Brehs, I got a question about the Playoff and how and why the revenue is distributed the way it is. Not sure if it's been discussed in here or not. So, apologies -
Firstly, why is it set up so that an entire conference benefits from one of their teams making it? What exactly is the rationale there?
My question is about how this arrangement can possible affect how a certain conference might "fix" things in their favor to ensure their biggest payout.
Take, for example, a team that's 11-1 or 12-0 and on the verge of being selected for a playoff spot. When that team is playing in their conference championship game against another team with no chance to make the playoff, what's to stop these two teams from colluding and making sure the team with a chance to go to the playoffs makes it in? Each conference receives an additional $6million for each team that makes it to the playoff. This seems like an easy recipe for collusion, no?
What do you guys think?