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• #Conference realignment blog series

Kowalczyk said he thinks Congress should keep an on what is going on in intercollegiate athletics. “We can’t sit around and wait for the grounds to continue to shift,” said Kowalczyk, who’s school is a member of the MWC. On Friday, the MWC announced that it would merge its football conference with Conference-USA. Of the nine schools in the league to start 2010, three have switched conferences and one (the Air Force Academy) is mulling a move to the Big East. The MWC has been affected perhaps more than any other conference. The Pac-12, Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference and SEC have all added schools from other conferences, while the Big 12, Big East and Mountain West Conference have scrambled to replace departing members. In the last 12 months, the NCAA landscaped has changed significantly. “The SEC would never presume to tell Congress what it can and can’t do,” said Charles Bloom, associate commissioner for the Southeastern Conference, via email last week.

Conferences would have little say otherwise. Since many universities are federally funded, Congress has the ability to get involved in both the BCS and conference realignment. “I think the BCS system doesn’t work, isn’t popular and has really created a lot of the conference realignment and the money grab that is going on,” said Paul Kowalczyk, director of athletics at Colorado State University, in a phone interview. Some in college athletics see a connection between that question and conference realignment. The Department of Justice sent a letter to the NCAA in May asking why there is no playoff system for college football. The hearing led to no changes in the system.

#Conference realignment blog series

In May 2009, the same subcommittee held a hearing on switching the Bowl Championship Series to a playoff system. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has experience getting involved in NCAA matters.

“The more that this stuff is revolving around business and money and the more that the money drives everything, it’s going to get harder and harder to justify this non-profit status and this tax-exempt status,” said Rick Eckstein, a sociology at Villanova University who specializes in sports.Īll revenue that a school receives from television contracts is tax-exempt.

Involvement by Congress could potentially hit the universities in the place that hurts most – the wallet. “By putting the spotlight on the conduct at issue here, I think people will see that there are potentially competitive problems, and hopefully, they’ll correct the conduct accordingly,” Balto said. “Conceivably they could be illegal through restraints of trade.”Īny sort of mediation could reveal that effects of conference realignment extend beyond the rearrangement of schools. “The agreements would be covered by the antitrust laws,” said David Balto, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and an attorney who specializes in the field. “If anything, the trend and economic impact of major conference realignment appears to be growing on a near daily basis.”Ĭongress would have proper cause to get involved beyond the point of hearings if it wanted to, an expert on antitrust law said

“In recent months and years, conference realignment has had a dramatic impact on college sports, including the viability of smaller conferences and schools,” wrote Conyers in the letter. John Conyers wrote to the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, urged the committee to hold hearings on college sports. “We are keeping a close eye to ensure super conferences are not abusing market power to foster an anti competitive and unfair environment,” said Sean Bonyun, deputy communications director for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.īut that isn’t the only committee interested in the recent developments in the college landscape. NCAA conferences are in a state of a flux right now and the movement has caught the attention of Congress. WASHINGTON – The Big Ten has 12 teams, the Big 12 has 10 teams and the Big East is looking to expand as far west as Idaho.