Major Bowls Could Get Twice the Action

Two Rose Bowl games in one year?

It could happen.

Bowl championship series commissioners are seriously discussing a plan in which each of the four major bowls -- Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta -- would present two games every fourth year.

The proposal is being called “piggy back” and it is gaining momentum as the BCS moves toward television negotiations with ABC.

The BCS contract with ABC expires after the 2005 season.

Rose Bowl Chief Executive Mitch Dorger said Friday that the Rose Bowl would “not be opposed” to having two games every four years: the traditional Pacific 10-Big Ten matchup on Jan. 1 and then a BCS national title game a week later.

A spokesman for ABC would not comment on the proposal.

This “piggy back” plan would negate the need for a “fifth” BCS bowl game while providing increased access for the so-called “non-BCS” schools.

“Everybody is searching for a solution,” Dorger said. “As you sit here and look at all the different camps with a dog in this hunt, it’s difficult to try to find a system and an arrangement which minimizes adverse consequences on someone else.”

In February, BCS presidents approved a plan for a fifth BCS game to create two more “at-large” slots for the so-called “non-BCS” schools.

Of the 11 conferences playing major college football, only six are tied to the BCS -- Pac-10, Big Ten, Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Big East and Big 12.

The five remaining conferences maintained that the BCS was a monopoly and threatened legal action if they were not granted more access to a multimillion-dollar industry.

The BCS presidents approved the idea of a fifth BCS game only if it had “market viability.”

So far, selling the fifth BCS game has been problematic.

The four BCS bowls are concerned about the financial drawbacks of having the national title game every fifth year, instead of every fourth.

ABC, which has exclusive negotiating rights with the BCS through the summer, proposed a plan last month in which a stand-alone title game would be played after the five BCS bowl games.

The Pac-10 said it would not sign off on that idea because it was opposed to extending the postseason into mid-January.

However, Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said Friday that his presidents would not oppose the “piggy back” plan because the BCS title game would not be played much later than it is now.

“We think this is financially viable and even financially attractive to the agreement made among the conferences,” Hansen said. “And it’s something that’s attractive to the television industry.”

Dorger said he believed that a second game at the Rose Bowl every fourth year would not present a major problem.

“We haven’t sat down and built the game plan, but we believe it’s doable,” Dorger said. “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s workable.”

Under the new plan, the Rose Bowl would have its traditional Jan. 1 game every year in a matchup of Pac-10 and Big Ten champions, unless a team from either conference were ranked first or second in the final BCS standings.

In that case, the No. 1 or No. 2 team would advance to the BCS national title game -- just the way the system works now. And every fourth year, the national title game would be at the Rose Bowl, just as it is now, but as an extra game.

The Rose Bowl wants at least a framework for any new deal in place for its meeting with ABC on June 11.

Dorger said the Rose Bowl had already canceled two meetings with the network because there wasn’t much to talk about until a new BCS format was in place.

“You sort of have to understand the system you’re in,” Dorger said.