Can the long arm of the law reach the BCS?
It didn’t seem like the law would really ever get involved in college football just a few short years ago, but today might be a different story. Pressure seems to be mounting and more and more politicians seem to be getting the idea that there is incentive to fight the BCS.
Check out Utah has BCS lawsuit in mind by Lester Munson and Paula Lavigne of ESPN.com. It’s a very interesting read. Here are a few highlights:
“There is no doubt that the BCS is a near monopoly,” said Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College who has focused his research on sports monopolies. “There is no doubt that it uses its power to make unequal payoffs to conferences and schools. And there is no doubt that its opportunities for rewards are not equal. There is a good case to be made.”
Gary Roberts, a law professor at Indiana University who is the editor of the leading text on American sports law, agrees.
Utah’s Attorney General, John Shurtleff, wants a class action lawsuit against the BCS. It’d be interesting to see how many states with BCS conference state schools would join the class.
“I will present the material and a draft of the lawsuit to the meeting of the state attorneys general in June, and will be ready to file suit shortly thereafter,” Shurtleff said. That meeting is in Colorado Springs, Colo.
He said he will try to persuade other states and other universities to join his effort to establish a class action against the BCS, which would multiply the possible consequences for the BCS if Shurtleff and Utah prevail.
At least a few BCS states already have anti-BCS support in Congress.
The Hawaii congressman introduced a resolution in January that calls for an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision playoff and the abolition of the BCS “in the interest of fairness and to bring parity to all NCAA teams.” His co-sponsors from Texas, California, Georgia, Idaho and Utah all represent constituents who have a beef with the BCS. Their resolution is currently awaiting debate in a House subcommittee on higher education.