Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Politicians are getting involved? Buckle up.
The Department of Justice, as you might imagine, has a lot on its plate these days. There's not much need to go into that here; in case you hadn't noticed, this is The Sporting Blog, not C-SPAN. Those who were led to believe otherwise, our apologies; you may visit C-SPAN's homepage here instead.
Anyway, give Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff some credit: He's got stones. He plans to ask the DOJ (we can't restate this enough, the Department of Justice, people) to join his investigation against the BCS. Wow.
In an interview with KSL NewsRadio, Shurtleff said he plans to make a pitch to the Justice Department to bring the weight of its antitrust division into the probe. "Because they have the resources that Utah does not have," Shurtleff said. "Taking on the BCS is a huge undertaking financially."
Angered by the University of Utah being denied a national championship despite going undefeated and winning the Sugar Bowl, Shurtleff first raised the specter of an antitrust probe earlier this year. Since then, others have dog piled on the BCS system, calling it an "unfair monopoly."
Technically, we'd be more open to calling it an unfair oligarchy, but it's probably that "unfair" part that matters a little bit more.
At the heart of the matter, when it comes down to it all, is the fact that the bowl system operates largely outside the jurisdiction of the NCAA. Oh, there are still rules by which the sponsors and athletes have to abide and everything, but the deals aren't set up through the ruling body.
That's important, because it means the "BCS conferences" were allowed to confederate, in essence, to crowd out the "mid-majors." We're using quotes here because they're becoming poorer distinctions by the season; the Mountain West, for example, can make the argument that they're more deserving of an automatic bid than the Big East or ACC. Not that it'd be right or wrong, mind you, just that the argument can be made.
In an exclusive article for Sporting News, Boise State president Bob Kustra laid the BCS exclusion issue out thusly:
How can this happen when the NCAA sponsors 88 championships in almost every sport from bowling to water polo? The glaring exception is football. The NCAA does not sponsor a championship for the Football Bowl Subdivision-- formerly Division I-A. This so-called championship has fallen into the hands of the commissioners of the six BCS automatic qualifying conferences. They wrote the exclusionary BCS rule that created six automatic qualifying conferences--Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-10--and gives to the six conference commissioners the authority to send their respective champions to a BCS bowl regardless of how their won/loss records stack up against the champions of the nonautomatic qualifying conferences--Conference USA, Mid-American, Western Athletic, Sun Belt and Mountain West.
While the issue has gained plenty of steam in the wake of Utah's ahem, questionable claim to a national title, the legal arguments may center more around the massive sums of BCS money. Those six conferences are guaranteed at least one eight-figure payout from a BCS bowl, often two, while the "mid-majors" usually end up with one or two total. The MAC, for example, has never (and might not ever) collected BCS bowl money. The DOJ probably, hopefully, doesn't care who wins a football game or an AP poll. They probably do care about whether there's an unfair system of monetary distribution when about $100 million is at stake.
There is a moderately sensible solution, one the BCS conferences would never agree to for obvious monetary reasons. Rather than select the six BCS conference champions for BCS bowl money and then award four at-large bids irrespective of conference, a much fairer idea would be to select the best six conference champions (as long as we're fantasizing, this culminates in a four-team playoff), then the same next four at-large teams. At the very least, it removes the obviously undeserving BCS teams, the ones that usually come from the Big East (no offense, Pitt), and essentially sets a big-money payout line at the Top 10. If any team in any conference can get into the Top 10, then, it stands to reason that they've earned BCS money, right?
But again, this can't and won't happen. That would be so actively against the BCS conferences' best self-interests that a compliant commissioner would have probably earned immediate dismissal. That or the Big Ten's bulldog of a commissioner, Jim Delany, would saw the commissioner's head off.
Plus, look, we're not sure the Department of Justice needs to get involved; again, it has bigger fish to fry and much bigger sums of money to investigate. If it feels like getting involved and can get around the fact that at the end of the day, we're talking about sports, it'll probably find plenty of interesting material for at least an investigation.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
32 comments
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Comments
Utah – give it a rest already! Yes, you guys got tooled. Yes, not every team that deserves to go to a bowl game gets to go, much less go to the game they should go to. This is the reality: There will always be a team that gets screwed. There will always be something that a team or a coach can gripe about – not seeded right, should be in a bigger game, whatever. Pleae leave the DOJ alone, and stop your sobbing. If you really want to fix your problem, start trying to get into the PAC 10.
by weathersusa on Jun 14, 2009 8:33 PM EDT reply actions
give it rest UTAH—-you did not deserve the championship anyway
by gatorfan4ever on Jun 14, 2009 8:34 PM EDT reply actions
yeah cause this is REALLY IMPORTANT this our country that is such good shape right now. I hope congress can investigate the homerun that was called foul friday night in the boston/philadelphia game.
by skadiesel on Jun 14, 2009 8:37 PM EDT reply actions
yeah cause this is REALLY IMPORTANT this our country that is such good shape right now. I hope congress can investigate the homerun that was called foul friday night in the boston/philadelphia game.
by skadiesel on Jun 14, 2009 8:38 PM EDT reply actions
The previous posts are on the mark.
