The fight for a playoff to replace the BCS begins

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Sun May 03, 2009 1:37 pm

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4122741

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4121294

* Note: Congress was not in session on Friday when this was held.

"It's probably better than a 50 percent chance that if we don't see some action in the next two months of a voluntary switch to a playoff," warned Barton, "you'll see this bill."

Barton was speaking directly to BCS coordinator John Swofford, also the commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, and he was referring to proposed legislation that would prevent the BCS from marketing its final game as the national championship.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun May 03, 2009 1:48 pm

Ain't it nice when government wants to control everything including sports.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sun May 03, 2009 1:52 pm

Rodster wrote:Ain't it nice when government wants to control everything including sports.

Yeah and it seems to me they have more important things to worry about.

On the other hand Ill take a playoff any way I can get it.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Sun May 03, 2009 2:06 pm

Rodster wrote:Ain't it nice when government wants to control everything including sports.

For those not inclined to read the actual article...

Craig Thompson, commissioner of the Mountain West Conference, which does not get an automatic bid, called the money distribution system "grossly inequitable."

The MWC has proposed a playoff and hired a Washington firm to lobby Congress for changes to the BCS.

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So some of the pressure is by actual conferences that are getting screwed over by the BCS deal. It actually makes sense to take these things to your congressmen, when you know darn well the the BCS conferences are happy just like it is.

Boise State and Utah have proven they deserve a chance to play for a national championship. The BCS system is a pile of dung. Congress wastes time on plenty of things. This is nothing new. I for one am glad to see someone take it to this level. Calling it a National Championship game is a farce and thankfully they are getting called out on it. This has less to do with government control as it does trying to change an unfair system.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Sun May 03, 2009 2:27 pm

As an SDSU alum, and college football fan....I sincerely hopes this happens.

I've made my opinion known for a long time, but the current system is a corrupt and needs to change.

I am glad the government is stepping in...it is the only way change will occur.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun May 03, 2009 2:47 pm

It's absolutely LUDICROUS that the U.S. government is trying to legislate college football. It's even more insane that our tax dollars are being wasted on hearings about it.

Double-digit unemployment, record deficits, two wars, and our lawmakers are debating a college football playoff system?

F*ck me!

Take care,
PK

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Sun May 03, 2009 3:33 pm

I want a playoff as much as anyone and think the current system a complete joke. However, Congress has ZERO business dealing with this issue. And even if it somehow did have oversight over college athletics it is a patent waste of time given the current situation in this country. This type of thing makes me want to puke. It's not a republican or democrat thing either. Both parties are equally crap and corrupt. It does not matter which party is in power, we have seen that both parties are negligent when they have a majority. And this is not a political opinion, it is a a fact. How ludicrous is it that we even have to draw politics into a college football discussion?

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Sun May 03, 2009 5:25 pm

pk500 wrote:It's absolutely LUDICROUS that the U.S. government is trying to legislate college football. It's even more insane that our tax dollars are being wasted on hearings about it.

Double-digit unemployment, record deficits, two wars, and our lawmakers are debating a college football playoff system?

F*ck me!

Take care,
PK

Well, you took the words right out of my mouth. I hate the BCS, but damn...the bunch of swine in Washington can't do what they're SUPPOSED TO DO at all-why in the hell do I want them doing MORE STUFF they have no right doing?!?

Dumbasses.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Sun May 03, 2009 5:31 pm

pk500 wrote:It's absolutely LUDICROUS that the U.S. government is trying to legislate college football. It's even more insane that our tax dollars are being wasted on hearings about it.

Double-digit unemployment, record deficits, two wars, and our lawmakers are debating a college football playoff system?

F*ck me!

Take care,
PK

One thought comes to mind

Nancy Pelosi - "truth commission" - far more of your tax money being spent

There were only three congressmen there. It was done out of session. I have no issue with people who think it is a waste of the governments time, that said it is just a drop in the ocean when it comes to time wasted.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun May 03, 2009 6:44 pm

Bottom line: The U.S. government has ZERO business legislating American sport unless fan or athlete health is involved.

