Obama Wants Playoffs

Washington » Two high-ranking senators are demanding a peek at the inner workings of college football’s Bowl Championship Series, just the latest move in an ongoing campaign to force changes in the way the national champion is crowned.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the BCS executive director, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Finance Committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said they have “ongoing concerns” that BCS leaders have not been forthcoming in explaining how their system operates.

“Legal and antitrust concerns aside, I think it’s clear that the BCS is fundamentally unfair and harmful to schools, students, college football fans and consumers throughout the country,” Hatch said in a statement. “At the very least, I think the architects of the BCS should provide the public with more information to dispel the notion that the system is explicitly designed to favor certain teams while disfavoring others.”

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14640573

A political group founded last year to oppose the existing college football playoff system struggled to raise funds in first year of operation.

According to Federal Elections Commission (FEC) reports filed by Playoff PAC, the committee only raised $5,974 in cash and in-kind contributions last year and had only three contributions of $200 or more.

The group was founded in September amid much fanfare on Capitol Hill because it was backed by former Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), who oppose the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system that critics say make it almost impossible for small schools to win a national championship.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/80725-anti-bcs-group-struggles-to-raise-funds-in-first-year

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

Utah became a central character during the 2000s in the volatile debate over the way college football decides a national champion.

The debate smoldered throughout American culture even during a painful recession at the end of the decade. If college football, now in its own second century, evolves from a bowl system into a playoff system, people of the Beehive State will have their fingerprints all over the ground-breaking shift of the status quo. If the Bowl Championship Series — disliked by 85 percent of Americans in a Gallup Poll — is toppled, America can thank key Utah figures and events for doing a chunk of the work.

This testy fight involves billions of dollars and pits traditional storied bowl games and six elite athletic conferences in a fight to keep a firm grip on money, prestige and the road to national titles away from leagues like the Mountain West, of which Utah and BYU are charter members.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705354693/2000s-The-First-Decade-2-Utah-at-front-of-BCS-battles.html

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

Like everyone else who’s experienced it, the senior senator from Utah couldn’t help but marvel at the huge video board hanging from the Cowboys Stadium roof. He could see blades of artificial grass and beads of sweat rolling down players’ faces.

“Really, really unbelievable,” he said. “Amazing.”

Even less believable was the final score glowing on that board last Saturday: BYU 14, Oklahoma 13. And as long as we’re talking picture clarity, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) had one more thought:

“If this doesn’t make my case against the BCS, I don’t know what does.”

And now, a few words for Senator Orrin Hatch.

Please. Don’t help.

If you have been one of the few people listening to Senator Hatch lately, you know that college BCS system just sours his milk. Yeah, yeah. Get in line. Most of us hate the BCS. Most of us have hated the BCS for years. Also, we hate bad trades, stupid contracts and the rising price of tickets at our stadiums. But none of those are going to be stopped by a harumphing senator trying to sound like the people’s champion, either.

Look, you can get a better argument against the BCS — and a basket of wings — in any sports bar in any city in America, which evidently means there are a LOT of potential senators there at Happy Hour. As electing champions goes, the BCS barely beats the tossing of a dart toward the NCAA conference standings.

It’s been said before: If the BCS is such a grand idea, why doesn’t the NCAA use it for all of its sports? Why doesn’t the NFL? The NBA? The NHL?

Because it’s bone stupid, that’s why. But it also manages to keep the big money in the hands of the big conference. And guess what? Every now and then, it gives a senator a chance to use his deep, concerned voice.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/pointafter/2009/07/political-noise-wont-bring-about-a-playoff-system-for-college-football.html

WASHINGTON — Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch urged the Justice Department on Tuesday to investigate college football’s Bowl Championship Series for what he views as violations of antitrust laws.

Hatch made the comment after conducting a standing-room-only hearing in the Senate subcommittee with antitrust oversight, where he serves as the top Republican.

“Frankly, there’s an arrogance about the BCS that just drives me nuts,” he told reporters. “Hopefully this hearing will open the door to have some people reconsider their positions. And if nothing else, the Justice Department ought to be looking at this.” He said that it’s clear to him that the BCS is in violation of antitrust laws.

Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said: “We’re aware of his request and will respond as appropriate.”

Hatch said that the BCS is exploiting a position of power, “and it’s just not right.”

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2009/07/08/bcs_hatch_investigation.html

Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
DATE: July 7, 2009
TIME: 02:30 PM
ROOM: Dirksen-226

http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3951

NOTICE OF SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing entitled “The Bowl Championship Series: Is it Fair and In Compliance with Antitrust Law?” on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.
Chairman Kohl will preside.

By order of the Chairman

Witness List

Hearing before the
Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights

on

“The Bowl Championship Series: Is it Fair and In Compliance with Antitrust Law?”

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226
2:30 p.m.

Michael Young
President, University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

Barry Brett, Esq.
Partner, Troutman Sanders
New York, New York

Harvey Perlman
Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska

William Monts III, Esq.
Partner, Hogan and Hartson
Washington, DC