Bowl Championship Series Officials Sideline Playoff Talks

The Bowl Championship Series is here to stay — at least for now. BCS officials threw out a plan on Wednesday that would turn the current system into a four-team playoff in 2010, opting to keep the format as is until 2014, the Associated Press reported. Of the 12 conferences (plus the University of Notre Dame) that participate in the BCS, only two — the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference — wanted to even continue talks of having a playoff, the AP reported. Mike Slive, the SEC’s commissioner, proposed the playoff format to the leaders of the conferences during a meeting in Florida. “I can’t say I’m surprised,” Mr. Slive told the AP after the conferences put the brakes on the discussion. But, he said, “there is a bit of disappointment.” Commissioners of the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pacific-10 conferences said they did not want any move toward a playoff format, which would have allowed four teams in the postseason to vie for the national title. In January, Michael F. Adams, president of the University of Georgia, floated the idea of an eight-team playoff, and the NCAA’s Board of Directors delegated the issue to individual conferences. But now, any type of playoff system appears dead. —Libby Sander