tell me these guys don't deserve a slot in an Alliance Bowl?

They do. The problem is, they won't get one. And with the payouts of the Alliance bowls at over $8 million per team, that's ruffling a lot of feathers around the country.

Now, I'm not naive. I recognize that sponsorship dollars play an important part in collegiate athletics today, albeit an intrusive one. And I've grudgingly come to accept the myriad post-season bowl affiliations now in effect. Today, in addition to conference championship games (sponsored by Dr. Pepper), we have bowls whose title sponsors are: a video rental chain (the Blockbuster Bowl); a cellular phone (Nokia Sugar Bowl); an automotive care store (Carquest Bowl); a city (Las Vegas Bowl); and the most egregious example of all, lawn care devices (Poulan/Weed-Eater Independence Bowl). In the past we've had the IBM OS/2 Bowl. Add in to the mix 1997's incipient Motor City Bowl (who wants to go to Detroit in December to play a bowl game indoors on artificial turf?) and the insight.com Bowl, and you've certainly got your pick of corporate America. I'm amazed (and heartened) that the Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl, has not succumbed to a company's logo at midfield.

But the Alliance, with its huge payouts, only adds more fuel to the fire. Year after year, deserving teams are excluded because of low ratings potential or the "mistake" of being in the wrong conference. BYU lost on both counts in 1996, despite a WAC championship and a 14-win season. So the pressure to get into an Alliance bowl mounts, and with only six slots (eight next year when the Big Ten and Pac 10 join), someone's going to get screwed. Just think of all the talk last season about Notre Dame's kicker potentially having to make an "$8 million kick" to get the Irish into one of the biggies.

Compounding this is the fact that the Alliance has only given us a true national championship game once in its three-year history. Last year's Florida-Florida State clash only became the battle for #1 by default after the then-#2 Sun Devils lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. This year's showcase, the Orange, will be an afterthought unless Michigan loses the day before in Pasadena. Granted, the chances of staging a true national championship increase next year when the Rose Bowl joins in the fun, but at what cost? The Alliance bowls (Sugar, Fiesta, Orange and Rose) will all have lost their traditional conference tie-ins in favor of the almighty dollar, sweeping history (and public interest n the games) aside.

I miss the days when teams played for a definite goal at the end of the season. You always knew that the SEC champ would go to the Sugar, or the Big Ten champ to the Rose, or the old Big 8 champ to the Orange. Now, the picture is cloudy, and the integrity of the games themselves is suffering. Of the three Alliance bowls last year, only one was a sellout, and all three experienced sharp TV ratings drops from previous years. The Orange Bowl (excuse me, the Federal Express Orange Bowl) was the worst, with a noticeable number of empty seats on hand for the Nebraska-Virginia Tech "matchup." Of course, the Orange Bowl had already lost a lot of tradition, having moved out of the Orange Bowl several years ago to the newer (and bigger, skybox-filled) Joe Robbie, uh, I mean Pro Player Stadium. When does this ridiculousness end? Shoot, the Alliance even has a (corporate-sponsored) "Selection Show" a la the NCAA basketball tournament. Someone please put a stop to this madness.

I agree that with college football as it stands today, crowning a true national champion each year is not going to be possible. But the Bowl Alliance is not the answer. I don't even think a playoff is a good idea, either. Keep the bowls. Return to the old conference tie-ins. Don't do away with them, because even the lesser bowls are benchmarks for up-and-coming programs to point to. Just scrap the Bowl Alliance. It's hurting more people than it's helping, and the stakes are just too high to continue to exclude quality teams that deserve their shot at the limelight.