Honors Theses
Date of Award
2008
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Charles Ross
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This thesis considers the current format of the postseason for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), critiques its ethical implications, and proposes a twelve-team postseason playoff to remedy the ethical dilemmas caused by the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and the commercialization of football at the Division I-FBS level. Research was focused on sports law journals, books detailing the history of college football, transcripts from Congressional hearings, and articles from prominent sports news sources. The first chapter outlines the evolution of college football since the advent of television as mass media and highlights the medium’s direct effects on the administration of the sport. The second chapter details the BCS and its implementation. The third chapter calls into question the ethics of universities using football as a revenue generator without naming a NCAA champion as is done in every other sport and the lower divisions of college football. The fourth chapter lays the framework for a postseason playoff system and addresses how it resolves the conflicts of interest presented by the BCS.
Recommended Citation
York, Thomas Benton, "Leaving it on the Field: A review of the Bowl Championship Series and Proposal of a Postseason Playoff to Remedy the Negative Ethical Implications on Higher Education of the Current Model" (2008). Honors Theses. 2464.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2464
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