From 1998 to 2013, the NCAA used the Bowl Championship Series as a way to select and form five bowl game match-ups comprised of ten of the top-ranked teams in the Division I FBS. Later, the College Football Playoff was introduced instead, which started to serve the same purpose.
Initiated in 1998, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) represented a significant turning point in college football’s history. This initiative was the brainchild of major college football conferences in collaboration with Notre Dame. Its inception marked a concerted effort to streamline the championship selection process, aiming to consistently pair the season’s top two teams in a decisive national championship game.
Central to the BCS’s legacy was its introduction of a combined ranking system, integrating both human polls and computer-generated data. This approach was both groundbreaking and contentious, sparking debates and discussions that became a staple of college football culture. Financially, the BCS era heralded a new age of prosperity for the sport, generating unprecedented revenue streams for participating institutions and reshaping the economic landscape of college athletics.
As of 2014, the BCS transitioned to the College Football Playoff (CFP) system, addressing longstanding criticisms surrounding its selection process and perceived exclusivity. Despite its cessation, the BCS’s influence persists in the current structure of college football championships. Its methodologies and the commercialization model it fostered continue to shape the sport’s contemporary framework and discourse.
What is Bowl Championship Series?
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a pioneering coalition formed by leading college football conferences and Notre Dame. Operational from 1998 until 2013, the BCS fundamentally transformed the landscape of college football. It introduced a novel system for determining the national championship contenders, combining human and computerized rankings to select the top two teams for the ultimate showdown. This initiative not only reshaped the championship’s selection process but also significantly influenced the financial dynamics of college football.
The very first Bowl Championship Series logo was designed in 1998 and stayed unchanged for almost seven years. It was a badge based on the vertically oriented rugby ball in dark brown-to-black with the red and gold color palette. The upper part of the crest featured a red ribbon with six small five-pointed stars, while the bottom — with five stars, and the middle one significantly enlarged. In the center of the logo, the golden banner in a red outline was placed. The black custom “Championship” wordmark was written over it, and the “Bowl Series” in all capitals of a bold and simple Sans-serif typeface, was written above and under the banner, in gold, with a thin red shadow.
There were at least three totally different versions of the Bowl Championship Series logo over its 15-year history. The earliest version was based on a football shape. The football was standing on one of its sharp ends, and the words “Bowl,” “Championship,” “Series” were going from top to bottom, each in a separate line.