College Football 2011: Department of Justice Asking for Playoff; Should They?

 Fox Sports posted an article from the Associated Press Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice is actively asking the NCAA, "Why is there no playoff in college football?" 

The DOJ's antitrust chief, Christine Varney, sent a letter to NCAA President Mark Emmert, asking why there's no playoff for football when virtually every other sport controlled by the NCAA holds a playoff.

John Walters continues to report in a separate article that Attorney General Eric Holder, "referenced both bin Laden and college football's Bowl Championship Series when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday." 

He went on to write, "First, Holder explained that Sunday’s raid on the Al Qaeda kingpin’s hideout was a 'kill-or-capture mission' and then implied that the BCS was next up in the crosshairs."

There's no denying it folks, the U.S. government is getting involved in college football. 

At the very end of Walters' article he writes, "Don't forget that President Obama has said he would 'throw my weight around a little bit' to nudge college football in the direction of a playoff.

"Consider it nudged."

A playoff is the goal. The BCS is on notice. 

Major college football will very shortly have to defend its actions to the federal government and clarify how the BCS is a fair, "equal opportunity" system that benefits all of college football better than a playoff.

Does the U.S. Government Belong in College Football?

We're only a few days removed from the major news that Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid conducted by notorious SEAL Team Six in Pakistan. 

Considering that we are nearly 10 years past the horrific events of 9/11, finally killing the mastermind of the operation is about as big as it gets. It was a long time coming.

But we still have an economy that's struggling to recover from a major recession.  Only days before the bin Laden raid, much of the southern portion of the U.S. was decimated by one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in recorded history. 

There are wide-sweeping, wholesale changes going on in the Middle East, most of which are violent.  We still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We're involved with the ongoing situation in Libya (via NATO). 

Shall I continue?

The point is, this is a crazy time in our history with a lot of really important issues facing our elected officials, and the public is looking for answers to those problems.  These are issues (among others, such as gas prices) that affect the everyday lives of our citizens. 

Regardless of how people feel about college football, or if they think about it at all, these other issues affect the way the average Joe lives his life.

Whether college football has a playoff or not really doesn't affect the average citizen on a daily basis. 

Is this what we want our government spending tax dollars on?  We all may love college football, but in the grand scheme of things, do we care about it so much that we really want it taking a place among these other pressing issues on our government's agenda? 

Perhaps more importantly, do we want government sticking its fingers into one of our favorite forms of entertainment?  Is that their place? 

College Football is a Business, and Laws Do Apply.

As I mentioned in another article, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Division I-A college football generated $2.2 billion in 2009. I also briefly touched on just a few of the entities that benefit from this massive flow of money.

For the casual fan, college football is a great way to spend Saturday afternoons from September to December, and is New Year's Day tradition for many. 

To television networks, bowl sponsors, athletic apparel companies, vendors and those of us who are fortunate enough to get paid for spouting our opinions out to the rest of the world (among many others), college football is more than just a game. 

It's a means to make money, and it's business. 

For the universities involved, it's also big business.  Returning to the Department of Education's website, a simple search reveals that three schools in the state of Texas (Texas A&M, Texas Tech and UT) combined to bring in $162,059,252 in 2009. 

Admittedly, I can't verify that every penny of that money ended up back at those schools, but that's the amount of revenue reportedly generated by the football programs of those three schools. 

Seven institutions in the state of Florida (Chipola College, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Central Florida, University of Florida and University of South Florida) combined to generate $128,606,235 from football.

Search all you want, but there should be no question that college football is a big business that benefits a lot of people. 

Because it is such a big business and because it plays a significant part in the American economy (think of all of the jobs, from vendors to websites to broadcast analysts that make money from football), it is certainly something the Department of Justice would take seriously, particularly if that business is operated in a manner that unfairly and/or unethically stifles fair competition for those dollars or does not benefit the consumer.

To the Heart of the Matter.

Football fans well know there are six "BCS AQ" conferences. 

The SEC, ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 all send their conference champions directly to one of the five Bowl Championship Series bowls—the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and BCS National Championship—highlighting the end of the football season.

You can do some first-grade math to figure out that five bowls times two teams equals 10 teams that will participate in those bowls every year.  Six of those positions are automatically taken up by the six "AQ" conference champions. 

That leaves four spots to be taken by either teams from the AQ conferences that were very good, but didn't win their conference title, or by non-AQ conference teams that had good enough records to be invited to participate in those bowls.

No team from a non-BCS AQ conference broke into a BCS bowl game until Utah managed to do it in 2005 (Fiesta Bowl vs. Pittsburgh).  Notre Dame made it in 2006, but they hardly count, as they have a specific deal worked out with the BCS as an Independent Conference that allows them into a BCS bowl if they meet certain criteria. 

Boise State (WAC) made it onto the BCS bowl scene in 2007, 2010 and 2011.  TCU (MWC) was selected in 2010 and 2011. Utah (MWC) made it in 2005 and 2009. Hawaii (WAC) showed up in 2008.

However, none of these teams have ever been selected to play for the National Championship, despite the fact that some of them ended the regular season undefeated.

We love to debate the merit of such programs for inclusion in such high-profile bowl games.  Their records are undeniable, but the strength of their schedule (or lack thereof) is a sticking point that keeps fans on opposite ends of the debate. 

That really doesn't matter to the Department of Justice, though.  At least, not to the same degree as it does to fans. Their concern will be whether or not the BCS is a system that allows equal access by those schools to the biggest money events of the season—the BCS bowls.

Now keep in mind that figuring the strength of a schedule is somewhat subjective. 

The computer models will often determine one thing, while the coaches who vote on the BCS standings may think something different. The average of the three polls (Coaches, Harris and computer models) determines the standings. 

That means human perceptions can overrule whatever the computers determine and skew the ultimate standings one way or another.  

Whatever you or I may think about the schedules navigated by the likes of Utah or TCU, in a legal setting, there may be an argument that the system isn't accurate or fair in determining that these schools aren't doing enough to warrant a shot at the biggest prize in college football.

Whether there should or should not be a playoff is a debate that has raged for years and could rage on for years more if there isn't outside interference.  The lines are drawn and strongly divided. 

Make no mistake about this though, the Department of Justice doesn't care what you and I think or want in regards to a playoff.  They care about whether or not business is being conducted fairly and with equal opportunity for financial success. 

Regardless of how silly it may seem that a government entity should spend tax money pushing their way into "amateur athletics", it's their duty to investigate the dealings of business.

And college football is certainly big business.