College football's new playoff has a name

Ready for it? I'm not sure you're quite there just yet.

When naming something like a postseason for a sport that's decades overdue for a revolution, it's important to consider all of the aspects. There's basic branding, sure, but you also have to make sure it's spot on for any additional outside commercial interests, like ESPN's (and thus synergistic there with).

"Bowl Championship Series" succeeded the more informal Bowl Alliance and Bowl Coalition before it, and "BCS" eventually became the name brand du jour with respect to that operation. I suppose if one wants to make it totally bulletproof, you spend tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars focus grouping it, throwing all kinds of arrows at the name to make sure you're not opening yourself up to cheap bullets or easy jokes.

Then you go back to the drawing board. You let your advertising team ruminate a bit more. Give it one more go. Work in the creatives and make sure you've got something that's going to stand the test of time. We already know that the playoff won't have any kind of corporate sponsor on the name itself, but you have to have something that just pops. Something that works for your advertisers. Something that works for the fans.

After all that (and more), you're ready for the big reveal. You're ready to reveal you're calling it:

"College Football Playoff" new name for 4-team playoff, sources told @espn. Official announcement Tuesday evening

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) April 23, 2013

...Simple enough, I guess.