BCS setup to change in 2006

Sources say a fifth game will be added to appease non-BCS conferences.
By TEDDY GREENSTEIN
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
CHICAGO -- The Bowl Championship Series won't announce details of its new system until today, but sources said it will call for five BCS bowl games to be played at the four existing sites -- the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange.
The five-into-four format, which is now being called "double-hosting," resulted from the BCS' desire to appease non-BCS conferences by approving a fifth bowl game.
Beginning with the 2006 season, one of the major four bowls will host both the added game and the BCS championship game, which will be played 7-to-10 days later.
BCS officials declined comment Wednesday because university presidents have yet to approve the plan formally. But the fact there will be an 11 a.m. press conference today left no doubt that the model has tacit approval.
Oregon President Dave Frohmayer of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee and Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg will take questions. Weiberg becomes BCS Chairman on July 1, taking over for Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese.
Brainstorming
BCS officials had been working for months to determine a new system.
They considered a "Plus One" model that would have called for a national championship game to be played 7-to-10 days after the other four bowl games. Sources say ABC-TV pushed for the potentially lucrative "Plus One" model because it would have resembled a playoff. But the university presidents wouldn't sign on.
With negotiations between ABC and the Rose Bowl set to start Friday in Los Angeles, BCS officials knew they needed to have a model in place this week. Now they have one.