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Mountain West, WAC Lack Cojones; Sign BCS Deal

For months, nay years, now we've been hearing nothing but whining out of the Mountain West and the WAC about the unfairness of the BCS and how the whole system reeks of antitrust violations. How the big boys have gotten together with ESPN to screw them out of the possibility of ever winning the national championship, not to mention those big paydays the power six routinely take home. Hell, this year, the downtrodden University of Utah managed to get Senator Orrin Hatch to have the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is the ranking Minority Member, conduct a show hearing on the possible antitrust violations being committed by the BCS and the power six. Nothing new, of course, was trotted out at the farce of a hearing.

Well, the Mountain West and the WAC had the opportunity this past week to make a real statement about their commitment to this fight for equality and opportunity. The new BCS television deal with ESPN, taking effect following the 2010 season, was to be ratified no later than July 7 and each participating conference had to sign off on the deal. It was the perfect opportunity for the MWC and the WAC to stand by their principles, forego their share of the WWLS's millions and make a better case for their contention that they are being unfairly excluded from the national championship and the riches of the BCS power six. So, what did they do? Did they stand up to ESPN and the Big Six conferences?

Are you kidding? There was money on the table, however small and those leagues were not about to let the scraps the BCS has been feeding them slip away in the name of principle. So, of course they signed and with those signatures went their entire justification for complaining about their treatment by the BCS or the Big Six conferences. We should never again hear about how a Moutain West school or Boise State has been unfairly excluded from the national championship game despite being undefeated. You had your chance guys but the table scraps were too inviting - so be happy with your $200,000-$300,000 and quit complaining already. The rest of us are tired of hearing it.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on July 13, 2009 (boomark / email).