Here ye! Here ye! We have a consensus agreement on a playoff among the college football rule makers.
Current BCS Bowls will host the two semifinal games while the championship game will be awarded to the highest bidder. There are questions to ask in the early stages of this agreement. Let's look at a few.
1. Two part question, I'ma hang up and listen
Whose bids will be loudest (besides Jerry Jones)? Will current BCS bowls have the right to bid in years they aren't hosting a semifinal since there will no longer be a BCS?
[caption id="attachment_781" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Jerry Jones will give his left tire's lugnut to get host one, two, or 238 national championship games. "]
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You can basically block off at least five years for the usual suspects. Dallas, Atlanta, San Diego, Dallas, and Dallas will probably make attractive bids. Don't believe for a second that Jerry Jones won't offer 300 gatrillion dollars to just have Dallas be the permanent home of the title game.
After the first five years, it makes complete sense that cities like Jacksonville will make a serious push. Basically, if you've hosted a Super Bowl, you have a shot.
--SEE LIST BELOW OF POSSIBLE CITIES--
It's cities like Nashville, Charlotte, Houston and the like that could make for great hosts. Houston is an obvious choice with its great infrastructure and stadium. Charlotte and Nashville both seem like wild cards, but I think Nashville has a legitimate claim to the game because the timing is perfect. Also, Nashville is a melting pot -- albeit a cold one -- for college football fans and would provide a great backdrop for the national title game.
A new convention center -- called the Music City Center -- is expected to be completed in the Spring of 2013. This is expected to bring more hotels to the city as well as open the door for more big events -- the national championship game, for example. Nashville has been considered a city in contention to be a hosting city for a future World Cup held in the United States, so this is not exactly a pipe dream for the city.
What do these other BCS bowls do while the semifinal games are being held? Sounds to me like the other two BCS bowl cities would be forced to host bowl games that become even less significant now that a four-team playoff is a reality. Sure, only one site had THE game each year under the previous system, but now, for the first time ever, there are two bowl games where the winners will play each other for the national championship. That destroys any value -- as miniscule as it was -- in the other bowls. Lifting the championship to yet another stratosphere above the current bowl system will force the the bowl directors that told us for 150 years that we must protect the sanctity of the bowls to say, "Forget the bowls. Who said we ever liked the bowls?"
So, there's the next question --
2. Is that the end of the bowls as we know it?
I would have to say yes. No, not every bowl will die, but any city outside of Shreveport will more than likely believe they have what it takes to host the national championship game. "We host a bowl. Why can't we spruce up host a national championship?"
Whether that line of thinking is realistic matters not. If these cities can't host the national championship, they will now be getting in line to host a league champion versus league champion game similar to what the SEC and Big 12 agreed to beginning in 2014.
No matter the who, what, or where -- the when is not in doubt. We can now officially begin the march down the yellow brick road to 2014, passing 2012 and 2013 along the way and never stopping to see if one of them at least needs a brain, a heart, or a little bit of courage.
Top Ten Cities That May Host a National Championship Game -- Not including current BCS Bowls
1. Dallas
2. Indianapolis -- Yeah. No. 2 on the list and we didn't even mention Indy in the body of the story. Either way, they'll host a national championship game.
3. Atlanta
4. Houston
5. San Diego
6. Jacksonville
7. Tampa
8. Detroit
9. Charlotte
10. Nashville
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