Commission Chief calls for end of BCS system
By Mark Alesia, May 25, 2004

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Knight Commission on Monday called for an end to conference commissioners running postseason football through the Bowl Championship Series.
 
"For the overall health of college athletics it is imperative that the NCAA be able to govern postseason football," said William Friday, former president of the University of North Carolina. "This objective should command the immediate attention of the NCAA Board of Directors."
 
In an interview later, after it appeared his quote did not reflect the views of all commission members, Friday said it had been read aloud to everyone and he believed he had majority, if not unanimous, support.
 
"It's abundantly clear to the commission that we can't go on with two systems to administer college sports," Friday said.
Division I-A football is the only sport in which the NCAA does not conduct a championship because of the bowls' long association with conferences such as the Big Ten.
 
The BCS, started in January 1999 to determine a national champion while preserving the bowls, brought in $147 million last season. It has also created a dual power structure in college sports that some think inhibits chances for reform.
The BCS has shown less commercial restraint than the Final Four in areas such as signage, and the revenue is controlled by the leagues, not the NCAA.
 
Spokesman Mike Reilley said no BCS officials were available for comment.
 
A news release with Friday's quote surprised reporters, because it was distributed after a post-hearing news conference at which Friday presided.
 
By then, most of the participants had left.
"The basic question is how to assure consistency with regard to athletic policy," said Indiana University president Adam Herbert, a Knight Commission member. "That's one way to deal with it (give the NCAA control of postseason football). There are a wide array of views on that matter."
 
Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman, a member of the Knight Commission and the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, said Friday's quote is, "In some ways, Bill presenting his own view."
 
Although there was criticism of conference commissioners' power during the Knight Commission meeting, the notion of NCAA control of postseason major-college football surprised Wally Renfro, the association's senior adviser to the president.
 
"That position by the commission runs contrary to what we've heard from most Division I-A institutions and presidents," Renfro said.
 
"The NCAA has no role in postseason football at this time."
Renfro declined to say if the NCAA would welcome such a role.
 
Following an agreement by BCS and non-BCS school presidents earlier this year, conference commissioners are working on a more inclusive postseason model that would have five instead of four games.
 
That model will soon be shopped around to television for a new contract starting in January 2007.
During Monday's hearing, which looked at postseason football and antitrust issues, the Knight Commission was presented a report by UCLA's John Sandbrook.
 
The report included the following observations about the bowls and BCS:
• ABC has sold naming rights to the "BCS National Championship Trophy" to three different corporate sponsors in the past three years.
• ABC uses corporate logos with on-screen graphics ("The Federal Express Game Summary," for example), which the NFL prohibits.
• BCS bowls are overvalued, while the smaller bowls receive less than they could because they negotiate with television individually.
 
But there are antitrust issues regarding NCAA control. Part of Monday's hearing explored the feasibility of an antitrust exemption.
 
"There are a lot of difficult issues here," former Princeton president and commission member Harold Shapiro said. "But if we don't do something, this dynamic (of over-commercialization) is not going to stop."
 
Commission member Charles Young, formerly president at Florida and UCLA, criticized the structure of college sports.
Young favors a postseason playoff in football, although that is not part of the Knight Commission's position.
 
"This has really been a battle of control between the conference commissioners and the NCAA," Young said. "There's only one place where this can be controlled, and it's the NCAA -- and that's where it should be controlled. You can control it with or without a playoff. "