Playoffs not the answer to college football's financial crisis

This opinion by Knight Commission co-chairs, William "Brit" Kirwan and R. Gerald Turner, was published in the December 19, 2009, edition of the Washington Post :

The college football bowl season begins today, with 34 games scheduled from Dec. 19 to Jan. 7. We expect to hear renewed calls from journalists, fans and politicians for a big-time college football playoff. A panel of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee recently moved forward with legislation that is designed to change the current football postseason structure and force a playoff, leaving some with the impression that a playoff is the most important issue facing the 120 college presidents who control major college football. It is not.

The real crisis facing college athletics is the sustainability of its business model, which is on a path toward meltdown. The core of any debate about major-college football must be about the need to develop a business model consistent with the economic realities of our time and that would benefit student-athletes and educational institutions alike.

The 120 athletic programs that sponsor major-college football -- once known as Division I-A, now called the Football Bowl Subdivision or FBS -- comprise a multibillion-dollar enterprise. Despite the influx of significant revenue, including cash from bowl games, television contracts and ticket sales, nearly all programs are heavily subsidized by the universities through student fees, allocations from general funds and even state appropriations.

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