And even in those cases, as in the baseball steroids sideshow, it's an extremely dubious pursuit that achieves little than wasting taxpayer money and giving legislators face time for the home folks on TV.

Sports have governing bodies. They should run the sport. Government has absolutely no business in that role.

Take care,
PK

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:07 pm

I'm not a libertarian so I wouldn't rule out any govt. role in this. Especially if the NCAA schools are getting substantial federal money in one way or another. Are the BCS and the key schools/conferences purely private organizations?

I'd also say that if some institutions or conferences are being arbitrarily kept out of BCS games in ways that violate laws on restraint of trade, there's a role for an agency like the FTC and others which are suppose to regulate interstate trade.

We've seen what happens when regulatory agencies had a complete hands-off approach to certain business practices. Lack of a college football playoff system won't have the same consequences as the financial crisis or the ensuing recession.

But if there are anti-competitive practices going on, regulators should do their work.

However, now is not the time for Congress to be dealing with this, given the higher-priority issues facing the nation.

Congress could bring scrutiny to the issue to spur regulatory review, if they didn't have more pressing matters to deal with. The steroid hearings in Congress probably led to the current prosecution of Bonds and certainly, there aren't many objections to that result.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:10 pm

EDIT: Political thread alert.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:45 pm

Sure...the government SHOULD have better sh*t to do right now, but the fact is they helped clean up professional sports when the commissioners were turning a blind eye (looking at you Selig), so in some cases the government intervening can be seen as a good thing. This probably isn't one of them, but it's not always a bad idea.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:57 pm

wco81 wrote:However, now is not the time for Congress to be dealing with this, given the higher-priority issues facing the nation.

Bingo.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun May 03, 2009 11:19 pm

With many colleges having to cut budgets, lay off teachers, etc. Makes sense for the congress members from states with no BCS members to ask some questions. I am surprised that one of these guys is from Texas

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Sun May 03, 2009 11:54 pm

fsquid wrote:With many colleges having to cut budgets, lay off teachers, etc. Makes sense for the congress members from states with no BCS members to ask some questions. I am surprised that one of these guys is from Texas

One of the guys from Texas happens to be a Houston Cougar alum. We have schools from 2nd tier conferences in Texas too.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon May 04, 2009 8:02 am

bdoughty wrote:
fsquid wrote:With many colleges having to cut budgets, lay off teachers, etc. Makes sense for the congress members from states with no BCS members to ask some questions. I am surprised that one of these guys is from Texas
One of the guys from Texas happens to be a Houston Cougar alum. We have schools from 2nd tier conferences in Texas too.

I know the Houston.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Mon May 04, 2009 8:29 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:Sure...the government SHOULD have better sh*t to do right now, but the fact is they helped clean up professional sports when the commissioners were turning a blind eye (looking at you Selig), so in some cases the government intervening can be seen as a good thing. This probably isn't one of them, but it's not always a bad idea.

The two examples are different because it's against the law to take performance enhancing drugs and they want to send the message to High Schoolers and College Kids, don't do it, it's against the law. So I was all for them forcing both Bud Selig and Donald "Grandpa Munster" Fehr to get their sh*t together and stop players from using banned substances.

The other is like when Congress decided they wanted Coke Cola to bring back the original recipe Coke. We all agreed that the govt has better things to do with their time.

What's next someone in Congress forcing Nascar to change the rules because he or she doesn't like the Chase for the Cup format?

FatPitcher · Post by **FatPitcher** » Mon May 04, 2009 8:59 am

Professional and collegiate sports are already heavily entwined with government regulations. For example, sports leagues get anti-trust exemptions. The judicial system intervened with MLB employment practices in Flood v. Kuhn. And of course there is Title IX.

As to whether Congress should be spending their time on this...if they can vote with confidence for a hastily-constructed, thousand-page, trillion-dollar spending bill without reading it, they probably have plenty of time for talking football. Frankly, I'd vote for a Congressman who never showed up to work over my current Rep.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon May 04, 2009 9:53 am

Only baseball has an antitrust exemption, not only the only sports league but the only business of any kind to have one.

