Obama Wants Playoffs

WASHINGTON — 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.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4870657

WASHINGTON – Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is asking President Obama to recognize the championship Boise State University football team at the White House for its undefeated season.

In a Jan. 14, 2010 letter to the president, Hatch said the Boise State Broncos are every bit as deserving of that invitation to the White House as Bowl Champion Series champion Alabama, especially since both teams were undefeated and the NCAA has not instituted a playoff system to decide a true national champion.

http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=2e992a81-1b78-be3e-e040-5c57d88ff024

• Football fever. Thursday’s BCS football championship kicked 30.8 million viewers to ABC, the highest-rated college title game since 2006. NBC‘s NFL wild-card playoff claimed 32.1 million Saturday.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-01-14-nielchatter14_ST_N.htm

When the Division I-A head coaches met at the AFCA convention Tuesday, they discussed several important issues facing the sport.

There was talk about academic reform. There was talk about dealing with agents and their influence on athletes. There was talk of player safety and concussions. And of course, there was some talk about the controversial Bowl Championship Series.

American Football Coaches Association executive director Grant Teaff presented the results of a survey of all 120 Division I-A coaches during the meeting. What was found was not surprising: a majority of coaches want to keep the system the way it is.

“Right now, we have a good system,” said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, whose team has played in three BCS championship games. “That’s not to say we won’t improve it. How it will improve over time we’ll find out, but I wouldn’t be in favor of scraping what we do. There are too many things to keep in mind, bowls, student athlete welfare, all the rest. I wouldn’t start over.”

Teaff said 73 percent of the coaches want to keep the current BCS system the way it is. He also said that 96 of the 120 coaches voted to keep transparency in the final regular-season coaches poll. And 95.7 want to maintain the final coaches poll voting the BCS champion No. 1.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/os-coaches-convention-issue-0113-20100112,0,1073733.story

Ohio State president Gordon Gee has offered colorful quotes over the years about college football’s Bowl Championship Series (BCS). He once declared, in Charlton Heston-like fashion, that he would cling to the BCS status quo until playoff supporters wrenched it from his “cold, dead hands.” Weeks ago, he provided another memorable line in a Toledo Blade interview: “[E]veryone is being rewarded in this [BCS] system, plus there’s a mystery to it. I love the elegance of the mystery.”

For Mr. Gee and other men of mystery, there’s much to love about the BCS.

Consider the BCS’s opaque finances. Those must be a Gee favorite. The BCS controls an enormous amount of money – its members signed a four-year contract with broadcaster ESPN rumored to be worth $500 million, a $180 million increase over its previous deal. Despite the fact that its revenues impact public education budgets, the BCS has never revealed its total income or revenue distribution scheme under this new, larger contract. And precious little information is available about the group’s spending.

http://www.realclearsports.com/articles/2010/01/09/mystery_of_bcs_not_much_to_love_about_96597.html

With the BCS ramping up efforts to improve its public image, it might want to consider bringing in Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody as a spokesman.

The 365-pound All-American is no fan of the idea of a major college football playoff.

“That’s stupid,” Cody said earlier this week. “I don’t think there should be any playoff. Why should there be a playoff? I mean, in the NFL they’re getting paid to play off and stuff.”

Alabama guard Mike Johnson was lukewarm to the idea, but he could understand why others might want the BCS to expand.

“I can’t complain, coming from one of the better BCS conferences,” Johnson said. “Anytime you’re from the SEC and you go undefeated, you know you’re going to be in (the BCS championship) game. It seems we always get the benefit of the doubt.”

Longhorns defensive lineman Lamarr Houston is a playoff supporter and even offered a way to do it. He said the month most teams spend waiting to play in a BCS game could be used for playoff games.

“I’m sure if you had a couple extra bye weeks in there, maybe two weeks after the season give (the players) a break and then have a championship game in mid-January, I don’t think it would be much different from playing in a bowl game,” he said. “It’d benefit all of college football more and you could have a true champion with no complaints.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/college/texas/6804842.html

Don’t expect Congress to act anytime soon to outlaw the increasingly unpopular BCS, but many insiders say the effort by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) to pass legislation leading to a college football playoff system will eventually succeed.

President Obama, who wants to see a playoff system, remains ready to sign a bill. Aides admit it’s not a big priority, but Obama nonetheless sees the BCS as unfair to smaller schools in lesser conferences and supports efforts to scrap the BCS.

“The BCS has been unpopular from the start, but now the public finally realizes that it’s nothing but a house of stacked decks. Depending on which poll you look at, the BCS’ approval rating is as low as 10%. To quote one of my favorite American statesmen, ‘When you get that low, you’re down to paid staffers and blood relatives,’” said Matt Sanderson, who runs Playoff PAC, a nonpartisan outfit committed to dumping the BCS.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — The new BCS executive director officially began his tenure Thursday by saying the often-criticized postseason represents a consensus among the 120 schools that play major college football.

Bill Hancock said a playoff at college football’s highest level would lead to more injuries, conflict with final exams, kill the bowl system and diminish the importance of the regular season.

“I know this is not completely popular, but I believe in it,” Hancock told reporters Thursday at the Football Writers Association of America awards breakfast. “I believe it is in the best interest of the universities.

“College football has never been better and I believe the BCS is part of that.”

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4805271

Thursday night’s championship game between Alabama and Texas, featuring head coaches paid $4 million and $5.1 million, respectively, will be an occasion for more hand-wringing about the “commercialization” of college football. That is a hardy perennial.

The 1920s, which worshiped stars such as Red Grange and coaches such as Knute Rockne, saw a boom in construction of capacious stadiums. Southern Methodist University built its stadium 13 years before it built its library. The decade ended with a 1929 Carnegie Foundation report ineffectually deploring the “corruption” of grafting this lucrative entertainment industry onto academia.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/06/AR2010010603914.html

A CNN poll released today shows 59% of college football fans surveyed believe a playoff system should determine who plays for the national championship. The results are based on telephone interviews with 463 Americans who consider themselves college football fans. Only 36% were in favor of the current bowl format (5% had no opinion).

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/01/cnn-poll-results-show-support-for-college-football-playoff-system.html