The accessibility to major bowl games desired by non-Bowl Championship Series schools and the revenue and prestige BCS schools could lose by granting that access are the hurdles that must be crossed in order to accomplish college football reform, Penn State President Graham Spanier said last week.

"We [BCS schools] don't want to give up anything we now have because we've earned it," Spanier said in a one-on-one interview with The Daily Collegian.

Spanier and the other presidents who attended the Sept. 8 meeting in Chicago would be open to "doing something to help the other schools out" by modifying the current bowl system "if it's in everyone's best interest," Spanier added.

The meeting -- attended exclusively by university presidents representing each conference that plays Division I-A football -- resulted from Tulane University President Scott Cowen's public denouncement of the BCS hierarchy last May. The presidents described the meeting as cordial and productive during their conference call following the session.

Spanier -- the current chairman of the Big Ten council of presidents/chancellors -- attended the meeting as the Big Ten's representative. Though he did represent the Big Ten at the conference, Spanier has not yet discussed the events of the meeting with Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, his fellow Big Ten presidential colleagues or any conference athletic directors, he said.

Spanier was unable to attend the conference call due to a prior engagement. He said last week that the main issue concerning the non-BCS schools is image.

"There's something about being called a non-BCS school that has some stigma attached," he said. "They are very interested in having the highest degree of access they can have.

"Now, there's only been once in the last 30 years that a school ... that isn't in one of the BCS conferences ever get into a major bowl," he continued. "So it's a rare event but even so they are concerned about having the opportunity of having full access."

Landing a 1974 bid in the Fiesta Bowl, the one team Spanier references is the Brigham Young Cougars. BYU later managed to win a national championship in 1984 with a win over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl, the last time a school from outside the six major conferences won a national championship.

BYU's men's athletic director, Val Hale, said access to BCS bowls isn't the real issue; it's the revenue BCS schools would have to give up to allow non-BCS schools more access to BCS bowls.

"That's the dilemma," Hale said. "They are more than happy to give access but they don't want to give up revenue -- that's the sticky part."

Spanier said the meeting made him more sympathetic for non-BCS schools having to operate on smaller budgets and still compete against larger programs.

As of now, the presidents said they have not formed any specific plans for modifying the BCS structure, saying they discussed "principles and values" at their meeting last week. Discussions will get more specific when the group of presidents meet again on Nov. 16 in New Orleans, the presidents said. Spanier said he plans to attend that meeting and any future meeting needed to resolve the issue. Spanier also plans to have discussions with Delany, the other Big Ten presidents and the head of Big Ten athletic directors Ron Guenther.

"Revenue will be the sticky issue," Hale said. "If there was some way to give access [to non-BCS schools] without giving revenue this would have been over in the first meeting."

With BCS television contract negotiations approaching, a resolution will have to be finalized in the next six to eight months, Spanier said.