Big Brother is Watching

Congress has decided to take a break from war, poverty, education, and global warming, to tackle a problem we can all wrap our minds around: the BCS. It may not be the simplest formula in the world, but we all understand the results: two teams from major conferences play for the mythical national title while at least one other team cries about not being included. It does not happen every year (see 2002, 2005), but it is more rule than exception.

Three Congressman from Hawaii, Idaho, and Georgia have asked the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division to take a lot at the situation. I wonder if Senator John Sherman, an Ohio Republican, would approve of his eponymous statute being used in this fashion. But, I digress.

As the article points out, each man represents a portion of a state that believes it was recently snubbed from the BCS title game. No surprise there.

While I agree that the BCS is all about money, changing the rules so that Hawaii could have played Ohio State or LSU in the title game is ridiculous. And, you can kiss that money goodbye because no one is going to watch that game. Networks and advertisers are not going to pony up the dough if the likelihood of a WAC school playing for the title increases dramatically. I am willing to bet most fans do not want to watch it, either (just look at the ratings).

In my mind, this argument is more likely to lead to an exclusion of “mid-majors,” rather than inclusion. The six power conferences hate sharing the money. What is stopping those six conferences from forming a new Division where they play amongst themselves and crown a champion? Nothing that I know.

Call it Division of Six.

Remember, the NCAA does not crown the national champion in football. There is precedent for this type of system, too. The old school bowl games were simply agreements between conferences. As far as I know, there is nothing stopping the six power players from getting together again and agreeing to play their own national title game.

Imagine the money that would roll in for that. The college presidents could manage the television rights and divide it equally among the conferences with payouts going to the game participants. I bet the major bowl games would play along, too.