A couple of weeks ago, in response to a Department of Justice letter asking why Div. 1-A football was the only NCAA-sanctioned sport without a playoff system in place, the Association’s president Mark Emmert basically stated in his response, “hey, talk to the BcS.”
The DOJ has done just that, and now the system currently used to determine a national champion is busy preparing for a face-to-face response.
BcS executive director Bill Hancock confirmed to the Associated Press this afternoon that his cartel group will meet with the DOJ at some point this summer. Hancock said a DOJ attorney “asked for a voluntary background briefing on how the BCS operates” last week, and that the BcS will comply with the request.
In fact, Hancock appears anxious to begin a discussion which will revolve around whether or not the BcS is in violation of antitrust regulations. As has been the case in the past, Hancock is supremely confident that the BcS has crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s when it comes to antitrust issues.
“We view it as an opportunity to make it clear that the BCS was crafted very carefully with antitrust laws in mind,” Hancock said.
“We take seriously any connection in Washington, and we’re certainly taking this seriously. But I view it as an opportunity, because we’re confident that the BCS is on strong legal ground.”
It should also be noted that the BcS is not (yet) under investigation by the Justice Department; rather, Hancock notes, "[t]heir staff made it clear this was simply a request for information. They also said our cooperation was voluntary.”
Of course, when an entity such as the DOJ asks you to “voluntarily cooperate”, it’s probably in your best interests to do so before the “voluntary” abruptly morphs into “involuntary”. Whether or not the BcS’ cooperation -- voluntary or otherwise -- is the next step in a full-blown DOJ investigation remains to be seen, and will likely remain an unknown until the end of summer at the earliest.