BCS Reaches Consensus Supporting Playoff

I see it. I'm reading it. I'm just not absolutely sure I believe it yet.

"Better late than never" will never be better defined than it is right now: ESPN reports that BCS commissioners and Notre Dame's Jack Swarbrick have finally reached a mother of a consensus: a seeded, four-team college football playoff to begin in 2014.

Now, as the "About f**kin' time" groans from thousands upon thousands of Boise State fans and alumni die down....onto the specifics.

The BCS presidential oversight committee's June 26 meeting in Washington, D.C. will be the final proving ground, when the committee either signs off officially or not. Even if approved, it doesn't sound like an absolute fix, but certainly less convoluted than the structure in place since 1998.

A committee would select the four teams to vie for the National Championship based on conference championships and the ever-controversial "strength of schedule." The existing BCS Sugar, Fiesta, Rose and Orange Bowl games would respectively host the semifinals. The highest-bidding city then gets the National Championship game.

"I'm sure it won't satisfy everyone," said Pac 12 commissioner Larry Scott. "Until you have an eight-team or 16-team seeded playoff, there will be folks out there that aren't completely satisfied. We get that. But we're trying to balance other important parties, like the value of the regular season, the bowls, the academic calendar."

Representatives from each FBS conference and non-aligned Notre Dame sit on the oversight committee, and will discuss alternative models next week that include a Big 10 and Pac 12-endorsed plus-one format. ACC commissioner John Swofford told ESPN that there's an agreement in principle on splits of increased TV revenue to participating conferences - a projected possible total of $400-500 million.

For the time being, it's the best balance for which all parties could've hoped. The committee-selection format is never exactly perfect - even in the NCAA Basketball tournaments, there's some gripe somewhere about a "snub." But the snubs are rarely so egregious there as to actually call convincingly into question whether or not leaving the excluded team out would have impacted the whole tournament.

Still, with such a small field as four teams to start, some snubs could prove impactful.

But it beats the alternative.