BCS system could see potential changes
By Matt Potter
Staff Reporter

TCU Athletics director Eric Hyman said Wednesday he hopes the government will not be forced to intervene with the Bowl Championship Series, but said that the current system brings up fairness issues and needs to be more inclusive.

“I’ve heard some of the senators are very critical of the BCS because of its exclusiveness,” Hyman said.

The Bowl Championship Series shuts out too many schools in its goal of crowning a college football champion and needs to be repaired, senators told representatives of the bowl system Wednesday.

Created in 1998 by the six most powerful college conferences, the BCS guarantees that the champions of those conferences will play in one of the four most lucrative postseason bowl games, leaving only two at-large berths.

This year, TCU is 8-0 but was only 12th in the latest BCS standings and could be shut out of a lucrative bowl.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen yet,” Hyman said. “We still have four games left, so we’re not there yet.”

The projected revenue for the four 2004 BCS games is $118 million, but only about $6 million will go to the non-BCS schools unless one of them qualifies for a major bowl game.

“I think the BCS is capitalism at its finest, and when the Big 10 takes the money to the Big 10 from the BCS, then its socialism at its finest,” Hyman said. “I think it’s going to be more inclusive than exclusive in the future.”

Division I-A football is the only college sport not to have a playoff system.

In the 20 years before the BCS started, only one school other than Notre Dame that is not currently in the Big East, ACC, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 or Pac-10 played in one of the series’ four bowls.

“I don’t know if you guys know how it looks to fans of teams that aren’t part of this system,” said Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. “It looks un-American. It really does. It looks unfair. It looks like a rigged deal.”

NCAA President Myles Brand said he is open to a system that would be more inclusive, but does not believe that there is a need for radical changes or adoption of a playoff system.

Harvey Perlman, chancellor of the University of Nebraska, said the current system is the fairest way to determine a national champion and provides adequate opportunity for schools outside the BCS to play their way into contention.

A team that finishes in the top 12 of the BCS standings is eligible for consideration, and a team in the top six automatically gets a spot.

Keith Tribble, chairman of the Football Bowl Association and chief executive officer of the Orange Bowl Committee, said the bowl games are attracting more fans, benefiting their host communities and generating more money than ever, paying out $800 million in the last five years.

“For the past 90 years, bowl games have been the heart and soul of college football. It has never been healthier,” Tribble said.

Tulane President Scott Cowen disagrees. In 1998, the Green Wave went through the season undefeated but were shut out of the top-tier games. A year later, the same thing happened to Marshall.

Cowen’s group is scheduled to meet with the presidents of the conferences in the BCS system on Nov. 16 to discuss potential changes to the BCS.

“If they are allowed to continue that kind of monopoly, they will suffer the same fate of any other monopoly in the country. They will become bloated, inefficient ... and eventually kill the golden goose,” said Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.