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Decision 2008: Should the BCS Stay or Go?

By Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore, and Howard Wasserman

Although there are obviously more important issues at stake in the 2008 Presidential Election, the elimination of the computer-oriented "Bowl Championship Series" system (better known as the BCS) would be preferred by one of the two persons who will become our next President. In last night's Monday Night Football telecast of the Eagles-Cowboys game, Senator Barack Obama said:

"I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. I'm fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other. Get eight teams ? the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a National Champion."

Supporters of the BCS would probably disagree with Senator Obama, noting that the BCS--which came into existence 10 years ago--uses a complicated math formula for a reason: to ensure fairness when evaluating teams that play opponents of varying quality. The many critics of the BCS, however, would respond that the BCS is much more about making money for schools, conferences, TV networks, merchants, and many others (though not the players on the field) than about determining who should be considered the best teams. I should note that our blog has featured some excellent and critical commentary on the BCS -- see Geoff's "BCmesS: The 2008 Edition", Rick's "The BCS System: Could it be an Illegal Restraint on Trade?" and Greg's "BCS: A Collection of Haves and Have Nots".

One quick background point: although it is often linked to the NCAA, the BCS is not formally part of the NCAA. It is a committee of persons associated with the 11 Division 1-A conferences as well as Notre Dame who manage the 5 bowl games and who execute contracts with companies to sponsor and broadcast those games. In theory, the NCAA could promulgate a playoff system like the one mentioned by Senator Obama and it could effectively replace the BCS. But that doesn't appear to be happenning anytime soon, though perhaps today's election could change that.

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on November 04, 2008 (boomark / email).