The Annual Airing Of Grievances (Part 1)

Festivus is one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes, and a holiday we celebrate within our household. The Airing Of Grievances is something we routinely will do, before we commence with The Feats Of Strength.

Anyone who knows my passion for college football is well aware of my long-standing desire to have a college football playoff system. You would think that I would be tremendously satisfied with a 4-team playoff that begins this season, especially as Ohio State was seeded as one of the top four teams?

Wrong.

Yes, I am happy that there is a four team playoff. It certainly beats the old BCS system, and will help to satisfy the idea that college football will settle its champion by results on the field, versus being voted upon. But…

Even with this new system, with four teams better than two, have we truly improved upon the system? After all, the new College Football Playoff determined its four teams via a committee. Co-champions of the Big 12, Texas Christian and Baylor, were left out of the playoff mix. And we have not even addressed the other conferences that are being excluded (Spoiler alert – I will address how to handle those other conferences in part two. I hope that little teaser will bring you back to see how this could be handled.).

Another area that needs to be contemplated with the new playoff system is the financial challenges or difficulties that fans will have in trying to go to multiple bowl locations. This is something that I have addressed in the past, and the families of players are focusing upon this as well…

Here is a tweet from the mother of Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple…

Before we start talking about 8 teams playoff system, let's hear what NCAA and big five confs are doing to help families see their sons play
— Annie Apple (@SurvivinAmerica) December 8, 2014

Here is a tweet from the mother of Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee…

Sounds like 70% of player families will not make it to game because it's so expensive. #Buckeyes
— candice (@candicenbc4) December 8, 2014

Here is a tweet from former Ohio State defensive lineman Matt Finkes…

The fact that bowl teams can take an extra plane full of "faculty & staff" to bowl games but parents can't go is a travesty PERIOD #NCAA
— Matt Finkes (@MattFinkes) December 8, 2014

And thanks to Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer for continually raising this point…

Urban Meyer on the playoff format as opposed to BCS: "Unfortunately, it's still flawed." Worried about travel for players' families.
— Austin Ward (@AWardESPN) December 7, 2014

Let me spell it out for you in simple economic terms. Using expedia.com, I looked for flights from Cleveland to New Orleans (home of The Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 1st, 2015), and from Cleveland to Dallas (home of The College Football Playoff National Championship Presented By AT&T on January 12, 2015).

Here is the price of a flight from Cleveland to New Orleans



Here is the price of a flight from Cleveland to Dallas



In case you were wondering about the price of Sugar Bowl tickets…

According to http://t.co/UdQhuqvBwb, tickets for the #OhioState-Alabama game are selling for an average of $458 on the secondary market.
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) December 8, 2014

And I didn’t even bother looking into tickets for the game in Dallas. Please remember that I have not plugged in hotels or food, and I believe you are getting an idea about the financial implications of this new system for college football fans.

Are you starting to understand why I would include this new system under my Airing Of Grievances? Good. Tune in next week, and you will see my ideas on how this system could be improved upon in so many areas. Until then, start practicing for The Feats Of Strength…