Last summer, major league baseball sold postseason ticket reservations -- in other words, you could spend a small amount of money that would guarantee you playoff tickets if your team made it. Of course, there's a catch: if they didn't, you were out the cash; but if a popular team got in, you could get tickets without paying outlandish broker prices.
↵↵Now, this concept is being applied to the 2012 BCS Championship Game, which is going to be played at the Superdome in New Orleans. You pick the school you think is going to play in the title game, and depending on its chances to make the game, you'll pay a specific amount that would guarantee you tickets for the game. For example, if you think Northwestern will have the season of its life and make the game, you pay $30-$100 for these rights, depending on what sort of ticket you want.
↵↵On the other hand, choosing Oregon or Auburn, the two teams that played in this year's title game, gives you a range of $115-$215 -- and that doesn't include the ticket price, only the right to buy one at face value.
↵↵Even the teams with the worst records in 2010-11 -- San Jose State (1-12), Memphis (1-11) and Washington State (2-10) -- will run you the same range as Northwestern.
↵↵It's an interesting concept. The MLB playoff futures ran far less than these, at least for the first couple of rounds. And it puts more dollars in the BCS pocket -- you be the judge of whether you think that's a good or bad thing.