The new college football playoff system means that college football will have a more reasonable method of figuring out a national champion, which is good for people who enjoy reasonable things. It also means there's a lot of money up for grabs. Hundreds of millions of dollars in TV rights and the like will be rushing into the sport, and for now, nobody is sure what entities will be paying out and what entities will be cashing in. But college football's eternal question remains: will the players get any of it? The AP's Tim Dahlberg wonders:
Let's assume that the new TV contracts come in at $400 million, a relatively conservative estimate. That's $245 million more a year than schools are getting under the current BCS system, which pays its members based on what bowls they play in and what conferences they belong to.
Take half of that money and increase payouts to schools, which will still nearly double what they take in. The rest is still basically free money anyway, so why not give it to the players?
Somebody's going to be getting a lot of money, and Dahlberg argues that the people who do the most to ensure the playoffs happen might be the ones who deserve -- and need -- the money most. Texas coach Mack Brown had his say on Twitter shortly after the playoff system was announced:
In my opinion, with the amount of money the playoff will generate, I hope we can revisit the student-athlete stipend.
— Mack Brown (@UT_MackBrown) June 27, 2012
Will anything change? Probably not. Fans of reason can hope student-athletes will get better stipends, but anything more than that is likely a long way away. On the plus side, participants in the playoff games might end up getting not one, but two bowl gift packages! Enjoy the Fossil watches and Best Buy gift cards, guys!
For more on college football's new playoff, continue to check this Storystream.