[who_would_fardels_bear]

If you want to get drunken alumni and bowl fanatics on board with an eight team playoff all you need to do is get rid of the fanaticism associated with having winning teams play at home.

An eight team playoff would require seven games. Why can't these seven games be labeled as bowl games such as Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, etc. and played in large destination stadiums?

If the teams are good and their fans travel then they can play anywhere, especially if the playoffs drag on and most people would rather spend it in California or Florida than Oregon.

[sphinx]

I went to Indiana as an undergrad so I never had cause to worry about bowl games. Football was just preseason conditioning before hoops got serious. However, I did get tired of watching Michigan and Ohio State parade each year out to California to play USC or UCLA in their home town, with their weather, and in front of mostly their fans. (This was the 70's, and the Big 10-PAC 10 was the big four and then everybody else.)

The same consideration goes for all the northern tier schools. Football is a rugged game meant to be played under all conditions. (I have gone soft and will make an exception for serious lightning and Category 5 hurricanes.) I do not think Miami, Florida State, Alabama, and USC should get to play for national championships pretty much at home year after year. I'd balance a playoff geographically, and if that means playing on Jaunuary 1 in Lincoln, Nebraska, or South Bend, or Ann Arbor, or the Meadowlands on a rotating basis, that's fine. Let the southern teams make the adjustment for once. The players can switch to sissy indoor football when they move up to the pros.

But seriously: let's take the idea of college sports and sportsmanship seriously. Flip a coin, and play the playoff games at the winner's home field, with tickets split 50/50.