NCAA Title for Football Is Suggested : Convention: Schultz brings up subject in his ‘State of the Association’ address.

With an eye toward millions of untapped dollars, Executive Director Dick Schultz suggested Wednesday that the NCAA consider a college football championship game that would be played after the New Year’s Day bowl games.

Schultz made the suggestion in his annual “State of the Association” address, which opened the 87th NCAA Convention.

“I want to make it very clear,” he told delegates, “that I don’t intend to push a playoff with you, but merely point out that this is something that needs to be considered.”

Still, by simply mentioning a possible championship game for Division I-A football, Schultz’s speech guaranteed that the issue will be discussed with greater urgency by NCAA leaders.

“I think Dick’s suggesting (the idea) raises the level of debate,” said Gregory O’Brien, chancellor of the University of New Orleans and chairman of the NCAA Presidents Commission, “but doesn’t make it a foregone conclusion.”

O’Brien said the issue probably would be discussed this year by the commission, which sets the most significant aspects of the NCAA’s legislative agenda.

It is conceivable that such a game could be considered at the 1994 NCAA Convention and be in place for the conclusion of the ’94 season.

“In the past, the presidents have been reticent to have a (football) playoff, lest it destroy the bowl system,” O’Brien said. “But what Dick is talking about is a one-game model. I think the (Division) I-A presidents will look very carefully at that.”

Division I-A football is the only NCAA sport without a playoff to determine a national champion.

A coalition involving all the major bowls except the Rose was in place during the past season as an attempt to determine the national champion on the field. Under coalition guidelines, top-ranked Miami faced No. 2 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

The coalition has several holes, however, including the fact that the champions of the Pacific 10 Conference and the Big Ten are committed to the Rose Bowl.

Reacting to the oft-stated criticism that a football playoff would place too great a demand on the time of the players involved, O’Brien said: “What we’re talking about would be during semester break. (The one-game playoff) could be accommodated, if it made sense for college football.”

Schultz raised the possibility of a football championship game as one of two means through which NCAA schools could ease current financial pressures. In addition to the football idea, he suggested that the NCAA become more vigilant in licensing NCAA-related products.

He noted that the “substantial revenue” generated by the football championship game could be distributed among Division I schools similar to the way revenue from the NCAA Division I basketball tournament is distributed.

Later, at a news conference, Schultz estimated that such a game could generate between $50 million and $60 million.

“A year ago, the Home Shopping Network offered us $30 million for a Miami-Washington game,” he said, referring to the teams that shared the 1991 national championship. “I guess we’re talking about the $50 million-$60 million category.”

As word spread before the speech that Schultz would advocate a football championship game, members of the NCAA Special Events Committee, which deals with bowls and other postseason competition, reiterated their opposition to any tinkering with the present bowl system.

Oklahoma Athletic Director Donnie Duncan, chairman of the committee, said a one-game playoff in itself might not be a bad idea, but it would send the wrong message to the bowls.

“What it does is cause bowls and sponsors to say, ‘What’s coming next?’ ” he said. “What we have to do is become better partners with the bowls.”

Said Tom Hansen, commissioner of the Pac-10 and a member of Duncan’s committee: “We are opposed to (the concept of a football playoff). We’ve told Dick Schultz we are opposed to this.

“(The Pac-10) is committed to the Rose Bowl, as is the Big Ten, to the year 2001, and we did that with our eyes open.”