Justice Department opens antitrust inquiry into BCS

[chris]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/05/04/nca ... tml?hpt=T2

(CNN) -- In a letter to the NCAA on Wednesday, the Justice Department said it has opened an antitrust inquiry into the current Bowl Championship Series system, which excludes some athletic conferences from the formula for choosing schools to play in major bowl games.

[bluehenbillk]

Nice. This is happening now by the way because the state of Utah Attorney General was about to file am antitrust lawsuit against the BCS. If you know anything about antitrust law - and I've seen & listened to a number of lawyers speak on the BCS matter - this is the BCS' worst nightmare because it is in the truest sense a restraint of fair trade and grossly violates antitrust law. Granted the MWC was a little stronger before the addition of Boise St and the defections of BYU, TCU & Utah, but they have a helluva case.

What it means? Playoffs will be coming soon. Remember in the world of sliding levels of university endowments the last thing university presidents wanna see is having to payout damages in an antitrust lawsuit - which remember are triple damages....

[SuperHornet]

About freaking TIME this happens.

BTW, this is something the B(C)$ (and, indirectly, the NCAA) should be REALLY scared about. As anyone who followed the USFL suit knows, antitrust law specifies that damages are TREBLED. Given the fact that there are a LOT of FBS programs who are essentially shut out by the current process, so long as they don't have a crazy jury like the one who gave $1 to the USFL (tripled to $3 under the antitrust law), they're going to be freaking bankrupt real quick.

And if Utah files a SEPARATE suit? We could be looking at worse.

[bluehenbillk]

Classic response from the BCS:

Bill Hancock, the executive director of the BCS, who was copied in on the letter, said he was confident that the BCS complies with the law.

"Goodness gracious, with all that's going on in the world right now and with national and state budgets being what they are, it seems like a waste of taxpayers' money to have the government looking into how college football games are played," he said.

Boy, we've heard that line before, "Move on, nothing to see here". They're just scared that when a court would actually look into it they'd rule the obvious....

[SuperHornet]

Classic response from the BCS:

Bill Hancock, the executive director of the BCS, who was copied in on the letter, said he was confident that the BCS complies with the law.

"Goodness gracious, with all that's going on in the world right now and with national and state budgets being what they are, it seems like a waste of taxpayers' money to have the government looking into how college football games are played," he said.

Boy, we've heard that line before, "Move on, nothing to see here". They're just scared that when a court would actually look into it they'd rule the obvious....

This.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

[Mountaineer]

KEEP YOUR GODDAMN GOVERNMENT HANDS OFF MY FOOTBALL!!!!

[henfan]

KEEP YOUR GODDAMN GOVERNMENT HANDS OFF MY FOOTBALL!!!!

Seems like an odd thing to write, coming from a fan of a school who receives state and federal funding. A little like the teabaggers telling the Feds to keep their hands off their Medicare.

Oh, the irony!

[Wedgebuster]

KEEP YOUR GODDAMN GOVERNMENT HANDS OFF MY FOOTBALL!!!!

Seems like an odd thing to write, coming from a fan of a school who receives state and federal funding. A little like the teabaggers telling the Feds to keep their hands off their Medicare.

Oh, the irony!

Anyways, wondering if this could possibly good news for the Sirens??

[chris]

Seems like an odd thing to write, coming from a fan of a school who receives state and federal funding. A little like the teabaggers telling the Feds to keep their hands off their Medicare.

Oh, the irony!

Anyways, wondering if this could possibly good news for the Sirens??

[MrTitleist]

This was my post on eGriz about it:
It may not be an important issue with everything going on, but with as much money is flowing in and out of college athletics, and possibly into college football players' hands, it's going to get the attention of the government real quick.. especially with these being publicly funded universities.

[Mountaineer]

Irony

Yes.