Sports

Government Enforced Playoff for NCAA Football?

Like I said before, a playoff would be change that I can believe in. Here’s the lede from NBC Sports:

“The incoming chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said he will hold hearings and possibly subpoena NCAA officials, college presidents, players, coaches and athletics directors in an effort to force a playoff in Division 1-A football, USA Today reports.”

Also from this story:

“Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is moving forward with an inquiry into whether the BCS system violates antitrust laws.”

Yes, that’s the Attorney General of Utah, the state that was perhaps most deleteriously affected by the BCS this year. I for one will be really interested to see how these efforts pan out.

11 Comments

  • Matt Svoboda

    I want a playoff, but not so bad to make our ‘sometimes ridiculous’ government interfering. Does the government not have enough to do? Is college football really a primary matter?

  • Darius T

    While they are at it, they should force the BCS to go back to a network station. ESPN bought the rights for it, which will make millions of Americans unable to watch it. The NCAA punishes their players for getting any money or reward, but then they sell-out their sport at the first chance they get.

  • Chris H

    If the United States government does something like this I will never again vote for a Federal candidate.

    Not that there is much reason to now…

  • Scott

    Darius,

    My favorite example of what you just mentioned is the hypocrisy involved when the NCAA market’s a player’s jersey (without the name – to “protect the athlete”) then markets the jersey for a profit. How much does said athlete get? Well, they’re given limits for how many hours they can work a week at their job.

    The problem with ESPN getting the rights to broadcast the games is their direct involvement in determining who gets to play in the games. How many of their talking heads have votes in the polls? How do their decisions to pick up certain games for prime-time viewing slots on Thursdays affect & their ability to talk up certain programs affect nation-wide voters?

  • Darius T

    Great points, Scott. It’s such a racket… I would love to see a class-action suit against the NCAA and ESPN. I absolutely hate the NCAA… especially after they went all politically correct and forced teams to change their mascots. P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C

  • Scott

    In my first career I worked with a D-I strength & conditioning staff. Granted, this was only ACC football…. but the stories that I could tell! The NCAA is a money making machine, no different than any other big business. However, it labors under the false pretension that its existence perpetuates the “sancity” and “best interests” of amatuer sports.

  • Nathan

    The government should subpoena themselves for conduct unbecoming and then hire a firing squad.

    Unbelievable! Who cares about a College Football playoff (other than all of us who opine on this blog and others).

    Next thing you know they will want a billion dollars to bailout the poor schools (see Utah) that did not get voted number one by the BCS.

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