The NCAA football postseason licensing subcommittee is considering a revision to the rule that teams must have at least six wins against FBS opponents in order to be bowl eligible.
The NCAA may alter its eligibility rules because there may not be enough teams with at least 6-6 records when the regular season ends.
In the event that happens, some teams could play in bowl games with sub .500 records.
Not including the five BCS bowls, there were 29 bowl games during the 2009-10 season. Eight of those teams had 6-6 records.
With the addition of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl for the 2010-11 season, there will be 30 non-BCS bowls. Thus 60 teams will be needed to fill those slots to accommodate all the bowl games.
While bowl games are an essential aspect of many college football programs ability to generate desperately needed revenue, asking fans to pay for a ticket to watch a sub .500 team is counter productive.
Instead of having teams with losing records playing in bowl games, the NCAA should strongly consider eliminating as many as four postseason games.
Those bowls with the lowest payouts should be the first to go. Bowl games with conference tie-ins that would increase the likelihood of at least one team playing in the game with a losing record should be cut next.
Considering the nation’s high unemployment rate and a lack of disposable revenue due to the economic crunch, fans shouldn’t be asked to subsidize an inferior product.
