This evening the long-awaited football game to decide who is the Collegiate Football National Champion will be played in Phoenix, AZ.  For years a prevalent conversation was that a playoff for the National Championship wasnt feasible because it would overly extend the season.

I think that reasoning has been shattered.  A little later and it will be played on Martin Luther King Day.  Why dont we just own up that the media has taken the sport over and that colleges and universities have little to say. And, it is not just with football.

What if the NCAA (supposed representatives of the college game) and its members told the media exactly what they want and with no loss of revenue?  Thats all the members not just the œhaves had input?

Is the media going to say œwe dont want your product?  Not a chance.  They need college football.  They need bowl games and if you had a national championship playoff they will need that.  Without the games there is nothing to put on the air.

I know the powers that be entered into agreements with all the media involved.  People made those agreements people can change them.  Somebody at the negotiating table needs to œhave a set so that the championship is earned on the field rather than on the computer.

Of course, the favorites will be in the championship game most of the time.  Thats what made them the favorites.  My alma mater, Fresno State University, won the NCAA baseball championship a couple of years ago and they had the worst record in the field of eight.  They had to play their way to Omaha.

Obviously there is an issue as to what format works.  However, the bigger issue is that the coaches and athletes are delivering the goods and have nothing to say about how the results are being determined.

Control is the issue not whats best.  You can justify anything.  TCU has an undefeated year and never had a chance to prove they were the best team.  The so-called major conferences have say so with the media.  It is a good thing Ohio State survived their game or the mighty Big Ten would have been without a bowl game win.

As it happens, you have two great teams in this years game;  both from œpower conferences.  Anything I have said is no disrespect to them.  They both did exactly what they needed to do to be selected.

No matter how teams are selected for a playoff, there will be contention..  œMarch Madness will have 68 teams  this Spring and somebody will think they got screwed.  At least the process to get to the championship game will be decided on the court.

Playing in a bowl game is a great experience for any athlete.  It does not compare to playing for a National Championship and having the games be in a bowl game setting.

There would be even a bigger purpose in playing well  than if it was just another bowl game.

Bottom line!  Television needs college football as much as college football needs the revenue.  Somebody step up to the plate, please!

My latest book titled œThe Art of Losing”Coaching Athletics and Thriving in a Made-for-TV World will be out around the end of January and available on lulu.com or YouPublish.com.