ESPN won't push for BCS playoff, executive says
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The company's broadcast deal includes the understanding there won't be changes to the current system, Burke Magnus says. Most conferences are opposed to playoffs.
ESPN will not pressure Bowl Championship Series officials into pursuing a playoff in college football when the cable network takes over full control of the broadcast package in 2011.
ESPN executive Burke Magnus said Thursday at the annual meeting of the Football Writers Assn. of America that the company recently bid for BCS broadcast rights with the understanding there would be no changes through the duration of the four-year contract, which expires in 2014.
"The format is left to the people who run the sport," Magnus said.
Asked if he was a "playoff guy," Magnus joked, "I'm a BCS guy."
ESPN outbid Fox for the next four-year run of the BCS, starting with the 2011 season. The BCS' contract with Fox to broadcast the Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange bowls continues through the bowl games of next year. The Rose Bowl and ABC have a separate contract that extends through the 2013 season. Next year, ABC will televise two games in Pasadena -- the Rose Bowl and the BCS title game.
BCS officials last spring rejected a modified playoff plan, and most conferences remain adamantly opposed to any NFL-style playoff option.
College football wraps up another controversial season with tonight's BCS title game. Oklahoma and Florida finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the final standings, but several worthy schools feel they were left out of the title chase, including undefeated Utah and two one-loss schools: Texas and USC.
Utah's attorney general announced this week he is investigating the BCS for possible federal antitrust laws.
Utah finished the regular season at 12-0 but did not qualify for the title game because the Utes finished No. 6 in the final BCS standings.
Utah, by finishing in the top 12, did earn an automatic bid to a BCS bowl and then capped a perfect season by defeating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford, in the second year of his two-year term as BCS coordinator, said Thursday that lawyers have assured him the BCS is not in violation of antitrust laws.
"Our legal advisors have led us the entire way," Swofford said.
Utah is a member of the Mountain West conference, whose champion does not receive an automatic bid to a BCS game. However, the Mountain West was absorbed into the system a few years ago and is now considered one of 11 major conferences with BCS status. Conference schools share money received for BCS bowl appearances.
Swofford said he realizes many people, including President-elect Barack Obama, would like to see a playoff in college football. He said, though, that not enough college presidents support the plan.
"The desires of the public may not always be the same as the decision-makers in higher education," Swofford said.
chris.dufresne@latimes.com
