Feds Want Playoffs?

[pup]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6479279

And while this statement is 100% true, you know the BCS folks are afraid of this being looked into when they roll with this defense out of the gate:

Bill Hancock, the BCS executive director, was confident the current system complies with the law.

"Goodness gracious, with all that's going on in the world right now and with national and state budgets being what they are, it seems like a waste of taxpayers' money to have the government looking into how college football games are played," he said.

[jb]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6479279

And while this statement is 100% true, you know the BCS folks are afraid of this being looked into when they roll with this defense out of the gate:

Bill Hancock, the BCS executive director, was confident the current system complies with the law.

"Goodness gracious, with all that's going on in the world right now and with national and state budgets being what they are, it seems like a waste of taxpayers' money to have the government looking into how college football games are played," he said.

While I hate the fact that of all the collusion and anti-trust BS screwing us in the world the feds choose this isue, I hope they destroy the conference system as we know it. Time for King Football to die.

[jb]

Michael McCann, a professor at Vermont Law School, has written at length about the possibility of legal challenges to the BCS. In recent weeks, he has laid out his views in the Boston College Law Review and in Sports Illustrated.

“I think this letter is serious in that it’s asking fundamental questions about the BCS and how it comports with federal antitrust law,” McCann said in an interview Wednesday. “The question about why there isn’t a [football] playoff gets at an issue a lot of fans have…. I would say [the Justice Department] is in the fact-finding stage at this point. This [letter] doesn’t mean there will be a case against the BCS, but it certainly sends a message that the Justice Department is interested.”

McCann also said he found it “interesting” that the letter was sent to the NCAA and not the BCS, “because the NCAA likes to emphasize that the BCS is a separate entity.” If a case is brought against the BCS, he noted, it is possible that the NCAA could be named a co-defendant.

“The fact that the letter was sent to President Emmert indicates that the Justice Department believes there’s a connection between the BCS and the NCAA, even if they really are separate entities,” McCann said.

As to whether he thinks there is a legitimate antitrust case to be made against the BCS, McCann is dubious.

“I think it’s a mixed bag as to whether it’s legal or illegal,” McCann said. “It has clear competitive virtues, in that it offers postseason play that hadn’t existed before…. But it also has clear anticompetitive virtues, in that it makes certain teams have a much better chance of playing in the national title game than others…. I don’t know if there’s a legal right to a playoff, either. So, I don’t think it’s a slam-dunk case.”

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011 ... hip_series


http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/lawreviews/bclawreview/

[danwismar]

I hope they destroy the conference system as we know it. Time for King Football to die.

JB...How completely do you want to tear down the status quo? What would you construct to take its place?

The arguments for or against a playoff are fair game, but it sounds like you favor something way more drastic than that. Just curious.

My only argument against a playoff system is that it would mandate a minimum two (8 teams) or 3(16 teams) more games each year (for those that advance) than we have now. The BCS is what made the Boise States and Utahs of he world relevant in CFB. (Funny how Orrin Hatch is quoted in the article as if he's just a terribly concerned senator rather than a Utah politician pandering to his constituents)

[jb]

I hope they destroy the conference system as we know it. Time for King Football to die.

JB...How completely do you want to tear down the status quo? What would you construct to take its place?

I want the conference centric power structure to die as we know it.

AFAIC, the BCS conferences are the means by which boosters are able to control the college presidents and thus the NCAA.

I want the NCAA to run big time CFB post season as they do every other sport.

An 8 team playoff would be agood. A 16 better. But you know, 220, 225, whatever it takes.

[Spin]

I hope they destroy the conference system as we know it. Time for King Football to die.

JB...How completely do you want to tear down the status quo? What would you construct to take its place?

I want the conference centric power structure to die as we know it.

AFAIC, the BCS conferences are the means by which boosters are able to control the college presidents and thus the NCAA.

I want the NCAA to run big time CFB post season as they do every other sport.

An 8 team playoff would be agood. A 16 better. But you know, 220, 225, whatever it takes.

I like it. Take the top 40 or 50 football programs and put them in a super conference. Divide them into regional divisions. And they can play an 8 team playoff.

Put the rest of I-A in geographic divisions, 8 team playoffs. Top 2 or 3 teams move up, bottom 2 or 3 teams of the super conference drop out.

Let them schedule their own non-conference games, and rivalry week.

Cut the current conferences, they're just a money grab anyway. What does a conference do, make out a schedule, penalize idiots, and collect the annual fees and bowl game cash. Nothing but an old-boy system.

That's a place to start...