BCS = Customer Abuse
If you haven’t heard, the Bowl Championship Series for College Football has once again disappointed the masses with a controversial championship game match up. The scenario is somewhat complicated, but all in all, most people agree that we don’t know for sure if the Ohio State Buckeyes versus the Florida Gators is an accurate battle of the number 1 and number 2 teams in the country. The BCS system is a total blunder in this respect.
What is the clarion call of fans, players, coaches, and even some university presidents? Playoff. The only ones in any sizeable group that want to keep the BCS system as it is are university presidents directly involved in the BCS, bowl committees, and conference commissioners (some). The BCS favors schools from big-name conferences and occasionally even messes them up.
Who matter most in the market for college football? Those that finance the whole operation. And those that provide all the financing are the fans. They are the ones that buy the tickets, purchase the TV packages, consume the advertising, and pay for the memorabilia. They are also the ones who are most irate. In this climate, it is clear that BCS is a textbook example of customer abuse: not only avoid delivering what the customer wants, but purposefully deliver what he or she does not want in an effort to make money.
Controversies like these expose the BCS for what it is, a system that help the rich get richer and deprive the fans what they want. In the end, it only hurts them worse. Companies that engage in customer abuse almost always fare worse than if they would strive to meet customer desires. I may be wrong, but keep your eyes peeled in the future for a shake up of the BCS. In the end, it always happens to companies that abuse the customer, even if it takes a couple decades, but it does happen.
And if you’re wondering if you employ abusive tactics in your marketing and business, take a look at the BCS and see how you compare.
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