Orrin Hatch to Obama: Change the B.C.S.

NY Times:

Senator Orrin Hatch and President Barack Obama agree on at least one issue: neither likes the Bowl Championship Series.

Hatch sent a 10-page letter to Obama on Wednesday asking for a Justice Department investigation of the B.C.S., according to The Associated Press. The letter, which the A.P. obtained a copy of, cited Obama’s own stated concerns about how college football decides its national champion.

Here’s more from the A.P.:

The system “has been designed to limit the number of teams from non-privileged conferences that will play in BCS games,” Hatch wrote.

Hatch said the BCS arrangement likely violates the Sherman Antitrust Act because, he argued, it constitutes a “contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce,” quoting from the law.

He said the system “artificially limits the number of nationally-relevant bowl games to five. The result is reduced access to revenues and visibility which creates disadvantages to schools in the non-privileged conferences.”

Hatch is the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary’s subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights.

The senator said the hundreds of millions of dollars generated by college football “are hardly trivial sums,” given that many schools use such revenue to fund things like other athletic programs.

The Justice Department said it would review the letter and respond as appropriate. The White House declined to comment, and BCS officials had no immediate comment.