BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

I would say all conferences except the SEC may be better off without a neutral site. Indy didn't draw shit the last two years for the B1G, and ACC fans couldn't care less about that game.

 

Unless you have really large fan/alumni/student bases that are willing to travel, you run the risk of playing your championship game in a stadium that is half full and half of those don't have a rooting interest. Campus sites is the way to go. If you don't want to do it by seed, you could rotate between division winners.

 

Even the WAC's football championship in Vegas was not an overwhelming success. In 1996 it sold out because it featured BYU, which travels well and was ranked in the top 10, and Wyoming, which can travel well to Vegas and it was more or less their bowl game. In 1997 between CSU and New Mexico? Crickets.

Campus sites are definitely the way to go for this.

 

I was a ball boy at that '96 game for the first half. Got run over by a Wyoming player on the sideline. Totally awesome. I remember the Wyoming QB was super pissed after throwing a pick and cursing at no one in particular. I was standing right next to him and didn't want to make eye contact because I thought he would pummel me,
My buddies (the ones who were the real ball boys and took over in the second half) got jumped by a bunch of Mormons who rushed the field for the footballs after BYU kicked the winning field goal in OT.
Damn, that was a good day. Bombed the SAT's earlier in the day, but it was worth it.
Oh, I agree campus sites are the best solution.

 

Still surprised B1G hasn't tried Soldier Field. Even with the weather, they'd probably draw OK. Ford Field also would be accessible to a bunch of schools, and you can fly into Detroit easily enough.

 

Would be nice. For some reason, and I have no idea why, Indy has a fucking death grip on B1G tourneys. At least the hoops tourney's are returning to Chicago this season. But for football, the conference seems to think of Indy as a "destination."

 

Boise and Fresno are probably the only schools that "travel well" in the current MWC.

 

They play the football championship in Indianapolis to assure no team has a home-state advantage.

 

Jake, I think you underestimate the power that legislators with ties to Big Universities wield in many of these states. I know that in Mississippi, and probably Alabama as well, if it meant more $$ for their alma maters and left the mid-majors out in the cold, they'd steamroll right over the objections of the Southern Misses and Troys (and probably the VCUs and UCFs) of the world in a heartbeat.

 

Oh, I'm sure it is that way in some states, probably most of SECland . But I'm not sure it is that way in enough states.