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BCS ponders process,
picks site, mulls Big East
Big East's automatic bid
may be at stake on meeting's final day
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX — The Fiesta Bowl
organization was awarded the first national championship game under the
new, expanded Bowl Championship Series format on Tuesday as the BCS
schools worked to find a new poll to help select the teams that will
play for the title.
Beginning in the 2006
season, there will be a new game to determine the BCS national champion,
a contest separate from the four existing BCS bowls — the Fiesta,
Orange, Sugar and Rose. In essence, it means that two more schools will
qualify for a BCS contest.
As is the case under the
current system, the teams that finish first and second in the BCS
rankings will play for the championship.
The first title game under
the new format will be played Jan. 8, 2007, at the Arizona Cardinals'
new stadium set to open in the fall of 2006 in Glendale, Ariz. The
Fiesta Bowl will be played in the same stadium a week earlier, on Jan.
1. The stadium also will be the site of the 2008 Super Bowl.
The formal announcement of
the Fiesta selection came only hours after Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano
signed legislation that would require the stadium authority to grant use
of the new facility for college football. The bill also turns sales tax
revenue from ticket sales and other transactions of the BCS games over
to the Fiesta Bowl.
The provisions will mean
about $1.75 million in revenue, Fiesta Bowl executive director John
Junker said.
BCS coordinator Kevin
Weiberg, commissioner of the Big 12 Conference, stopped short of saying
the Fiesta would have been bypassed had the bill not become law.
``But clearly we would
have some questions that would have to be answered about the financial
commitments the Fiesta Bowl had made to us,'' Weiberg said.
The announcement means the
sites for the championship game will continue in their current rotation
— Fiesta, Sugar, Orange and Rose. In all cases, the sites will host the
national title game a week after their regular bowl games.
The second of the three
days of BCS meetings centered on finding a replacement for The
Associated Press poll as part of the formula to determine the two teams
that play for the championship. Weiberg said that while other more
radical changes aren't off the table, simply replacing the AP poll seems
to be the preferred alternative of the BCS schools.
As of the end of last
season, The Associated Press withdrew permission for using its poll in
the BCS calculations. That left the ESPN-USA Today coaches' poll as the
lone human-voting poll.
The BCS has promised a
decision on the new formula by July 15, but Weiberg said it could be
done sooner. Discussions will be held over the next two weeks to try to
resolve the poll issues.
The National Football
Foundation and Hall of Fame had representatives at the BCS meetings and
emerged as a possible entity to oversee the new poll. The NCAA Division
I-A Athletic Directors Association also is a possibility, but Weiberg
said the athletic directors themselves were not keen on the idea of
voting in such a poll.
``We continue to look at a
poll that would potentially include a panel of voters that would be
comprised of individuals who have had experience with the sport, either
as administrators, coaches, perhaps former players, things of that
kind,'' Weiberg said. ``That's where we're putting most of our focus at
this point.''
Those voting in the new
poll would have to make at least their final ballots public, Weiberg
said. That's something the BCS leaders want the coaches' poll voters to
do, too. Currently, coaches' ballots are secret.
``The issue of
transparency continues to be a primary concern to us,'' Weiberg said.
``We have not resolved those issues, and it is one of the considerations
in determining whether we can move forward with a replacement poll. But
I think, without a doubt, that issue continues to be sort of foremost in
our mind both for the coaches poll as well as for any replacement poll
that would plug into that spot.''
Weiberg said the number of
people voting in the new poll has yet to be determined. The new poll
preferably would not start until early October, he said.
``We think that it's
important for games to be played for voters to have a chance to see the
results of those games,'' he said.
The BCS meetings conclude
on Wednesday morning with discussions on whether changes should be made
in the automatic bids given to bowl games. Currently, champions of the
Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC, ACC and Big East get automatic bids to BCS
bowl games.
However, the Big East lost
several of its top schools to the ACC, and last year an automatic bid
went to that conference's champion, Pittsburgh, even though the Panthers
were only 21st in the BCS rankings.
Page updated:
02/23/07 10:42 AM
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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