The only question now on most football fans’ minds is: will there be a playoff in reality? Some of them may consider it a dream, especially BCS opponents. Currently, the BCS has a television contract until 2013. And the BCS does not feel pressure to change before or after that date.

Today, the great schools have no incentive to share the wealth they generate from the great bowls. Conferences like the SEC treat their season as a playoff since the national champion has come out of that conference the last three years and five times in the BCS’ eleven-year history. But most theoretical playoff formats include the champion of each BCS conference. So why should minor conferences like the Big East, Big Ten and Pac 10 be allowed to participate in a playoff?

Although it seems that a playoff would create more wealth to spread among all, university presidents have very different ideas about how to distribute the money. It’s true that a playoff would likely yield more than the $17.5 million payout to the SEC and Big 12 on behalf of Florida and Oklahoma for the 2009 National Championship game. However, while the pie would grow, there would be many more teams trying to get hold of a piece. A playoff would allow four, eight or, according to some plans, sixteen teams to play for the national championship. That would create a lot more teams looking for a cut.

Teams like Utah, Boise State and other schools that have had undefeated records in recent years believe they should have had a chance to play for the national championship. The Utah attorney general went so far as to file an antitrust lawsuit against BCS for refusing to allow the Utes a chance to play for the championship.

On the other hand, these great state schools in the SEC, Big 12, plus a few others like USC and Ohio State, put so much money into their sports and have created programs; they don’t think they should be outdone by a new “BCS Buster” every year. Utah head coach Kyle Wittingham is the 80th highest-paid coach in college football. That’s lower than every school in the SEC, including lowly Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Teams like Florida and LSU pay their coaches the most and also, perhaps coincidentally, top the rankings every year. Their presidents believe that their commitment to producing a top-tier soccer team should be rewarded.

It seems certain that the BCS will have to fulfill its television contract until 2013. However, after that, the presidents of the universities and the NCAA may no longer be responsible for the future of their sport. Since President Obama announced that he was in favor of a second phase, the issue has gained some momentum in Congress. According to ESPN, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is expected to file his antitrust lawsuit in June 2009. If the BCS is found guilty of antitrust violations, it would be forced to create a new “open and inclusive system” — a tiebreaker.