There are FAR more important issues than this silly issue that Congress and the Feds should be concerned with.
by Weglman on Jun 14, 2009 9:05 PM EDT reply actions
The previous posts are on the mark.
There are FAR more important issues than this silly issue that Congress and the Feds should be concerned with.
by Weglman on Jun 14, 2009 9:05 PM EDT reply actions
wah! wah! wah!
just grow up already. as stated above, EVERY YEAR there are teams that should go to a bowl that dont, and teams that should have gotten a better bowl than they did.
the DOJ has much more important things to deal with.
i understand the frustration of hometown fans, weve ALL been there, but if i lived in Utah (even though im sure id be a Utes fan if i did live there) id be more than a little upset that my states AG was wasting his time on this instead of worrying about, say, REAL CRIMINALS.
by GMBlaze on Jun 14, 2009 9:42 PM EDT reply actions
They should play the Taliban in a series of basketball games for control of various sections of Afghanistan.
by L'etat, c'est moi on Jun 14, 2009 9:48 PM EDT reply actions
My suggestion to Utah and their complaint. Be proactive and organize a Div 1 postseason playoff system, minus the BCS conferences. Scrap the current bowl system, and setup your own 16 team playoff amongst the mid major and other conferences that wish to enter into an agreement for a playoff. Since it’s obvious the NCAA won’t budge on the issue take matters into your own hands.
What will happen by this taking place is essentially two different football Divisions. You’ll have the BCS folks, and then the playoff division. What will also happen is the playoff division can develop their own championship trophy, sponsors, criteria for qualifying for the playoff, etc amongst themselves. And who knows – maybe some BCS teams will decide they would rather play in a playoff rather then some scrub bowl game that is meaningless anyway.
Unfortunately, the only way you make a playoff division work is if you can interest ESPN or some other TV network to invest the money to carry it. A huge undertaking in this day and age, but I would bet you anything that the NFL Network or CBS College Sports Network is thirsty for original programming at a below market value price.
The other unfortunate part is that too many people are trying to fix a system that doesn’t see itself as broken. And rather then fighting them, they are too stubborn to be creative and think outside the box and create their own postseason system that works for those who have been left out of the system that doormats like ’Ol Miss and MSU gravy train off of every year.
by Phileo on Jun 14, 2009 9:57 PM EDT reply actions
The whole "Congress has more important things to do" stuff is tired. Of course it does, but it’s still its job to deal with issues like this. The system is unjust, and it’s not just affecting the rooting interest
of college football fans, but it is potentially affecting the bottom
line of public universities. Any time an industry/money-making
entity as big as the BCS is practiing unfair methods, Congress has
every right to get involved. More specific, for some changes to happen to the BCS or FBS postseason in general, Congress will have to get involved. For as much overboard grandstanding as politicians did with the steroids thing, the fact is, some action started happening once they started holding hearing Someone has to bring it up and challenge the NCAA and the BCS here, and even though Utah obviously has a selfish interest, give them credit for not backing down.
by nonamejones on Jun 14, 2009 10:15 PM EDT reply actions
If I read thearticle right…..its not only about the championship….its about the Millions of Dollars being handed out in an unfair matter. Whether the DOJ should be looking into this because Utah got screwed on a Title is questionable….but the DOJ should definitely be looking into this if the system which controls millions of dollars is corupt.
And when the DOJ finishes with this one….they might want to look into the way the NCAA takes advantage of the all the student athletes by making Hundreds of Millions of Dollars off of them while the athletes in turn get nothing.
by Blitz-d on Jun 14, 2009 10:34 PM EDT reply actions
I guess Utah has nothing very important going on.
by Bailey729 on Jun 14, 2009 10:54 PM EDT reply actions
"nothing in return"? youre not serious, right?
by GMBlaze on Jun 15, 2009 12:02 AM EDT reply actions
I think that since the NCAA doesn’t sponsor a championship in Division One, it is open to the bowls to put together what are essentially exhibition games. A few years back, some of the big conferences got together with the bowls and said let’s invite teams in a way that gives us a better idea about who is the best in the country.People of Utah and Idaho! It isn’t a real National Championship endorsed by the NCAA. That is why they call it the BCS Championship. And from my point of view, they have the right to invite whoever they want to their game. Likewise, Utah has the right to invite whoever they like to play them in out-of-conference games. Should my Alma Mater, Northern Michigan University, have the right to demand a game on Boise State’s schedule? Why does UC Davis get the money instead of my Wildcats? It isn’t fair. Utah AG. Get a life.Why don’t you clean up that whole underage, polygamous marriage thing you have going on there before you move onto football.
