Should government get involved in the BCS ?

[David S]

CONGRESS TO HELP FOOTBALL
Saturday, December 03, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee has announced it has called a hearing on how to repair what it called the "deeply flawed" Bowl Championship Series, designed to crown college football's national champion. "College football is not just an exhilarating sport, but a billion-dollar business that Congress cannot ignore," committee Chairman Joe Barton [R-TX] reportedly said.

The hearing, scheduled for next Wednesday, was termed a "comprehensive review" of the BCS and postseason college football. Barton said he does not have legislation in mind to force a change, but said he hopes congressional hearings will spur discussion and improvements. The supreme irony of this is the fact that, barring a major upset in either of two games being played today (Saturday), this year's championship will indeed be a legitimate showdown between the two acknowledged top contenders for the title, Texas and the University of Southern California.

Unless UT falls to a much-inferior Colorado in the Big Twelve Championship, or USC fails to conquer UCLA in the Pac Ten, the Longhorns and Trojans will face off on January 4th in Rose Bowl, to settle it on the field. In previous years, there has almost always been controversy over the BCS standings, with a third undefeated team claiming it was left out or even leapfrogged by an inferior squad, based solely on arbitrarily drawn-up computer rankings. This has led some pundits to agitate for a playoff system, consisting of a series of games to determine the champion.

[dazzleman]

I'd like to hear their reasons for wanting to get involved.  On the face of it, no.

[Emsworth]

No. The idea that the government should regulate how private sports leagues choose their champions is outrageous. The government has no business getting involved.

[Yates]

No. The idea that the government should regulate how private sports leagues choose their champions is outrageous. The government has no business getting involved.

Exactly.

[A18]

No. The idea that the government should regulate how private sports leagues choose their champions is outrageous. The government has no business getting involved.

Exactly.

Precisely.

I saw the words 'should government' and voted no.

[The Duke]

Congress has every right to regulate businesses that break the law, are monopolistic, or harm conusmers.

The BCS, whatever its flaws, come nowhere near being one of these three things, in fact not only isn't it an abusive business, its not a business at all!

[riceowl]

I voted Duh.

As in; NO!!!!!!!1!!111!

[Sam Spade]

I vote no. 

Of course, this doesn't mean that the BCS is an acceptable way of determining a champion at all. 

[© tweed]

Yes.

The BCS is unconstitutional, it violates the due process clause of the constitution.

and I can actually formulate a fairly ration argument on this one too.

[Jake]

I read the article about this on ESPN and I remember saying WTF over and over. Congress needs to get itself out of Major League Baseball and out of the NCAA.

[J-Mann]

Definitely not.

[ATFFL]

Only if the NCAA asks them to.  Which, quite frankly, it should.

[MasterJedi]

No, they need to change the bowl system but not that way at all.

[Jake]

I cannot wait until this is renogtiated, hopefully without automatic bids for conference champions.

[WalterMitty]

if we had a playoff wed just be arguing about what teams make the playoffs.

for example, if we had a playoff of conference champions, would that make acc #2 worse than big east #1?

[© tweed]

if we had a playoff wed just be arguing about what teams make the playoffs.

for example, if we had a playoff of conference champions, would that make acc #2 worse than big east #1?

But it's unlikely that the best team in the nation wouldn't be included in the top 8.

It's considerably more likely that the best team in the nation isn't included in the top 2.  It happened in 2003.

[Rococo4]

No they shouldnt get involved but the BCS is a joke.  They got lucky it worked out this year.  Ohio State is going to slaughter Notre Dame.

[MAS117]

No. The idea that the government should regulate how private sports leagues choose their champions is outrageous. The government has no business getting involved.

The bowl system sucks yes, but you'd think Congress has better things to do!

[jimrtex]

if we had a playoff wed just be arguing about what teams make the playoffs.

for example, if we had a playoff of conference champions, would that make acc #2 worse than big east #1?

Pac 10, Big "10", Big 12, SEC, and ACC  2 berths each.
Big East, MAC, CUSA, Sunbelt, Mountain West, and WAC  1 berth each.

The MAC and CUSA would play their championship the last week in November.  The Big 12, SEC, and ACC would have the option of their championship game being used in the first round (they get one team in the final .  Alternatively, they cancel their championship and get 2 teams in the first round.

1st round played, 1st week in December.  8 losers, along with all others can be invited to ordinary bowl games.

2nd round, 2nd week in December.  4 losers are paired in New Years bowl games.  4 winners are paired in New Years bowl games.

Semfinals New Years day.

Finals 5 to 11 days later.

Finals, Semifinals, and consolation bowls for quarterfinal losers rotate through 5 sites (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Rose) and one to be determined.

[??????????]

I voted no. But the BCS is still a huge joke.

[MODU]

No.  Of course, who cares about college ball anyway? 

[??????????]

No.  Of course, who cares about college ball anyway? 

Normal people. The No Fun League sucks.

[MODU]

No.  Of course, who cares about college ball anyway? 

Normal people. The No Fun League sucks.

hahaha . . . no, the Normal people in DC yell at Fox Sports for not showing the 1pm Giants/Cowboys game because they were going to show the "local" Redskins game at 4:15pm.  Now THAT sucks . . . oh, and so does college ball.    HAHAHA

[WalterMitty]

No.  Of course, who cares about college ball anyway? 

Normal people. The No Fun League sucks.

i agree completely!

i jst cant get into the nfl.  i keep up with it.  but i cant watch agame.  it is so boooooooring.

most professional sports leagues suck.  money corrupts.

[David S]

Personnaly I would like to see a playoff of the top 4 teams. #1 plays #3 and #2 plays #4. The winners of those two games play each other to decide the championship. That would only add one game to the season and only for the top 2 teams. But in no way do I want government getting into the picture.