But baseball has seen its powers diminished over the years like the reserve clause and free agency, which the owners would not have wanted if it was up to them. The league also can't stop owners from moving their teams to other cities.

Govt. has left alone things like the NFL draft but really, it wouldn't stand a legal challenge.

Just the simple fact that these BCS games involve schools from different states, contracting for tens of millions with other entities in yet other states makes BCS games subject to interstate commerce laws.

The schools and conferences which are locked out of BCS could litigate this issue but it takes a long time and any kind of collusion may be difficult to prove.

So the easier thing is to put public pressure through lobbying politicians.

And the highest priority of members of Congress is not the economy or health care or whatever.

It's getting re-elected that they care about the most.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon May 04, 2009 9:57 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:Sure...the government SHOULD have better sh*t to do right now, but the fact is they helped clean up professional sports when the commissioners were turning a blind eye (looking at you Selig), so in some cases the government intervening can be seen as a good thing. This probably isn't one of them, but it's not always a bad idea.

Plus, the mere threat of government intervention often gets the wheels turning.

The BCS system is not only a joke, it is corrupt and designed to protect the economic interests of a collection of publicly-funded institutions, which receive substantial economic benefits from the BCS while excluding other publicly-funded institutions from those benefits. I certainly agree that the Congress has bigger fish to fry, but those conditions provide plenty of material for skilled lobbyists to grab the ears of a few Congressmen.

LOL at Joe Barton comparing the BCS to communism. Better dead than bowl-eligible!

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Mon May 04, 2009 12:49 pm

Rodster wrote: What's next someone in Congress forcing Nascar to change the rules because he or she doesn't like the Chase for the Cup format?

You are missing the point. It is not about simply changing the format. The format is extremely flawed and leaves a large group of teams out of the title game.

If the Chase for the Cup format automatically left half of the participants without a chance to actually win the cup, it would be the same thing. Say the Bubba Gump team and the Billy Bob team (I know nothing about Nascar) got together and created specific rules that catered to racers on their teams, giving them special allownaces.

The BCS caters to six conferences + One Notre Dame. The BCS was the brainchild of the larger conferences (formerly referred to as the Bowl Coalition and Alliance). It is corrupt and about all about the money.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon May 04, 2009 12:54 pm

bdoughty wrote:The BCS caters to six conferences + One Notre Dame. The BCS was the brainchild of the larger conferences (formerly referred to as the Bowl Coalition and Alliance). It is corrupt and about all about the money.

So are a lot of other businesses. That still doesn't mean Congress needs to meddle in it and try to fix it, especially in this economic climate.

It's a giant joke, the BCS and Congress' efforts to fix it.

Take care,
PK

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon May 04, 2009 12:59 pm

pk500 wrote:
bdoughty wrote:The BCS caters to six conferences + One Notre Dame. The BCS was the brainchild of the larger conferences (formerly referred to as the Bowl Coalition and Alliance). It is corrupt and about all about the money.
So are a lot of other businesses. That still doesn't mean Congress needs to meddle in it and try to fix it, especially in this economic climate.

It's a giant joke, the BCS and Congress' efforts to fix it.

Take care,
PK

I'm not trying to defend this, but the difference is that these institutions are almost all state-supported and receive a lot of federal dollars.

The other thing is that Congress has historically listened to a whole range of issues that seem absurd to people not directly affected by them. Considering the severe budget crunches all college campuses are facing and the vast pool of money the BCS can deliver, institutions from the non-BCS conferences certainly have a lot of motivation to go after that revenue. It's not really about who plays for a national title as much as it is about who gets a piece of that economic pie.

Murph · Post by **Murph** » Mon May 04, 2009 3:39 pm

I've heard some mention in the past that if the BCS conferences' hands were ever forced by the government (or whomever), they would simply leave the NCAA (Take their ball and go home).