“The Bowl Championship Series: Is It Fair And In Compliance With Antitrust Law?” was the Senate Sub-Committee’s title for what can be better known as ”rehashing the same freaking arguments we’ve heard since 1997″.

THE BCS IS UNFAIR!
WE NEED A PLAYOFF!!
THE BCS KILLS PUPPIES!

I had planned on reviewing what was actually argued at these hearings, but it was SSDD ending with Utah Senator Orin Hatch begging the US Justice Department to investigate the potential antitrust violations of the BCS. (Just to Note: I have a limited antitrust background and have done brief research into this before. In my opinion, I don’t believe it is. Then again, antitrust is FAR from the type of law I practice)

Not long after the final words were spoken on the record in Washington, the BCS and all eleven major football conferences completed a lucritive 4 year deal with ESPN for around $500 Million Dollars.  A deal that will keep the current BCS system in place until 2013.

Gordon Monson, a columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, called for the Mountain West Conference to take a stand and not sign the deal. While it would be certainly taking a very bold position, it would also be disastrous for the conference, much like Georgia Tech’s stand against the SEC in 1964 (you think they don’t regret that?). Needless to say, the Mountain West Conference isn’t dumb enough to commit football suicide and give that a shot…they signed the deal last night releasing a statement:

“The Mountain West will continue its efforts for change, including a request for dialogue with representatives of the BCS. Our goal is to ensure the eventual outcome of these endeavors is what our universities and student-athletes need, what the vast majority of American sports fans want, and what is long overdue: an equitable system.”

Listen, I’m all for a playoff and the day that comes I’ll be the first one popping the cork and dancing in my tighty whities ’til the sun comes up. But people need to quit screaming for a playoff right now, because not going to happen. If the university presidents really cared what the people had to say, we would have had one many years ago.

Simply put, these BCS hearings are useless – even if the BCS is found to be an violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the current system blown up, that won’t mean a playoff is the next step. In fact, I’d bet that the old system is more likely to come back into play before a playoff is ever implemented, no matter how much money the bigger schools could potentially lose.

Then, what would happen to those non BCS qualifiers? The Mountain West Conference Champ? They’re stuck playing in the Las Vegas Bowl for a $1 Million payout. The WAC Champ? The Humanitarian for $750,000. Now compare that to the payouts they received this year for having a team qualify for the BCS – each of the Mountain West teams received around $900,000 and their champion Utah took their share of about $3.5 Million. Notice the difference?

Unfortunately, no matter what system has been in place,  it has always been very hard for the small schools to get respect.

Folks, every time this argument comes up, we see the same result: the presidents say no to a playoff, we’re reminded of how it used to be, and it’s clear that the BCS is best system to determine a National Champion for now…at least until the university presidents let off…I’ll have my whities ready.

GatorTrey is a contributor for SpartyandFriends and can be reached at GatorTrey@Spartyandfriends.com

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