Super Bowl or Superior Bowl?

The National Football League is king. The reasons for this are vast and varied but nobody disputes this truth. The ratings and revenues this league generates belie the economic realities of the day. Although they have suffered many more blackouts in NFL cities due to attendance being down, revenues have never been higher. This league steamrolled the biggest recession this country has seen since the great depression with nary a blip on its bank deposits.

The NFL has had a tenuous but symbiotic relationship with college football and for good reason: they both feed off and with the other. The pack is stronger when they work together. What has made this pack relationship amicable is the understanding of the pecking order and how things work: the NFL is the alpha male and college football is the beta male.

Uh, oh…

According to the Chicago tribune, something astonishing happened amongst stoic Big Ten Athletic Directors this week: they are exploring the idea of a 4-team playoff to decide our national champion. Moreover, the former pettifogger to a playoff format, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney, suddenly has had a change of heart and is willing to listen to what this playoff would look like.

Well, every man has his price, doesn't he Jim?

Apparently, Mr. Delaney may be willing to kill his sacred cows for the betterment of college football and stop trying to prevent a playoff from happening. Maybe he knows a playoff is going to happen and he better get out in front of it if he is to be remembered as a pioneer instead of an obstructionist? Or maybe it's something more primeval?

Maybe it's about money? More specifically, maybe it's about how MUCH money and how those monies would be distributed. DING!

The Chicago Tribune reported that one idea before the Big Ten and Jim Delaney calls for playing the two semifinal games on the campuses of the higher seeded teams, with the national championship held in a city awarded hosting rights -- like the Super Bowl.

Like the what? Like the Super Bowl?

Yes, like the Super Bowl.

Can you imagine the buzz, ratings, and hype a four team college playoff would have on this country? Can you imagine the revenue that would be generated and the television contracts that would be signed and the money that would come pouring into conferences and campuses across this great, capitalistic country of ours?

The revenue, ratings and popularity would rival the Super Bowl.

{Gasp}

Jim Delaney was probably sitting around a big rectangle with a cadre of other suit wearing decision makers and some stat-geek with a laser who was pointing out the billions of dollars a four team playoff would bring into power conferences like the Big Ten.

{Gasp}

I can almost see Mr. Delaney kicking Ohio State AD Gene Smith under the table when stat-geek with the laser adjusted his glasses, turned to the table, cleared his throat and said, "The only thing better, bigger and more lucrative than a four team playoff is an eight team playoff. Double your bounty, double your pleasure…"

{Gasp}

Stat-geek lowered his head, licked his chapped lips and sheepishly said, "We could call it the Superior Bowl."