Lawmakers Want Probe Of College Football Bowl System

WASHINGTON — Forget government corruption or corporate fraud. Three members of Congress want the Justice Department to investigate whether college football's Bowl Championship Series is an illegal enterprise. Reps. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat of Hawaii, Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican of Georgia, and Mike Simpson, a Republican of Idaho, are introducing a resolution rejecting the oft-criticized bowl system as an illegal restriction on trade because only the largest universities compete in most of the major bowl games. The resolution would require Justice's antitrust division to investigate whether the system violates federal law. The measure also would put Congress on record as supporting a college football playoff.

"Who elected these NCAA people? Who are they to decide who competes for the championship?" Abercrombie said at a press conference yesterday on Capitol Hill, gripping a souvenir University of Hawaii football.

Abercrombie said the matter is worthy of federal review because college football is big business with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.

"It's money. That's what this is all about," he said.

But it's no coincidence that all three lawmakers have home-state schools with recent beefs against the bowl system.

The University of Hawaii and Boise State University in Idaho each had an undefeated season in recent years, but were denied a shot at the championship. And Westmoreland said he is still smarting about his University of Georgia Bulldogs being passed over for the national championship game last year.

Georgia instead was matched up against undefeated Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, winning 41–10.

Westmoreland and Abercrombie said they started talking about the resolution after that game, as Abercrombie was paying off a bet with chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. The lawmakers say the bowl system is rigid and blocks all but the largest universities from competing in post-season bowls.