Out on the gridiron this season, teams like Texas Christian, Bowling Green and Northern Illinois have fought to slip into the forbidden landscape of college football by playing in a BCS bowl game. While each of the attempts eventually fell short, the fight for inclusion has moved from the field to conference rooms and Capital Hill.
Officials from the 54 schools not part of the BCS have formed The Coalition for Athletic Reform to make strides away from the current system when the contract ends in 2006. They met twice with representatives of the BCS in the last three months.
At stake is a major slice of the revenue generated from the four major bowl games and the television contracts.
Leading the charge in Washington is Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who held hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is fighting to balance the payouts between the conferences.
Each of the six BCS conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pacific 10 and Southwestern) receive $13.9 million to split among its members for having one team in a BCS game and $17 million if two qualify. Notre Dame, who competes as an independent, is also a member of the BCS.
On the other end of the spectrum, the non-BCS conferences (Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Western Athletic and Sun Belt) are given $1 million each.
“Where BCS conferences stand to receive more than 20 times what the non-BCS conferences get, the resulting competitive disadvantages are unmistakable,” Hatch said.
Since 1998, the BCS programs have shared $450 million, while all the other teams were given just $17 million.
Tulane University President Scott Cowen has faced the up-hill battle of trying to gain acceptance with the big boys. After the school’s football team completed the 1998 regular season 11-0, instead of playing for a national championship, it was sent to the Holiday Bowl to play Brigham Young.
As the driving force behind the coalition, he testified before the Senate committee there is five faults with the BCS, claiming it instituted a two-class system in Division I-A football.
He took aim at the system which promises guaranteed spots to the champions of the BCS conferences, while schools like Bowling Green or Miami University are left fighting to play in the Motor City or GMAC bowls despite each hitting the 10-win mark.
“The BCS restricts competition among individual schools and conferences. In the past, each school competed for spots in each bowl and each conference competed for affiliations with each bowl,” Cowen said. “Now, the schools and conferences in the BCS have agreed with the four major bowls to allocate spots to themselves, eliminating competition for bowl berths among themselves and excluding all other Division I-A schools and conferences.”
He also expressed concern for the lack of an officially sanctioned championship by the NCAA, the financial impact on the two sides, restrictiveness of the current structure and called for a new system which enhances the entire bowl season.
NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand said the talks between the BCS schools and the coalition members said some progress has been made in the talks, but the biggest portion of the payouts should go towards the sides that make the great commitment. He said the current structure was the free market at work.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany testified before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that last year’s national championship shows the system is working to create a game between the top two teams in the country.
“Miami and Ohio State both finished the season undefeated and were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in virtually every poll,” he said. “They paired off in the Fiesta Bowl and gave us one of the greatest college football games ever played.”
Parity has started to descend on college football in the last 20 years since the NCAA started reducing the number of scholarships each program could offer. Former Brigham Young coach LaVell Edwards said the change also means it is time for a new system. He was the first coach to be spurred by the Bowl Alliance, the pre-cursor to the BCS, in 1996.
Despite going 13-1 and being ranked fifth in the polls, the Cougars were left out of the four big bowls and sent to the Cotton Bowl.
“Every person in our country has the opportunity to turn dreams into reality. It’s the reason each of you is here today,” Edwards said before the Senate committee. “The reason I’m here is that because of this flawed system, talented young athletes are denied an opportunity to make their dreams come true. And I believe it’s wrong.”
