Senate hearings on BCS

This blurb was in the Times today.

SPORTS BRIEFING | COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Senate to Discuss B.C.S.

The Senate plans to hold a hearing next week to look into antitrust issues regarding the Bowl Championship Series. It will be the second time this year that Congress will shine a light on the polarizing system that the Football Bowl Subdivision uses to crown a national champion. The hearing will be held Tuesday in the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights, according to a posting on the committee’s Web site. Representative Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has introduced legislation that would prevent the N.C.A.A. from calling a game a national championship unless it is the outcome of a playoff.

Here's the makeup of members (including Ron Wyden)
http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/subcommittees/antitrust.cfm


Orin Hatch of Utah is apparently still pissed that Utah got bypassed the last time around. As the ranking republican, he sought the hearings.
He has an ally in Texas' Joe Barton, who's Longhorns got screwed last year.

And there'll be a webcast of the hearing at 2:00 PM here: <edit> 11:00 AM Pacific
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3674


And while looking for these links, I ran across this:
http://graneyandthepig.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/congressman-calls-bowl-officials-communists-and-suggests-they-remove-the-s-from-bcs/

And this:

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/web/COM1150542/1/index.htm?eref=sisf

Should be fun.

Purplegeezer wrote:This blurb was in the Times today.

Representative Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has introduced legislation that would prevent the N.C.A.A. from calling a game a national championship unless it is the outcome of a playoff.

Ahem,

It appears Congress addressing a problem that does not exist (shocking). The NCAA does have a Division I Football Championship Game, and it is the final game of an elimination tournament.

The NCAA has nothing to say about who goes to a BCS game and who gets passed over, and the BCS schools like it that way.

[quote="PurplePrideTrumpet"]

Purplegeezer wrote: The NCAA does have a Division I Football Championship Game, and it is the final game of an elimination tournament.

Really? could you give some results from that elimination tournament?

I must have missed them. I sure don't recall Utah being eliminated.

Utah wasn't in it.
http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2008/ncaa_bracket_FCS_football.html

I don't like the BCS either, so I hope the committee talks to officials from the conferences that are part of it. I think someday in the future we will see a second D-I tournament.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Utah wasn't in it.
http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2008/ncaa_bracket_FCS_football.html

I don't like the BCS either, so I hope the committee talks to officials from the conferences that are part of it. I think someday in the future we will see a second D-I tournament.

I think you are confusing series. The big money is in the 1-A BCS, not the 1-AA FCS, and the 6 BCS conferences guarantee bowls for their own teams to the exclusion of teams from other conferences. They also decide amongst themselves who will play the "Championship" game.

In the 1-A chanpionships, there is NO playoff.

That's what the hearings are about.

I think Trumpet is trying to say that the NCAA does already recognize the FCS championship. Which it does. However, it also recognizes the BCS championship.

But Trumpet is right to point out that the NCAA doesn't see any money from the BCS TV contracts. That money goes to the conferences. The NCAA makes all its money from March Madness.

If it were up to the NCAA, it would do a playoff in a heartbeat. But good luck convincing the BCS school presidents to agree to it. In fact, if the NCAA tries to hard or works with Congress is trying to make real change, I suspect the BCS conferences would completely pull out of the NCAA and create a rival college athletics association. And think about it... not only would they get the money from football, but they would pull out of March Madness as well, set up a their own new tournament, and get all the TV money for that too.

The NCAA treads very, very carefully with the BCS because of the fear of those schools pulling out and slaying the golden goose of March Madness.

Really the only thing that could create substantive change is if Congress threatens to pull the tax-exempt status away from big colleges. THAT could do something. But anything else is just talk.

The hearings are about antitrust. With 6 conferences controlling the bowls, they are making a business decision to exclude other schools from the Money.

Make no mistake -it's huge money for some schools (Florida funds its entire athletic budget from Bowl money)

I understand that the NCAA doesn't have the leverage to reign the money grab, but Congress does, and If Orin Hatch sees money not going to schools in his constituency, you can bet he'll do what he can to change that. It might, as you say, include Tax burdens imposed, anti trust burdens imposed, or a directive to the NCAA, as an unincorporated business association, to require equal treatment to all its members.

Frankly, I'm not so sure the NCAA big wigs would be all that opposed. They might even be on Hatch's side. It would give them a way back into control of the pie.


And the threat of pulling out of the NCAA is hot air. If they pull out of Football other schools will fill the vacuum, And good luck pulling out of Basketball. It's the biggest money maker in College sports. It's wholly owned by the NCAA and I don't think schools could easily form a competing franchise. I don't think any of the conferences has the stomach for losing that cash cow for even one year, and the NCAA could use the loss of all other College Championships as leverage.

Stonehouse wrote:I think Trumpet is trying to say that the NCAA does already recognize the FCS championship. Which it does. However, it also recognizes the BCS championship.

But Trumpet is right to point out that the NCAA doesn't see any money from the BCS TV contracts. That money goes to the conferences. The NCAA makes all its money from March Madness.

This is what I was getting at. The law doesn't need to be aimed at the NCAA. Sorry if I was being a smartazz today. But like Geezer said, it's could be considered an antitrust issue, and the NCAA might actually agree with the committee if it's presented to them as a way to have a say in D-I football.

Sure am glad there are no more pressing issues in the country to be addressed. What a sorry-a$$ lot we have for politicians, on both sides. Guess it is inevitable - no sane person would want the job.

up7587 wrote:Sure am glad there are no more pressing issues in the country to be addressed.

What, like baseball players roiding up? hehe..

coldsmokeAT wrote:
What, like baseball players roiding up? hehe..

I'm just glad nobody is looking into what I was doing in Argentina...

Purplegeezer wrote:

coldsmokeAT wrote:
What, like baseball players roiding up? hehe..

I'm just glad nobody is looking into what I was doing in Argentina...

Well, Geez, I believe some of your trip was caught on video: Geezer Caught Red Handed

I can't believe I watched that to the end.

Yep, that's time you'll never get back...