Does congress Have the authority?

Congress should be more concerned with running our country not sports. We have enough people at the college level to handle college sports.

Why did I think of this just now?

Congress is involved because there’s big money and national airwaves and big money and big money involved.

lol big money? you dont say.

I don’t care if they have the authority, I hate the BCS.

The BCS is biased and discriminatory. It should be abolished immediately.
There’s no reason the CAL Bears should’ve been kept from going to the Rose Bowl a few years back except for blatant favoritism.

Congress is made up of people, some of whom are football fans. I can’t see why they might have the authority to change the BCS but I can see that fans who hate the system would change it if they could.

Apparently, not very many members of Congress are involved at this point. ”...only three members were doing the speaking, and two of them—Barton and Green—were representing the great football state of Texas with gusto. Committee chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., was the only other representative there to ask questions.” http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4122741

They are from the commerce, trade and consumer protection subcommittee, so since college football bowl games are big business I can see how these guys might figure they have the “duty” to look into the situation. “The proposed legislation Barton was threatening doesn’t call for a dismantling of the current system; rather it’s designed to prevent the BCS from advertising its final game as the national championship, arguing that it’s a violation of the free trade act.”

Since I don’t really care about college football all that much I can’t see that Congress should be meddling with the system, but my husband has very strong opinions about the matter.

On one level, Congress does have some authority here since most BCS schools are funded publicly, including with large research grants from federal agencies that report to Congress. On another level, the entire system is, if you’ll pardon my French, fucked, so who better to step in and try to exert a little undue influence? However, it just seems ridiculous to be holding hearings about this, but so many things Congress spends time doing seem ridiculous. This is no better or worse than hearings about Janet Jackson’s nipple, Terri Schiavo’s brain damage or Barry Bonds’ steroid use.

I would prefer that Congress took care of a few more pressing issues, like the war in Iraq, health care, and the current economic crisis, before tackling college football.

Note: The BCS is bullshit. A playoff system would at least double the number of people that follow college football.

@Blondesjon I agree that congress has more important things to do than deal with the BCS controversy but congress spends a lot of time on issues that are far less important than the BCS on a daily basis.