bigboydan
08-20-2003, 01:16 AM
Congressional hearing scheduled to weigh BCS Aug. 19, 2003
By Dennis Dodd
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Dennis your opinion!
The House Judiciary Committee has tentatively scheduled hearings next month into the fairness of the Bowl Championship Series, SportsLine.com has learned.
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The hearings would be initiated, in part, through initiatives prompted by Tulane president Scott Cowen. Cowen has organized a group of presidents from non-BCS leagues to fight the BCS.
While a witness list is still being drawn up, the committee is almost certain to invite Cowen and possibly NCAA president Myles Brand to testify. Access to BCS bowls and revenue from those bowls is almost exclusively limited to the 63 schools in the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac-10, Big Ten, Big East and Notre Dame.
Congress is currently out of session. A Congressional source said the hearings could come as soon as the first week of September.
"My view is that we need greater access," Cowen said Tuesday afternoon during a phone interview. "I personally like a playoff but there are ways to get better access other than a playoff. The way the system is constructed right now it's not flexible, it's not robust enough."
BCS commissioners have repeatedly said they believe they are protected legally against anti-trust challenges. However, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said the issue is worth looking into.
"Sworn, on-the-record testimony is not a concern from my perspective," said Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg, who will become BCS chairman next summer. "The BCS is quite transparent, how it works, the rules are all public."
If the two parties do wind up in court, Cowen said, "There's enough there to keep a judge and jury busy for quite a while."
If the hearings are in early September they would be conducted before a Sept. 8 meeting between the BCS presidents, non-BCS presidents and Brand in Chicago. Cowen said the proximity of the hearing is coincidental.
"There are several issues that have to give them (BCS) pause," Cowen said.
"First, this is not playing out in the public forum. I don't think people like the BCS and what it stands for. Secondly, once Congress shows some interest it's rising to a level on the radar screen that you'd probably rather not have. Third, a group of schools not in the BCS joining together for the first time. The fourth component is that fans want something different than the BCS."
The momentum for the current BCS system was created in 1996 when the Western Athletic Conference sought hearings that summer but was rebuffed by Congress. Legislators basically told WAC presidents to figure it out themselves, that such athletic matters didn't belong in Congress.
"Things are substantially different (than then)," Cowen said. "We've been living under the BCS for five years."
However, the lucrative nature of the BCS has forced what amounts to a rebellion by non-BCS schools and the scrutiny of the government. The BCS will produce $89.9 million in revenue this year. Only $6.6 million of that will be distributed between non-BCS schools and I-AA conferences.
"We feel like what we do is defensible and constructive or else we wouldn't do it," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said earlier this month. "There is nothing on the other side of the argument."
The BCS was created in the summer of 1998 as a way to ensure a No. 1 vs. No. 2 championship game via a complicated poll and computer system. The commissioners of the six BCS conferences and Notre Dame partner with ABC to include the four major bowls -- Orange, Fiesta, Sugar and Rose.
By Dennis Dodd
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Dennis your opinion!
The House Judiciary Committee has tentatively scheduled hearings next month into the fairness of the Bowl Championship Series, SportsLine.com has learned.
Advertisement
The hearings would be initiated, in part, through initiatives prompted by Tulane president Scott Cowen. Cowen has organized a group of presidents from non-BCS leagues to fight the BCS.
While a witness list is still being drawn up, the committee is almost certain to invite Cowen and possibly NCAA president Myles Brand to testify. Access to BCS bowls and revenue from those bowls is almost exclusively limited to the 63 schools in the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac-10, Big Ten, Big East and Notre Dame.
Congress is currently out of session. A Congressional source said the hearings could come as soon as the first week of September.
"My view is that we need greater access," Cowen said Tuesday afternoon during a phone interview. "I personally like a playoff but there are ways to get better access other than a playoff. The way the system is constructed right now it's not flexible, it's not robust enough."
BCS commissioners have repeatedly said they believe they are protected legally against anti-trust challenges. However, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said the issue is worth looking into.
"Sworn, on-the-record testimony is not a concern from my perspective," said Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg, who will become BCS chairman next summer. "The BCS is quite transparent, how it works, the rules are all public."
If the two parties do wind up in court, Cowen said, "There's enough there to keep a judge and jury busy for quite a while."
If the hearings are in early September they would be conducted before a Sept. 8 meeting between the BCS presidents, non-BCS presidents and Brand in Chicago. Cowen said the proximity of the hearing is coincidental.
"There are several issues that have to give them (BCS) pause," Cowen said.
"First, this is not playing out in the public forum. I don't think people like the BCS and what it stands for. Secondly, once Congress shows some interest it's rising to a level on the radar screen that you'd probably rather not have. Third, a group of schools not in the BCS joining together for the first time. The fourth component is that fans want something different than the BCS."
The momentum for the current BCS system was created in 1996 when the Western Athletic Conference sought hearings that summer but was rebuffed by Congress. Legislators basically told WAC presidents to figure it out themselves, that such athletic matters didn't belong in Congress.
"Things are substantially different (than then)," Cowen said. "We've been living under the BCS for five years."
However, the lucrative nature of the BCS has forced what amounts to a rebellion by non-BCS schools and the scrutiny of the government. The BCS will produce $89.9 million in revenue this year. Only $6.6 million of that will be distributed between non-BCS schools and I-AA conferences.
"We feel like what we do is defensible and constructive or else we wouldn't do it," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said earlier this month. "There is nothing on the other side of the argument."
The BCS was created in the summer of 1998 as a way to ensure a No. 1 vs. No. 2 championship game via a complicated poll and computer system. The commissioners of the six BCS conferences and Notre Dame partner with ABC to include the four major bowls -- Orange, Fiesta, Sugar and Rose.