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BCS, Rose Bowl reach crunch time
By The Associated Press
Rose Bowl officials don't want
to give up their prestigious status and traditional ties to the Pac-10 and
Big Ten to be part of the Bowl Championship Series.
They are willing to
compromise, though.
"We are taking a pragmatic
stance," Mitch Dorger, CEO of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, said Monday.
"We are not going to be so unreasonable that people can't work with us.
"We are trying to be part of a
system and cooperate with the other members of that system."
The BCS is set to present its
plan to implement a fifth bowl game to the Rose Bowl by the end of the week.
The Rose Bowl is scheduled to begin negotiations on its television contract
with ABC later this week.
"We need to be able to tell
the Rose Bowl how it fits in," Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said Monday in
a telephone interview.
The fifth game is being added
to give schools from smaller conferences a better chance to make the BCS.
Hansen said BCS officials are
close to resolving what the BCS will look like when it adds a fifth game for
the 2006 season.
Hansen said officials are
leaning toward having the current BCS games � the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange and
Rose bowls � host two games, including the championship game, every four
seasons.
The bowls, sponsors and ABC,
which has a contract to televise the BCS through the 2005 season, didn't
like the idea of the championship game rotating between five games instead
of the current four, Hansen said.
Dorger said the 'double-host'
model is workable, but didn't give it a resounding endorsement.
"We believe from an economic
standpoint that the so-called 'piggyback' is probably the least
objectionable option," Dorger said.
ABC paid $525 million to
televise the BCS for seven years. That contract is separate from the Rose
Bowl deal. The BCS and ABC are expected to start working on a new contract
in the fall.
Big 12 commissioner Kevin
Weiberg said recently that about 12 bowls interested in becoming the fifth
game approached the BCS.
A model that would add another
week to the season and match the No. 1 and No. 2 teams after the first four
games are played has drawn support from ABC, but not the university
presidents.
"That is not going to happen
because there is no presidential support for teams playing more games,"
Hansen said.
The BCS is also in the process
of simplifying the formula used to determine which teams play in the title
game. BCS officials have said that the new formula will rely more on The
Associated Press media poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, and less on
the computer polls.
"Some of the things that have
been added on � strength of schedule and points for quality wins � we're
trying to see if those things should be removed," said Weiberg, who is
taking over as BCS coordinator this year from Big East commissioner Mike
Tranghese.
The BCS took a public
relations beating last season when LSU and Oklahoma played in the Sugar Bowl
for the national title, while Southern California was ranked No. 1 in both
polls.
For the first time since the
BCS was implemented in 1998, there were two champions. LSU was required to
be voted No. 1 in the coaches poll for beating Oklahoma, and USC took the
top spot in the AP poll.
Weiberg said the BCS expects
to announce its new math, which will be used this season, later this month.
Copyright 2004
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:41:13 AM
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