Bowl us over, BCS, and just vote on 'plus-one' football playoff

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Bowl Championship Series officials, meeting at a posh hotel for three days, don't need to leave Florida with a tan.

They need to leave with a plan.

And that's not only because many news organizations -- the New York Times, USA Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Associated Press and ESPN among them -- have gathered here to monitor proceedings that may not justify the expense accounts.

Need us to set the agenda?

How's this: The future of college football needs to be decided somewhere.

Decide it here.

The next round of television negotiations is set to begin sometime after September, so BCS power brokers have to soon determine what they're selling.

Fox has two years left on its four-year, $320-million deal, with an exclusive window to renegotiate. Fox wants back in and definitely doesn't want the BCS to take its game to the open market.

There are two viable options:

* Option A is staying with the status quo, and allowing Fox or another network to take another four-year run with the BCS, starting with the 2010 season. That would push the deal through 2013 and sync it up with ABC's separate deal with the Rose Bowl.

That would also give college presidents and administrators more time to assess the viability of a playoff and set the stage for a mega-deal in 2014.

John Swofford, BCS coordinator and the Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner, sounded as though change was not in the offing.

"I continue to sense a certain comfort level, if you will, with the current state of things," Swofford said Monday of the BCS system, which was adopted in 1998 as a way of matching the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in a sport without a playoff.

Shoot, the commissioners are even happy with the convoluted BCS standings formula, with Swofford announcing there would be no changes to the system.

The same six computer operators will offset the same two polls -- Harris Interactive and the USA Today coaches' rankings.

The BCS standings were tweaked annually, sometimes comically, in the early years and a full-blown riot broke out in 2004 when the Associated Press pulled out after the Texas-California voting fiasco.

What's changed? Two years ago, the system became transparent -- and more credible -- when voting coaches were required to reveal their final votes.

Some whistle blowers still turned in hilarious ballots -- New Mexico Coach Hal Mumme last year had Hawaii No. 1 -- but at least now you knew it was Mumme who did it.

* Option B is endorsing the modified "plus-one" model for the next four-year bowl cycle. It would take the top four teams in the final BCS standings and pair them off in semifinals. It also would require adding a fifth BCS bowl to the mix, with the Cotton Bowl and others itching to get in.

As much as the public clamors for an NFL-style playoff, there isn't going to be one. Opponents say it would diminish college football's regular season.