Hatch calls for BCS hearings in Sports Illustrated
Sen. Orrin Hatch is gearing up to to take on the BCS, the system by which college football determines its national champion and participants in its most high profile bowl games.
In an essay in the forthcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, the Utah Republican said there has long been complaints about the BCS and, specifically, teams not being selected for bowl games.
“It seems every year an obviously deserving team is left out of the BCS due to its arcane and, to put it bluntly, biased nature,” Hatch wrote.
Hatch said leaders in Washington “are catching on to – and even echoing – the negative feelings about the BCS.”
And Congress is taking action, Hatch said. The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the BCS in May. The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, of which Hatch is a member, will hold hearings in the next month “to investigate the antitrust implications of the system.”
The Republican addresses the argument of why Congress is tackling on the BCS at a time when there are other important issues on the table. He says there are “serious questions” surrounding the legality of the system.
“The Sherman Anti Trust Act prohibits contracts, combinations or conspiracies designed to reduce competition,” Hatch wrote. “I don’t think a more accurate description of what the BCS does exists.”
Hatch also goes on to criticize the way teams are awarded money for being a part of the BCS.
“Every team from a preferred conference automatically
receives a share from an enormous pot of revenue generated by the BCS, even if they fail to win a single game,” Hatch wrote. “On the other hand, teams from the lessfavored conferences are guaranteed to receive a much smaller share, no matter how many games they win.”
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