Congress demands NCAA football playoff system
Like they don’t have enough on their plate. Rep Joe Bartson (R-Texas) along with members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee feel the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is unfair and won’t change unless the all-knowing United States Congress pushes them to fix something they know nothing about.
First off let me make this clear. I really don’t give a hoot.
That said, I’m quite certain the United States Constitution does not give Congress the authority to demand the NCAA make their championship system “fair.” The proposed legislation would make it illegal to promote the national championship game or make a similar representation unless it results from a playoff.
For one reason or another, the NCAA has elected the system they have. Whether it is the correct system or not, I’m not one to judge but can we just skip this one?
A bit more from AP…
The bill has a tough road ahead, given the wide geographic representation and political clout of schools in the six conferences – the ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC – that get automatic BCS bowl bids
The current college bowl system features a championship game between the two top teams in the BCS standings, based on two polls and six computer rankings. Eight other schools play in the Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose bowls.
Under the BCS, the champions of those six big conference get automatic bids, while other conferences don’t. Those six conferences also receive far more money than the other conferences.
On second thought, it may be a little easier for Congress to figure out a playoff system for the six conferences than fixing health care…
Of course college football should come under the purview of the House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee.
It’s right there in the Constitution.
Right next to the part about how health insurance can be mandated by the government.
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Ahhh. Remember when people complained about having congress controlled by one party, and the executive branch controlled by another? Gridlock was supposed to be such a terrible thing. I miss those days. At least this NCAA thing might keep congress from spending a few billion $.
It's obviously way past time to remove the sports anti-trust exemption for sports companies. At least they should get rid of the taxpayer supported non-profit status for the multi-billion dollar NCAA.
Let's be clear on one thing at least. The legislation does not change anything–except one thing–it stops the BCS from calling their game a "championship" game. Now, this makes complete sense to me. Many people call the BCS game a game for the "mythical" national championship anyway. So Congress desires to put the BCS fat cats in their place. I'm all for that. It is an insult every year to some team and its fans that some other team is declared the "champion" when in fact there is some question remaining on the point. The only way to crown a true "champion" in any sport is to do it the old fashioned way–through a championship tournament. Short of that, call it the BCS Bowl game, the "Big Game" or anything they want–just not the "Championship" game with all the insulting implications.