Holder: Justice Dept. has made no ruling on college bowl system's legality

The Justice Department has "reached no conclusion" regarding allegations that the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) violates antitrust laws, according to Attorney General Eric Holder.

In a written reply to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a strident opponent of the college football bowl system, Holder said that the Justice Department is “committed” to the proper enforcement of antitrust laws, but has made no ruling on the BCS.

"The Department has reached no conclusion as to whether the BCS violates the antitrust laws,” Holder wrote. "The Department is committed to ensuring that the antitrust laws are enforced to maintain competition in every industry, including college sports, which is financially significant to the colleges involved and a vital part of out nation’s sports and entertainment industry."

Holder's response to Hatch was part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s approval process for President Barack Obama’s appointees. Senators typically pose a series of questions to nominees, similar to those posed during oral questioning, to which the nominees then respond. Holder's responses were obtained by The Hill.

Hatch, who is a member of the Judiciary panel, has long said the college bowl system restricts competition by favoring high-profile college teams.  Hatch has gone so far as to say the system violates the Sherman Antitrust Act because it suppresses lesser known teams from competing in large bowl games.

In July, Hatch held a subcommittee hearing on the BCS’ possible violations of antitrust law. Holder responded in his letter that the Justice Department sent a representative to the hearing.

The Utah senator wrote a letter to President Barack Obama late last month detailing his complaints. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs did not respond to his request at the time. Obama last November said he would like to see a conventional playoff system replace the college football bowl system.

The BCS system ranks college football teams in the top classification (Football Bowl Subdivision) based on human and computer metrics during the regular season. The top teams are then placed in the Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls and the top two teams play in the "National Championship Game."

The winners of the six largest conferences receive automatic bids to the BCS bowl games regardless of their record relative to other teams. Notre Dame, which does not play in a conference, receives the seventh out of ten BCS bids if it finishes the season eighth or better in the rankings.

Teams that compete in these games receive large amounts of revenue and national exposure from playing in the games. 

"While some may dismiss the BCS as too trivial a matter for government attention, it involves hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue every year, most of which is reserved for participants most favored by the BCS," Hatch wrote.

Hatch’s home state of Utah does not have any teams that play in a top-six conference. Utah, which plays in the Mountain West Conference, finished the 2008 season undefeated but was not selected to play in the national championship game.

The snub sparked an outcry from Hatch, other lawmakers, and many in the sports community to enact changes to the BCS system, or do away with it altogether.

Critics have dismissed Hatch’s efforts as a waste of the government’s time.

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