AS I SEE IT COLUMN: The absolute dumbest sports league in the world

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/01/2024 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Imagine if at the World Juniors a bunch of people in suits, sitting in a smoke-filled room in a secret somewhere, got together after the round-robin and decided by a vote which four nations would play in the semi-finals instead of having it be determined by teams playing in quarterfinals.

Or to bring it closer to home, what if the organizers of your kids’ hockey, basketball, baseball or football league voted in private to decide which teams advance to the semi-finals without letting the teams in your league decide it.

Such lunacy is exactly what happens every single year in the NCAA’s college football championship. There are 64 teams in Division 1 NCAA football and they all play 13 or 14 games in their season, with the hope of ultimately getting a chance to play for the national title.

And in every other sports league on earth, the teams would get a chance to play in the title game by virtue of how well they do or do not play. But the key point – which reflects the pure idiocy of NCAA football – is that in all other sporting leagues success or failure is determined by what happens on the playing field, not by a bunch of suits in a boardroom.

If you want to see this insanity in practice, watch Florida State’s athletes react to the announcement of which team will be in the playoffs.

What you will see is the entire Florida State Seminole football team sitting in a room, agonizingly waiting to hear if those suits will pick their team to play in the semi-finals. In a normal world, the Seminoles would determine their playoff picture by winning or losing football games, not by secret vote in a boardroom.

What made the process even crazier is the fact that the Seminoles were a perfect 13-0 in their season. Think about that. They didn’t lose a game all year and yet they were denied a chance to play in the playoffs.

The current process sees a committee selecting the teams that will play in the semi-finals. No playoff system. No quarterfinals. No play-in games. Just a bunch of people voting to see who plays in the semis.

One would think in a country that practically worships money and profits, if there were some teams that deserved a chance, the NCAA would simply play a series of “play-in” games to determine who gets to the semis.

Those games would generate millions of dollars and boffo TV ratings, but more importantly it would allow the players and teams decide who gets to the playoffs, not some dudes in suits in a boardroom.

Next year the NCAA will try to lessen the madness by voting in the top 12 teams, not just the top four teams as they currently do.

That still amounts to putting lipstick on a pig because there will be a bunch of teams who will deserve to be in the top 12 but by virtue of more guys in suits voting in a boardroom somewhere, won’t make it into the playoffs.

Even though they are widening the net and allowing more teams into the playoffs, the fact remains that playoff teams will be determined not by their play on the football field, but by a ballot vote.

People vote for politicians and policies, not for which sports teams should make the playoffs and which won’t.

College football is money-making machine. On average, each individual Division 1 team makes $42.5 million (CAD funds) every season.

Having a true playoff system where teams play their way into the playoffs instead of being voted into the playoffs wouldn’t just bring in more revenue, it would be what sport is meant to be: win or lose on the field, not in the boardroom.