Obama Wants Playoffs

WASHINGTON — Shortly after winning last year’s presidential election, Barack Obama said he was going to “to throw my weight around a little bit” to nudge college football’s Bowl Championship Series to move to a playoff system. On Wednesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch took him up on that.

Hatch asked the president to launch a Justice Department investigation into the way the BCS — a complex system of computer rankings and polls that often draws criticism — crowns its national champion.

“Mr. President, as you have publicly stated on multiple occasions, the BCS system is in dire need of reform,” Hatch, R-Utah, wrote in a 10-page letter, obtained by The Associated Press.

Hatch, who held a hearing on the BCS in July, told Obama that a “strong case” can be made that the BCS violates antitrust laws.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmi5QYE1AvehAoD12aqqd8gKhZCwD9BFM69G0

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said Monday that they are backing a federal political action committee “dedicated to discarding the Bowl Championship Series and instituting a competitive post-season championship for college football.”

The people behind Playoff PAC – whose tagline is “Beat the BCS. Save College Football.” – believe that the Bowl Championship Series is “inherently flawed,” the group said in a press release.

“It crowns champions arbitrarily and stifles inter-conference competition,” the group argued.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/19/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5397410.shtml

Washington » Convinced the only way to reform the Bowl Championship Series is with congressional action, a group of college football fans have started a political action committee designed to raise funds for politicians who support a national playoff.

The Playoff PAC, launched by Utahn Matt Sanderson and several other sports fans, plans to raise cash and then donate to candidates and incumbents who support busting up the BCS, a system of polls and computers that doles out bowl game spots to the winners of six major conferences and four other teams.

“There’s a lot of groups that are selling T-shirts or getting people to sign petitions online or asking people to boycott BCS sponsors like Tostitos,” says Sanderson, a Washington lawyer and former campaign finance counsel for Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid. “And we just thought at the end of the day those efforts are good but they’re not going to put in place the framework or apply the right type of pressure to bring about change.”

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13464925