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01/01 12:17 CST More campus games? Big 12 commish says 'everything is on the
table' when it comes to playoff reboot
More campus games? Big 12 commish says 'everything is on the table' when it
comes to playoff reboot
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) --- While fans trickled into the Orange Bowl stadium
for a quarterfinal where tickets were going for as little as $39, the
commissioner of the Big 12 said "everything is on the table" when it comes to
rebooting the College Football Playoff, including potentially moving more games
onto campus.
The commissioners have until Jan. 23 to figure out what the playoff will look
like next year. Expansion from the current 12-team format and automatic bids
have been the two biggest headlines in that discussion, though the idea of
keeping more games on campus will factor in.
"We have to examine that, too," Brett Yormark said Thursday, about a half-hour
before kickoff of the quarterfinal between Texas Tech and Oregon.
"Operationally, can we do it? The first-round games have been fantastic in
every respect. I think it's a differentiator."
Under the 12-team format, now in its second season, first-round games involving
the fifth through 12th seeds have taken place on the campus of the
better-seeded team. The rest of the rounds are at traditional bowl sites, with
this year's final coming to Miami Gardens.
The Oregon-Texas Tech game kicked off in front of thousands of empty seats at
Hard Rock Stadium. The Ducks traveled 3,200 miles to get to Miami and, if they
keep winning, would head to Atlanta for the semifinals (Peach Bowl) before
returning to South Florida for the final on Jan. 19. That's around 17,500 miles
in travel over three weeks.
"There's a better way to do all of this," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said the day
before the game. "We're not inventing the wheel here."
There has been a wide gap between the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten
visions of what the next iteration of the playoff should look like. The SEC
sees a 16-team field filled with at-large bids; the Big Ten has pushed for a
field of 16 or more with more automatic qualifiers.
Under terms of the agreement that goes into play next year, the other two Power
Four conferences --- Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference --- are presumed to
not have decision-making power in what comes next, though Yormark insisted "we
have a big voice in that room."
Yormark would not bite on the question when asked whether Group of Five
conferences still belong in the tournament. Counting the first-round losses by
Tulane and James Madison this year, those teams have lost by an average score
of 41-19 over two seasons.
"Everything's on the table and, and hopefully we'll be very thoughtful about
it, and if there's change, we'll announce it in due time," Yormark said.
Commish says disputed CSC agreement will get signed Yormark also said problems keeping schools from signing the participation agreement sent out by the new College Sports Commission are being resolved, and he expects the 68 Power Four teams to sign the contract soon. A number of state attorneys general told their schools not to sign the agreement the commission sent out in November. Among the issues were that it stripped universities of their right to legal action regarding decisions the CSC makes. Yormark says the agreement is being reworked in a way that all the schools can sign it so, as he said, "we're all signing up for the same rules of engagement." "But one person's opinion is, you don't need a piece of paper to enforce" the rules, he said. In a separate interview with The Associated Press earlier this week, Texas Tech head of regents Cody Campbell also said he suspects the agreement will get signed, though he's not sure it will have any impact. "I don't think it's going to be that helpful in terms of creating any kind of stability," said Campbell, who would like to see Congress set up a completely new entity to run college sports. "And it's going to be challenged in court, already is being challenged in court, and it's not going to go well for the CSC." ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Commish says disputed CSC agreement will get signed Yormark also said problems keeping schools from signing the participation agreement sent out by the new College Sports Commission are being resolved, and he expects the 68 Power Four teams to sign the contract soon. A number of state attorneys general told their schools not to sign the agreement the commission sent out in November. Among the issues were that it stripped universities of their right to legal action regarding decisions the CSC makes. Yormark says the agreement is being reworked in a way that all the schools can sign it so, as he said, "we're all signing up for the same rules of engagement." "But one person's opinion is, you don't need a piece of paper to enforce" the rules, he said. In a separate interview with The Associated Press earlier this week, Texas Tech head of regents Cody Campbell also said he suspects the agreement will get signed, though he's not sure it will have any impact. "I don't think it's going to be that helpful in terms of creating any kind of stability," said Campbell, who would like to see Congress set up a completely new entity to run college sports. "And it's going to be challenged in court, already is being challenged in court, and it's not going to go well for the CSC." ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
