Fans, the controversial Bowl Championship Series will return to FOX Sports in January 2009 with live coverage of the FedEx Orange Bowl, the NOKIA Sugar Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl & the BCS Championship Game in Miami to hopefully determine college football's National Championship fair & square. However, the BCS may be on the move. Sports Business Daily & awfulannouncing.com report that the Bowl Championship Series may soon relocate to ESPN, with possibly all 4 of the above games being broadcast on "The Worldwide Leader in Sports". It's believed the BCS powers that be are considering an offer believed to be worth about $500 million over 4 years to move the games from FOX to ESPN. It's believed that the Rose Bowl, a fixture on ABC for 21 years now, may also be included in the BCS package should ESPN win the broadcast rights due to a clause in the contract. Should ESPN/ABC win the rights to the BCS and air one of these bowl games, the Rose Bowl may also relocate from its free TV home. While it would suck to a certain extent, the rumored BCS on ESPN/ABC deal would follow other sports leagues putting playoff games on cable and satellite in recent years.

I don't care what channel it's on, ESPN or Fox.

While the BCS has generated big ratings for FOX, the ESPN family of networks & ABC Sports televise more games every year. The college football games that FOX televises comes by way of FOX Sports Net, seen locally on Comcast SportsNet, and on the Big Ten Network, which is a collaboration of FOX & the conference. If FOX is that interested in college football, they should televise more than the 4 bowl games they carry now, excluding the Rose Bowl.

None of this will matter, because as his first act as President, Obama will install a playoff of the top 8 teams and all will be right in football.

Wishful thinking...I don't think the college presidents give a damn!

Fans, get ready. According to awfulannouncing.com & Sports Business Daily, FOX Sports has announced they will not match the rumored ESPN/ABC Sports offer to carry the Bowl Championship Series, starting in 2011. Although it's not a done deal, FOX's decision not to renew its BCS pact likely paves the way for ESPN/ABC to broadcast all 4 of the BCS bowl games that FOX currently carries. It likely means that the FedEx Orange Bowl, NOKIA Sugar Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl & the BCS National Championship Game will relocate to ESPN after the FOX deal expires. It's unclear if the Rose Bowl, which has aired on ABC for 21 years, would also move to ESPN due to a clause in its own contract. The Rose Bowl is the only BCS bowl game that FOX does NOT have the rights.

No offense, but who cares? It's going to be on TV on a channel that's widely distributed.

I have a slight correction to make. It turns out the Rose Bowl, the only one of the BCS games not part of the FOX package, is NOT included in the new BCS/ESPN deal, starting in 2011. Despite having a reported clause in its contract that would put the "granddaddy of the bowl games" relocating from ABC to ESPN, the game is NOT switching channels. The rest of the BCS games, the FedEx Orange Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the NOKIA Sugar Bowl & the BCS National Championship game will switch to ESPN in 2011. All the games will also be broadcast via ESPN Radio. The bottom line is that ESPN/ABC carries more college football games, despite drawing huge ratings for FOX. It makes sense for "The Worldwide Leader in Sports" to broadcast these games.