House Set to Vote on a Bill that would Force a College Football Playoff

Today is the big day to see what schools are going to what BCS games, however there will be a sour taste in mouths in of TCU, Boise State, and Cincinnati that all finished with a regular undefeated season but have no shot at the national title game.  Undefeated Boise State has even more of a concern, because there is a chance -- albeit a small one -- that they will be left out a multi-million dollar bowl game because they play for the WAC and could be past over for a school that will bring in larger television numbers.

However, this past summer Utah's Senator Orrin Hatch and others marched upon Capitol Hill this past summer with threats of saying that the BCS was breaking anti-trust laws by not allowing Utah a chance for the national championship game.  All of this has been quiet, because now there is going to be a vote from the House scheduled for this week.

This past mont the BCS has been making some changes that were made were all completed within the last month; first was promoting Bill Hancock to become the first full time Executive Director of the BCS.  Previously the BCS would rotate the position between the six automatic qualifying conference commissioners.  Then there was the BCS creating a Facebook and Twitter account to try a new way to spread their message.  Then there is website Playoff Problem that is set up to debunk all the problems with a playoff; which is a website one must look at if they want a laugh.

Now there is actually going to be a vote in the House sometime this week up on the Capitol with this from The Wall Street Journal discussing this:

WASHINGTON -- House lawmakers are gearing up for a vote as soon as next week on a bill aimed at forcing a national college-football playoff.

Approval of the legislation by an Energy and Commerce subcommittee would represent the most significant action yet by Congress in its oversight of college football. Plans for a markup next week, still tentative as of late Friday, appeared to signal growing congressional support for the idea, which President Barack Obama also backed during the 2008 campaign.

A lot of people feel that government has more important things to do as does BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock who said this in the same WSJ article:

"With everything going in the country right now, doesn't Congress have more important things to do?"

That might actually be true Executive Director Hanckock, however since the NCAA is a non-profit organization that makes billions of dollars of the backs of student-athletes who see zero of that cash; they are awarded with a valuable full scholarship for their athletic abilities.  So, yes the government has the right to make room at the table for organizations that are non-profit but do not give equal access to all of their participants to earn that money.

Also, Executive Director Hancock should be reminded that back when the old Southwest Conference was dissolved Texas Governor and Baylor alum forced the inclusion of Baylor over BYU to be in the Big XII by using her influence of being the Governor of Texas.  So, the next time when people complain about government getting involved with NCAA athletics point to that scenario.

The vote that is taking place this week still has to go through the Senate before it reaches the pro-playoff President Barack Obama for him to sign.  However, even if the bill makes it to the Oval Office and is signed there is no guarantee this will happen.  That is because Harvey Pearlman who is the chairman for the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee University of Nebraska said in an interview that if the BCS is broken up by Congressional interference then they will just go back to the old system.

I would like to see the ultimate game of chicken with billion of dollars between the Government and the BCS.