Justice Dept.: Obama administration may take action on BCS

[IndianFan]

Don't these people have anything more important to be concerned with? :crazy: :flaming:

Justice Dept.: Obama administration may take action on BCS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review.

In the letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote that the Justice Department is reviewing Hatch's request and other materials to determine whether to open an investigation into whether the BCS violates antitrust laws.

"Importantly, and in addition, the administration also is exploring other options that might be available to address concerns with the college football postseason," Weich wrote, including asking the Federal Trade Commission to review the legality of the BCS under consumer protection laws.

Several lawmakers and many critics want the BCS to switch to a playoff system, rather than the ratings system it uses to determine the teams that play in the championship game.

"The administration shares your belief that the current lack of a college football national championship playoff with respect to the highest division of college football ... raises important questions affecting millions of fans, colleges and universities, players and other interested parties," Weich wrote.

Weich made note of the fact that President Barack Obama, before he was sworn in, had stated his preference for a playoff system. In 2008, Obama said he was going to "to throw my weight around a little bit" to nudge college football toward a playoff system, a point that Hatch stressed when he urged Obama last fall to ask the department to investigate the BCS.

Weich said that other options include encouraging the NCAA to take control of the college football postseason; asking a governmental or non-governmental commission to review the costs, benefits and feasibility of a playoff system; and legislative efforts aimed at prompting a switch to a playoff system.

Weich noted that several undefeated teams have not had a chance to play for the national championship, including TCU and Boise State this year and Utah last year.

"This seemingly discriminatory action with regard to revenues and access have raised questions regarding whether the BCS potentially runs afoul of the nation's antitrust laws," he wrote.

Hatch, a Utah Republican, was steamed that his home state team was deprived of getting a chance to play for the title last year.

"I'm encouraged by the administration's response," he said in a statement. "I continue to believe there are antitrust issues the administration should explore, but I'm heartened by its willingness to consider alternative approaches to confront the tremendous inequities in the BCS that favor one set of schools over others. The current system runs counter to basic fairness that every family tries to instill in their children from the day they are born."

Under the BCS, the champions of six conference have automatic bids to play in top-tier bowl games, while the other conferences don't. Those six conferences also receive more money than the other conferences, although the BCS announced this week that the ones that don't have automatic bids will receive a record $24 million from this year's bowl games.

Bill Hancock, executive director of the BCS, said that officials there would need more time to review the letter before commenting on it. He did say, "We're confident that the BCS structure complies with the laws of the country."

"The consensus of the schools is to go with the BCS," Hancock added. "We feel strongly the people in higher education are the people best equipped to manage college football."

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/ncaa/01/29/obama.bcs.ap/index.html?xid=si_ncaaf#ixzz0e5H2PQEw

 

[NDN06]

I haven't been around that long and I'm just curious, when has there been another asministration that got involved with the legality of college sports?

 

[bandkid]

Setting aside the fact that this is a bit trivial at such a critical point in our nation's history, if the courts were to rule in favor of an antitrust suit brought against the BCS, would that give the federal government the power to break up the NCAA, NBA, NFL, or other arguably monopolistic national sports organizations as well? Is doing so legal to begin with since the universities voluntarily attained membership in the BCS program?

I haven't been around that long and I'm just curious, when has there been another asministration that got involved with the legality of college sports?

Teddy Roosevelt's administration basically set up the NCAA through a conference on the brutality and lack of regulation of college sports (specifically football), but I believe it was set up as a private organization, not a government one.

 

[pngfan93]

To play devil's advocate, the government is looking at this from the point of the consumers (the ticket buyers) as well as the colleges who "voluntarily" joined. What is the name of that other collegiate organization that colleges can join instead of the NCAA?

Before I get flamed, I'll say that I too think we have far greater problems to worry about right now. That being said, there may be a very real legal issue here. Heck, I hate the current system. I never though the Executive and Legislative branches would actually get involved though. Before this is all over, you will probably see the Judicial branch involved as well.

 

[bandkid]

To play devil's advocate, the government is looking at this from the point of the consumers (the ticket buyers) as well as the colleges who "voluntarily" joined. What is the name of that other collegiate organization that colleges can join instead of the NCAA?

Before I get flamed, I'll say that I too think we have far greater problems to worry about right now. That being said, there may be a very real legal issue here. Heck, I hate the current system. I never though the Executive and Legislative branches would actually get involved though. Before this is all over, you will probably see the Judicial branch involved as well.

The BCS and the NCAA are two different organizations. The NCAA may only be semi-voluntary, but universities don't have to participate in the BCS's postseason play if they don't want to (not that they'd turn that opportunity down - too much money involved), making it completely voluntary. The BCS is more of a private organization than the NCAA is (at least, that's what I can make out based on the research I've done so far). In fact, based on what I've read in this article, it sounds like the BCS is completely independent of the NCAA and the Obama administration is considering eliminating the BCS through antitrust action and having the NCAA, an entity that is more closely related to the government (although not completely government-run) than the BCS, take over postseason college football.

 

[pngfan93]

To play devil's advocate, the government is looking at this from the point of the consumers (the ticket buyers) as well as the colleges who "voluntarily" joined. What is the name of that other collegiate organization that colleges can join instead of the NCAA?