by Sexy Pete on Jun 15, 2009 1:34 AM EDT reply actions
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by paulking95772050 on Jun 15, 2009 9:43 AM EDT reply actions
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by paulking95772050 on Jun 15, 2009 9:43 AM EDT reply actions
Hey gatorfan4ever, explain to me WHY Utah didn’t deserve a shot at the championship last year? Last I checked they ARE a D-1 pigskin program. They went undefeated & put a whoopin’ on Bama in the Sugar Bowl. I guess ONLY teams from the 6 power conferences are allowed to play for it all year in & year out? WHAT A STUPID COMMENT!!!!!!
by buckeyenut on Jun 15, 2009 9:48 AM EDT reply actions
Sexy Pete, that polygamy line was a total cheap shot, and was factually incorrect as well. The LDS church outlawed polygamy decades ago as a condition of being admitted as a state in the Union. The fact is that most of the polygamous compounds and such that get so much attention are in no way affiliated with the LDS church, and most are located in Arizona and Nevada…not Utah.
As for the lawsuit, I would like to see a real investigation into what the NCAA and BCS are really up to with the money they make with the BCS. The money being raised is substantial and there should be some public accounting of where it goes and how it is distributed. Open up the books and let the public see what’s going on with the BCS/NCAA partnership. Open books shouldn’t be a problem.
by 89falcon on Jun 15, 2009 9:54 AM EDT reply actions
SWEET!!!! I love it!!! Come on DOJ and cook some good old boys in hot water. Make them open the books and see where all that money is going. I love it!! You can’t fix this crappy system without upsetting the people who are benefitting from it the most (a hem…SEC). We saw was Utah did to Alabama and who’s to say they wouldn’t have done the same to Florida? The era of the BCS is quickly coming to an end!! Thank God.
by SailorGabe on Jun 15, 2009 9:55 AM EDT reply actions
Being a Oregon fan I feel we even got screwed by the BCS in 2002. But I can only look at a true champion as a team who has competed and beat the best teams. Not a team who is in a tough conference and plays a weak out of conference schedule who gets selected by winning the conference championship. I Still believe the conference champions of all the Division 1 teams and possibly a few at large bids are the only teams who deserve to play for the championship.
by uscountryboy75 on Jun 15, 2009 10:00 AM EDT reply actions
Good luck to Utah’s AG. That said, if he succeeds in busting up the BCS, then what? It will probably mean a return to the previous bowl system. One where the so-called ‘mid-majors’ have even fewer shots at a major bowl bid than they do now, and, thus, a big payday. Which is what this hubbub is really all about…money, and who gets how much. It sure as hell is not about determining a true national champion. Only an all-inclusive playoff can do that.
I am FOR a playoff. Always have been, always will be.
But, I digress…
Do you really believe that the Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, or Rose Bowl would’ve taken Utah last season, were it not written into the BCS ‘agreement?’ If you say yes to that, you are seriously fooling yourself.
IMO, there would be another realignment with of the bowls, and, the MWC, WAC, CUSA, MAC, and Sunbelt would be all but relegated to second tier bowls forevermore. Irregardless of how good, and how deserving, their champions might be. Is it right? No, but, thats how it MIGHT be if the BCS is busted up. Sad as it is to say, absent an all-inclusive playoff, the mid-majors will be left with even fewer table scraps then, than they are now.
by HuskerHeel on Jun 15, 2009 10:19 AM EDT reply actions
I think the Utah AG is showing the rest of the country how to lose properly; how to maintain the highest level of sportsmanship and grace. Oh wait, he’s doing the exact opposite.
by ChiAdam on Jun 15, 2009 10:24 AM EDT reply actions
It’s about time. Everyone acts as if the Utah’s and the Boise State’s of the world are supposed to be happy getting a national game after New Years and crawl away like mice and be thankful for the morsel the BCS handed them. Well, I hope the DOJ and Congress smashes the BCS to smithereens. Somebody not only has to stand up to the BCS, but keep putting pressure on them to create a fair playoff system like everyone else has in college athletics. Boise State and Utah both showed that they can play with the big boys and beat the big boys on the big stage so why keep them out unless the BCS only wants the money to stay with the big BCS conferences due to side deals they cut creating this mess?
by CHRONIC 2001 on Jun 15, 2009 11:19 AM EDT reply actions
You know what I can’t wait for? I can’t wait for USC, Florida, Notre Dame, Utah, tOSU, Texas, Oklahoma, etc too all go undefeated or have only one loss in the same season. With everyone dumbing down the schedule its only a matter of time. How funny these arguments will change if in the future when one loss Florida gets left out of the championship game to a one loss Notre Dame and undefeated Texas. Or substitute your team. Right now nobody cares about Utah because they don’t have a big fan base. That will all change when it become undefeated Notre Dame or undefeated LSU being left out. Oh, it will happen with these crappy schedules.
