BCS is May Be Under Congressional Anti-Trust Investigation

The AP has the story (via The Huffington Post):

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department says the Obama administration is considering a number of steps that would look into the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series.

Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote in a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch Friday that the department will determine whether to open an investigation into whether the BCS violates antitrust laws. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter.

Hatch, a Republican from Utah, had requested such an investigation.

Weich said the administration is looking at several other options, including asking the Federal Trade Commission to review the legality of the BCS under consumer protection laws.

Several lawmakers and many critics want the BCS to switch to a playoff system, rather than the ratings system it uses to determine the teams that play in the college football championship.

Basically what this means is a congressman from Utah feels non Automatic Qualifying conferences (Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and WAC) are at a competitive disadvantage under the BCS system. They don't have the same chance to win a National Championship as the automatic qualifying schools do, and they don't receive the same kinds of cash pay outs from thew participating in all the BCS games.

I can see why the Government would get involved, it seems a lot like a monopoly, but I think they should worry about other things like the economy and health care reform. If the Supreme Court does rule the BCS a monopoly, I think it opens the door for a playoff system. I am a huge playoff advocate, and I would love for this to lead to a playoff, but I think they need to focus on the aforementioned topics first.

As for a playoff system, I think it would be a 16 team playoff with all 11 conferences getting an automatic qualification, and 5 at large teams as highlighted here.

Update 9:36: The BCS has released a statement (via Joe Schad): "The White House knows that with all the serious issues facing the country, the last thing they should do is increase the deficit by spending money to investigate how the college football playoffs are played."