The BCS system in danger of imploding

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_justice_letter_could_signal_big_trouble_bcs_050411

The justice department is considering an anti trust lawsuit against the BCS. Such a suit would no doubt be expensive and nasty. Perhaps college football has simply become too big, too rich, and too arrogent.😕

Big and rich are not illegal and not even a negative. I think there are a lot of problems with college sports, tax exemptions and recruiting but I see no reason why major conferences do not have a right to have bowl games and choose who gets to play in them.

Originally posted by quackquack
Big and rich are not illegal and not even a negative. I think there are a lot of problems with college sports, tax exemptions and recruiting but I see no reason why major conferences do not have a right to have bowl games and choose who gets to play in them.

I agree. big and rich are not illegal, but the questions must be asked:

1. As part of institutions of higher learning, what purpose does college football serve? Is it simply a revenue generating entity? Is it simply a farm system for the NFL?

Originally posted by bill718
I agree. big and rich are not illegal, but the questions must be asked:

1. As part of institutions of higher learning, what purpose does college football serve? Is it simply a revenue generating entity? Is it simply a farm system for the NFL?

It generates revenue to fund the shortfalls of the remainder of the athletic program.

It is no more of a farm system for the NFL than baseball is to the MLB
or basketball to the NBA and/or WNBA
or soccer is to the various soccer entities
or hockey is to the HNL
or golf is to the PGA and/or LPGA
or tennis is to the WTA

What a ludicrous assertion. Certainly all of those entities benefit through the courting of these athletes.
However, all athletes are not used....only a small fraction ever play in the pro ranks,
yet all enjoyed the college play and in many cases, scholarship money they received.

The sad fact is there are several people who get to go to college based on their athletic ability.
That is not said to demean them, just to state it as fact.
If you are saying that athletics should be dropped from colleges altogether, then you are a fool.
WAY too much alumni money is contributed to colleges in support of the athletics program.

This entire ordeal is another blatant attempt by our government to stick its nose in where it doesn't belong.
Just like the steroids review in MLB. What a joke!!!
Why didn't they do this to the NFL during the last 40 years??
Why not the NBA as well???
How about the NHL???

It reeks of selective attacks initiated by congressmen/women who need press.

Originally posted by bill718
I agree. big and rich are not illegal, but the questions must be asked:

1. As part of institutions of higher learning, what purpose does college football serve? Is it simply a revenue generating entity? Is it simply a farm system for the NFL?

I think revenue from sports should be taxed (when 100,000 people go to a football game and the coach makes millions of dollars and has a huge recruiting budget it simply is a professional activity and not a tax exempt high eductaion purpose). But this is not Congress' intention. Congress wants to know why they have bowl games instead of a playoffs and there is no reason to think that a playoff would serve an education purpose.

Originally posted by shortcircuit
It generates revenue to fund the shortfalls of the remainder of the athletic program.

It is no more of a farm system for the NFL than baseball is to the MLB
or basketball to the NBA and/or WNBA
or soccer is to the various soccer entities
or hockey is to the HNL
or golf is to the PGA and/or LPGA
or tennis is to the WTA

What a ludicrous asserti out the NHL???

It reeks of selective attacks initiated by congressmen/women who need press.

I don't recall making an "assertion" here, I was just asking questions. I don't think athletics should be dropped from colleges, and since I don't pull any weight with the government, we don't need to go down that path.

I was just wondering what roll should athletics play in colleges today? and What changes (if any) need to be made to best serve the students?