President-elect Barack Obama tells '60 Minutes' he'll push for playoff in college football
When he appeared at halftime of "Sunday Night Football" just prior to the national election, President-elect Barack Obama said the one thing he'd change about sports is to make sure major-college football had a playoff system.
Turns out Obama wasn't merely pining for votes in a close race. And he wasn't kidding about his pre-election message of change. At least, not when it comes to college football.
In an interview with Steve Kroft on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, Obama makes clear that a major-college football playoff is something he wants to see happen. In fact, Obama already has his plan in mind: eight teams, seven games games, one champion.
"That would be three rounds to determine a national champion," Obama tells Kroft. "It would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this."
Then this: "So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."
Obama and future First Lady Michelle Obama sat for the interview in Chicago earlier this week. CBS Sports spokesperson Jennifer Sabatelle distributed the President-elect's comments on Saturday.
A playoff -- or a tournament -- is something every sanctioned sport in the NCAA has, and that includes three levels of football. It doesn't include the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision, in which the NCAA cedes the postseason to the long-held tradition of bowl games.
Within that structure, of course, is the Bowl Championship Series in which a winner-take all game is set immediately after all the conferences determine their champions. The teams in the title game are dictated by a combination of wins and losses, poll positions and computer rankings. And the game is heavily weighted toward power teams and power conferences.
Defenders of the BCS have been called to testify before Congress on more than one occasion. They have been respectful of Congressmen but steadfast in their belief that the government has no business monkeying around in college sports. That goes for NCAA CEO Myles Brand, who prefers that the government let the schools decide for themselves how to crown national champions.
That said, a near-revolt by the smaller half of the subdivision teams forced a change in format and more access for so-called "have-nots" in the sport.
Obama's election comes during a football season in which, three weeks before the big bowl pairings are made, much in the BCS system can go wrong. There are only two big-time unbeatens left (Alabama and Texas Tech), which might work nicely for a championship game. But there are three smaller unbeatens Utah, Boise State and Ball State, and it's likely that two of the three teams, should they finished with no losses, will be left out of the high-dollar BCS.
In other words, plenty of fodder for Obama.
"If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner," Obama tells "60 Minutes." . . . We should be creating a playoff system."
"60 Minutes" is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday, though it can start later when the network has to wait for an NFL game on the network to finish.
Stay tuned.
I read a great article sometime during last year or two about how a season, which may include conference championship games, combined with the bowl system, is more than enough to determine who the best team is. Even though it may create a lot of arguments it is fun to argue. Single elimination playoffs are totally meaningless and unfair. For example why should an undefeated team who would normally be voted number one be exposed to an unnecessary defeat? Professional baseball, basketball, and hockey, have meaningful playoff systems with multiple games and various levels of elimination. Can anyone even imagine a single elimination tournament in such sports, such as is the case in college basketball? The government has enough on its hands. Professional sports does not need or want the government sticking its nose into such private "enterprises" with great organizations, and interested school administrations. Further the government is not qualified to run sporting activities, as it is not well run anyway. Obama is not even qualified to run the government, much less professional sports.
Posted by: just me | November 15, 2008 at 08:59 PM
God Bless that man.
Posted by: UofSC93 | November 15, 2008 at 09:03 PM
Please keep politicians out of sports!!!
Posted by: Kevin | November 15, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Please keep politicians out of sports!!!
Posted by: Kevin | November 15, 2008 at 10:00 PM
just me, you seem to be a little confused. Obama was not talking about professional sports. He was talking about college football.
The best tournament or playoff system would be to take the winners of the top eight conference championship games. No point in having the loser of a conference title game involved no matter what their ranking. The playoff system is meant to replace the rankings in determining the national champion. If a team cannot win its conference it does not belong in the playoffs.
Posted by: JJ Bogans | November 15, 2008 at 10:04 PM
Isn't the bad economy, the threat of more wars, lack of proper medical care for all, and everything else enough things for Obama to deal with? Has the president-elect decided that he will have spare time to fix college sports as well?
Posted by: Latina Girl | November 15, 2008 at 11:39 PM
Next he will want a playoff for the American Legion Horse Shoe league! Give me a break!!
Posted by: NOBAMA | November 16, 2008 at 12:09 AM
Just when I didn't think I could like Obama any less, now he wants to ruin college football too??? Stay away!
He says, "That would be three rounds to determine a national champion," Obama tells Kroft. "It would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this."
Really? I know he doesn't know me, but I will assure him that I am a serious college football fan, and I do NOT want a playoff. So butt out. Turn our nation into a socialist totalitarian regime if you must, but STAY AWAY FROM COLLEGE FOOTBALL MR. OBAMA!
Posted by: KilroyFSU | November 16, 2008 at 01:11 AM
College football using computers to settle championships is a joke. A playoffs is a must and every serious fan would support it. It would be awesome to actually see the top teams go up against each other fighting for that championship.
Posted by: Dave2183 | November 16, 2008 at 01:27 AM
IF there is to be or not to be a playoff system, PLEASE let some qualified coaches decide this, rather than some half-witted know-it-all politician. Politicians in sports would ruin it for players and fans alike.
Posted by: football fan | November 16, 2008 at 01:58 AM
It's going to be so much fun watching all the idiot republicans pout for 4 years!!
Posted by: drew | November 16, 2008 at 08:39 AM
there's never going to be a playoff system because too many of the big conferences (all of them) don't WANT one. they get to keep too much of the money as it is. why would they ever want to give that up?
can you blame them?
good luck, obama.
Posted by: marshall fan | November 16, 2008 at 02:09 PM