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BCS National Championship Game
The winner of the BCS National Championship Game receives the AFCA National Championship Trophy.
Stadium	Rotates among the following: University of Phoenix Stadium; Louisiana Superdome; Dolphin Stadium; & Rose Bowl
Location	Rotates among the following: Glendale, Arizona; New Orleans, Louisiana; Miami Gardens, Florida; & Pasadena, California
Operated	1998-present
Payout	US$18,000,000 (As of 2009)
Sponsors
Tostitos (1999, 2003, 2007) Nokia (2000, 2004) FedEx (2001, 2005, 2009) AT&T (2002) Allstate (2008) Citi (2006, 2010)
2009 Matchup
Florida vs. Oklahoma (Florida 24-14)
2010 Matchup
Alabama vs. Texas (Alabama 37-21)

50-yard line action for the US national championship in Pasadena California, January 7, 2010

The BCS National Championship Game is the final bowl game of the annual Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and is intended by the organizers of the BCS to determine the U.S. national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as NCAA Division I-A). The participants are the two highest-ranked teams in the BCS standings at the end of the regular college football season, currently determined by averaging the results of the final weekly USA Today Coaches' Poll, Harris Interactive Poll of media, former players and coaches, and the average of six participating Computer rankings.

The game was first played at the conclusion of the 1998 college football season in accordance with an agreement reached by the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences and the Rose Bowl Game to join the members of the former "Bowl Alliance" to create the Bowl Championship Series. The Bowl Alliance and its predecessor, the Bowl Coalition, featured championship games from 1992 through 1997. However, these could not ensure a matchup between the top two ranked teams because of the lack of participation by the Big Ten and Pac-10.

The game was initially rotated among the four participating bowl games, the (Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Sugar Bowl). However, beginning with the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game became a separate event played at the same site as a host bowl a week following New Year's Day.

The American Football Coaches Association has contractually agreed to select the winner of the game as the national champion in its final USA Today Coaches' Poll of the season.^[1] Thus, the winner of the game is awarded the AFCA National Championship Trophy in a postgame ceremony. The winner is also automatically awarded the National Football Foundation's MacArthur Trophy.^[2] However, the Associated Press and the Football Writers Association of America do not participate in the BCS and may award their well respected national championship trophies to schools other than the BCS National Championship Game winner.

Since the formation of the Bowl Championship Series, there have been several controversies regarding the schools selected to participate in the BCS National Championship Game. Most notably, following the 2003 season, the BCS ranking system selected the #3 ranked school in the Associated Press writers' poll, the University of Oklahoma, over the #1 ranked school in that poll, the University of Southern California, to participate in the National Championship Game (the Nokia Sugar Bowl) despite Oklahoma's decisive loss to Kansas State in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game. 2003 is the only season, to date, since the inception of the BCS in which the national championship has been split, with Louisiana State University winning the BCS national championship and the University of Southern California winning the AP national championship and the FWAA national championship.

The National Championship Game for the 2009 season at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California was held on on January 7, 2010, sponsored by Citi, and broadcast by the ABC television network. The game featured the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide and the #2 Texas Longhorns, and was won by Alabama 37-21.

Future

The game's location rotates among the sites of the BCS bowls. Future scheduled sites are as follows (note the years shown are for the game, which occurs in the calendar year following the corresponding NCAA football season):

• University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona in 2011
• Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2012
• Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida in 2013
• Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in 2014

The title sponsor of the BCS National Championship Game each year is the same as that of the bowl game in that year's host location. Thus, the 2007 game was the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game, after the title sponsor of the Fiesta Bowl. The following year saw it become the Allstate BCS National Championship, and the 2009 game bears the FedEx brand. The 2010 game had Citi as its title sponsor.^[3]

Based upon television contracts between the BCS and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses with ESPN, the BCS will retain its current format through at least the 2014 season.

Criticisms and controversy

Critics of the current BCS championship argue against the internal validity of the current BCS National Championship, which is awarded to the winner of a single postseason game, the BCS National Championship game. Critics lament that the participants in this game are decided based upon polls and computers; not by previous on-field competition as is this the case in other major sports and other levels of college football which employ playoff format championships. Often, the BCS system leads to controversies in which multiple teams finish seasons with equal records, and voters must distinguish the worthiness of their participation in the BCS National Championship game. Without providing any objective criteria for evaluation of these teams, the BCS also forces voters to impose their own standards and tiebreakers. Critics note that the system inherently fosters selection bias, and therefore, lacks external validity.^[4]

Controversies concerning inclusion in the BCS National Championship Game are numerous. In 2003, for example, USC was not included in the BCS Championship Game, but beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl and ended up #1 in the Associated Press final poll. The following season, in 2004, undefeated Auburn University, Boise State University and University of Utah teams were left out of the National Championship Game (the FedEx Orange Bowl), although those teams were undefeated as well. In 2001, Oregon, second ranked in the AP poll, was bypassed in favor of Nebraska despite Nebraska's blowout loss in its final regular season game to the University of Colorado. In 2008, the University of Utah was excluded from the BCS championship for a second time despite being the only undefeated Division I-A team at the end of the season and finished second behind 13-1 Florida. In 2009, five schools finished the regular season undefeated: Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, Texas Christian University, and Boise State, however the BCS selected traditional powers Alabama and Texas to participate in the BCS National Championship Game as they were the top two teams in the BCS rankings. However, only Alabama and Boise State emerged from the postseason undefeated.

Many critics of the Bowl Championship Series favor a larger championship tournament with eight to sixteen teams, similar to that administered by the NCAA for its Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II, and Division III football championships. Others favor adopting the incremental step of adding a single post-bowl championship game between the winners of two BCS games among the top four ranked teams in the BCS standings, the so-called "plus one" option. The SEC and ACC conferences have recently been pushing for some form of playoff system. On June 24, 2009, the BCS presidential oversight committee rejected the Mountain West Conference's proposed eight-team playoff plan.^[5]

Game results

• For Bowl Coalition championship game results from 1992-1994, see: Bowl Coalition
• For Bowl Alliance championship game results from 1995-1997, see: Bowl Alliance

Note 1: †Double overtime

Records by conference

Records by team

Media coverage

Television

From 1999 through 2006, ABC broadcast eight BCS National Championship Games pursuant to broadcasting rights negotiated with the BCS and the Rose Bowl, whose rights were offered separately. Beginning with the 2006–07 season, FOX obtained the BCS package, consisting of the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and the BCS National Championship Games hosted by these bowls, with ABC retaining the rights to the Rose Bowl and BCS National Championship Games hosted by the Rose Bowl. This means FOX has the rights to the 2009 BCS Championship Game, and ABC will have the rights to the 2010 National Championship Game.

On November 18, 2008, the BCS announced that ESPN had won the television rights to the BCS National Championship Game for 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. The contract with ESPN is notable as it appears the BCS National Championship Game will become the most prominent annual sporting event not to be shown over broadcast television.^[6]

     Expected announcer, subject to change.

Radio

References

External links

• Bowl Championship Series - Official website of the Bowl Championship Series.