Change in sight? Is it?

BCS officials are currently mulling changes to the current BCS format. After a season filled with scandals and a media campaign calling for changes in the way a champion in FBS football is designated even the most optimistic athletic directors of BCS colleges know that they have to make changes to ensure at least most of the current system and their power remains. One of the changes would involve a move to a mini-playoff, i.e. four-team, three-game, "plus-one" format where the best 5 teams in the BCS rankings would engage in a playoff to find a champion. Well, what would actually change?

The answer is plain and simple: NOTHING.

The only thing that would change is that we would now know who is really the better team: LSU, Alabama or OSU. Not too bad, really! But the fact that it would still be very hard for non-BCS schools (I know, one should call them non-automatic qualifiers, but it is simply true that non-BCS is closer to the truth) to get into such a playoff is obvious. The BCS rankings are a bigger problem after all. Maybe the introduction of a large-scale playoff similar to college men's basketball would be a good idea, but that would essentially end the cartel called BCS.

In addition to this a mini playoff format would not change the way current BCS revenues are split among FBS conferences. Powerhouses like the SEC or the PAC 10 (find the exact number here)  receive millions while non-BCS schools get much less. This has to change as well, or collegiate football will never return to the noble principles it was founded on.

Changes are needed. Conference commissioners and BCS officials have realized that. Not only because of the numerous scandals but also because the audience sees that the current system is terribly wrong from a year to year basis. Each and every season there is continuing debate on who actually should be champion and who should not be.

My suggestion would be a large-scale playoff system including a clear revenue sharing system, where each college gets the proportional share according the success in the playoffs. This would be an immediate change that would be beneficiary for the competition on the field. And it would bring back college football closer to a competitive market by weakening  the BCS colleges' market power. After this the question of fair compensation for players can be addressed. Well, at least one can still dream about it....