Before I get flamed, I'll say that I too think we have far greater problems to worry about right now. That being said, there may be a very real legal issue here. Heck, I hate the current system. I never though the Executive and Legislative branches would actually get involved though. Before this is all over, you will probably see the Judicial branch involved as well.

The BCS and the NCAA are two different organizations. The NCAA may only be semi-voluntary, but universities don't have to participate in the BCS's postseason play if they don't want to (not that they'd turn that opportunity down - too much money involved), making it completely voluntary. The BCS is more of a private organization than the NCAA is (at least, that's what I can make out based on the research I've done so far). In fact, based on what I've read in this article, it sounds like the BCS is completely independent of the NCAA and the Obama administration is considering eliminating the BCS through antitrust action and having the NCAA, an entity that is more closely related to the government (although not completely government-run) than the BCS, take over postseason college football.

That is all correct, but only the BCS is allowed to crown the National Champion. If you have a great team, and you want the championship, there is nothing voluntary about it. The other issue at hand is how schools from some conferences are basically left out of the championship. Examples given are Utah, Boise, and TCU. I have heard about how hard a time Boise is having scheduling schools tough enough for them to get looks for the National Championship because those schools don't want to risk losing to Boise. This alone locks Boise out of the championship. Now, TCU lost to Boise, so that is an invalid argument. However, as we have said on this board many times, any team can upset any other team on any given day. Take the Boise/OU game from a few years ago. The only real way to crown a champion is to at least allow all conference champions a shot at it. This is an argument almost all college fans agreed with until the Obama administration got involved. Then, people got fickle and decided to disagree. I guess the powers that be at the BCS can thank the Obamas for turning the public perception, huh?

 

[bandkid]

To play devil's advocate, the government is looking at this from the point of the consumers (the ticket buyers) as well as the colleges who "voluntarily" joined. What is the name of that other collegiate organization that colleges can join instead of the NCAA?

Before I get flamed, I'll say that I too think we have far greater problems to worry about right now. That being said, there may be a very real legal issue here. Heck, I hate the current system. I never though the Executive and Legislative branches would actually get involved though. Before this is all over, you will probably see the Judicial branch involved as well.

The BCS and the NCAA are two different organizations. The NCAA may only be semi-voluntary, but universities don't have to participate in the BCS's postseason play if they don't want to (not that they'd turn that opportunity down - too much money involved), making it completely voluntary. The BCS is more of a private organization than the NCAA is (at least, that's what I can make out based on the research I've done so far). In fact, based on what I've read in this article, it sounds like the BCS is completely independent of the NCAA and the Obama administration is considering eliminating the BCS through antitrust action and having the NCAA, an entity that is more closely related to the government (although not completely government-run) than the BCS, take over postseason college football.

That is all correct, but only the BCS is allowed to crown the National Champion. If you have a great team, and you want the championship, there is nothing voluntary about it. The other issue at hand is how schools from some conferences are basically left out of the championship. Examples given are Utah, Boise, and TCU. I have heard about how hard a time Boise is having scheduling schools tough enough for them to get looks for the National Championship because those schools don't want to risk losing to Boise. This alone locks Boise out of the championship. Now, TCU lost to Boise, so that is an invalid argument. However, as we have said on this board many times, any team can upset any other team on any given day. Take the Boise/OU game from a few years ago. The only real way to crown a champion is to at least allow all conference champions a shot at it. This is an argument almost all college fans agreed with until the Obama administration got involved. Then, people got fickle and decided to disagree. I guess the powers that be at the BCS can thank the Obamas for turning the public perception, huh?

I agree with the argument as to why they're considering breaking up the BCS, just not the means with which they propose to do it. My only problem here is that these schools are voluntarily participating in the BCS program, and in my opinion, that negates any claim the justice department might have under an antitrust suit. They may have a perfectly good reason for doing so that would make it difficult or undesirable for them not to participate in the BCS program, but they're still participating of their own free will. If they really didn't want to participate, they wouldn't have to. Besides, the problem here isn't price galging or something life-altering for the average American citizen - it's just how the system's set up. If you ask me, invoking antitrust legislation is taking it a little too far, particularly at a time like this, and if the feds pull something like this, they may end up with enough power to fool around in the affairs of other organizations (such as the NFL or NBA) that most Americans don't have a problem with.

Maybe the best solution is for the BCS to take note and reorganize the bowls into a playoff bracket on their own (which may involve fostering more bowl games). That way, the universities get a fair shake, the BCS continues to exist, and the government doesn't intervene.

 

[pngfan93]

I agree with the argument as to why they're considering breaking up the BCS, just not the means with which they propose to do it. . . . If you ask me, invoking antitrust legislation is taking it a little too far, particularly at a time like this, and if the feds pull something like this, they may end up with enough power to fool around in the affairs of other organizations (such as the NFL or NBA) that most Americans don't have a problem with.

Maybe the best solution is for the BCS to take note and reorganize the bowls into a playoff bracket on their own (which may involve fostering more bowl games). That way, the universities get a fair shake, the BCS continues to exist, and the government doesn't intervene.

Bingo

 

[NDNfan#1]

I agree, the BCS going to a playoff system is the best option. There are already a bunch of meaningless bowl games that are played outside of the BCS. They could just roll these into the playoff system and make the minor bowls mean something. BCS should do this on their own, keep the government out of it they have their hands in enough stuff already.