by SailorGabe on Jun 15, 2009 11:55 AM EDT reply actions
This is completely about money and the efforts of a few to keep it amongst theselves (BCS conference universities). The agument that Utah, Boise State, or any "mid-major" should play a more difficult schedule is purely idiotic. As anyone who professes to follow college football knows, to schedule an out of conference opponent, BOTH universities must agree to face each other. BCS Conference apologists answer this: Who stands to lose more in a Florida vs. TCU game. Florida wins: That was expected, TCU wins: Florida doesn’t smell the top 2 and loses any chance at the BCS crown. As for conference schedule, there are also those powerhouse Orangemen, Illini, Hoosiers, Blue Devils, Cyclones, MSU Bulldogs, etc. that the BCS university programs have to face. Stop freezing out the smaller universities and allow them an equal share of the money that is out there. After all, didn’t a majority of Americans vote recently that we should (shudder), "Share the Wealth"!
by HudsonHawks on Jun 15, 2009 12:20 PM EDT reply actions
Don’t you just love when money and politics rear their ugly heads. This is about 2 of the mosr corrupt insitutions in the land (NCAA and the FEDS!!). No one can possibly think either side wants this to happen. Ther’e too many other things going on to worry about this. By the way, is the Utah AG running for govenor or Senator or US Representative??
by jcurtis on Jun 15, 2009 12:23 PM EDT reply actions
Don’t you just love when money and politics rear their ugly heads. This is about 2 of the most corrupt insitutions in the land (NCAA and the FEDS!!). No one can possibly think either side wants this to happen. There are too many other things going on to worry about this. By the way, is the Utah AG running for govenor or Senator or US Representative??
by jcurtis on Jun 15, 2009 12:24 PM EDT reply actions
It’s always amazing to me how people say "everything is fine the way it is" or "quit complaining", ’till it is their own daughter that is raped or held for randsom, so to speak.
by somday on Jun 15, 2009 3:17 PM EDT reply actions
Why doesn’t the Justice Department just shut down the BCS. If all I read is true, it is all corrupt anyway. How about we just go back to the 1920’s, when there was only one bowl game, and we could name USC national champs every year. Utah needs to just deal with it and shut the HE!! up. I personally think the BCS stinks, but I don’t think a playoff is gonna solve all the problems either.
by patriot82 on Jun 15, 2009 4:46 PM EDT reply actions
first things first, congrats utah, you had a great season capped by a huge win over alabama. next, i believe that college football needs a playoff for several reasons.
i’m sure everyone in here has an idea how a playoff could work, and most of the ideas are good. you could easily incorporate the bowls into a playoff and make it work. let me add my two cents.
an 8 team playoff, using a rotating venue of 7 bowls, Rose, fiesta, orange, sugar, cotton, citrus, and maybe outback or gator or some other bowl of equal stature. use a ranking system to determine the top 8 teams, and then seed them. the ranking system would be similar to what we currently have, but also factor in strength of schedule, and minimize opinion polls.
as it stands, many of the top contending teams are reluctant to risk scheduling either other contenders, or good mid-majors, like utah or tcu. when you have what amounts to a two team playoff, there is very little margin for error and many contenders don’t want to risk a potential nc game bid by scheduling strong opponents. especially when they can schedule weak teams and remain undefeated (at least ooc).
if you expand this two team playoff to an 8 team playoff and use strength of schedule as a factor, teams would be more likely to schedule stronger opponents ooc, because this provides for some margin for error and rewards them for taking the risk and playing stronger opponents.
having said all of that, i’m sorry utah, you didn’t deserve to be in the nc game ahead of oklahoma or florida. texas had a bigger beef than you. you get some credit for scheduling michigan, but unfortunately (for you at least), they sold their soul for richrod and went through their worst season in a century. you only played two ranked teams all year, tcu and byu, and even that was offset by playing unlv (5-7), utah st (3-9), wyoming (4-8), new mexico (4-8), and san diego st (2-10). and honestly, i don’t think that even the most die hard utah fan believes that they would’ve made it through either the big 12 or sec with only 1 loss, let alone undefeated.
again congrats on the undefeated season and nice victory over alabama (it’s nice to see the sec take a beating), but you just don’t belong with the big boys.
by Buckeyesoldier on Jun 15, 2009 11:10 PM EDT reply actions
this is just politics at it’s worst. the justice department would be the laughing stock of washington if it tried to get involved in what teams and what conferences belong in the bcs bowls.
by mikeymike143 on Jun 16, 2009 12:27 AM EDT reply actions
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