January 11, 2011

Dear Senator Brown:

This responds to the December 22, 2010 meeting with Public Policy advisor Marcus Riccelli. Mr. Riccelli asked me to provide information on my primary objective during the 112th Congress. An official petition, antitrust complaints, and State Rule of Reason litigation against the University of Washington and Washington State University and other efforts will be taken to complete the objective to convince the Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue the Association of Conferences for lack to respond to consumer preference by not implementing a less-restrictive alternative for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) event.

The Kennedy Proposal (KP) is an expansion package that would afford a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) playoff structure while ensuring the BCS met its stated objective. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Wiech responded to Senator Orrin Hatch’s (R-UT) letter to President Barack Obama asking for a DOJ investigation into the BCS for violation under the antitrust laws, stating they may ask a government or non-governmental entity or commission to study the benefits, costs, and feasibility of a playoff system.

If the KP is feasible, the option for the DOJ to sue the BCS and NCAA for post-season broadcasting rights and post-season gate revenues is available. Mr. Hancock says financial inducements will not lead to changes but the ESCROW account he manages does not have the revenues to pay 30 years of damages and 90 years of monetary fees.

If the KP were implemented, Texas Christian University (TCU) could have hosted and beat Ohio State in a 2nd round game, loss a nail biter to Oregon in a NCAA Semi-final in Eugene but Purple Nation would still have the opportunity to say, “We’re Rose Bowl Champions”. TCU Quarterback Andy Dalton said playing in the Rose Bowl game was a “dream come true”. The ambience of New Year’s Day and the San Gabriel Mountains will continue to breathe and the opportunity to win the College Super Bowl would be born with the implementation of the KP.

Senator Brown, after the conclusion of last night’s game, the promotion, marketing, advertising, and competitive process for the 2012 BCS National Championship Game began. Mr. Hancock and the NCAA continue to deny and block the KP. We feel Congress could throw a stone and address this issue by inviting Mr. Hancock, the Conference Commissioners, Chairman Spanier, President Emmert, and Chairman Ray to testify about the Kennedy Proposal.

Sincerely,

Brandon E. Kennedy Executive Director of the KP Coalition Jesse T. Wenzl
2nd Member of KP Coalition

Why is it unreasonable to ask a congressman to spend time on an issue involving cheating a public university in his state (taxpayer money involved) out of millions of dollars??? We’re not asking them to pursue it at the expense of everything else. As PlayoffPAC states (URL below), they can “walk and chew gum at the same time.” The fact that they have weightier issues to tackle doesn’t mean they can’t spend a little time here and there on an issue such as this one.

http://playoffpac.com/government/default.aspx

Additionally, if you think that’s such a bad idea, I’d like to see what you come up with. That’s not a challenge, it’s an earnest request. So many people (I’m guessing you’re one of them) can only complain about the current system, but when put to it, they don’t think of what they can do to fix it. Watch “Patch Adams” — focus on the solution, not the problem.

In the grand scheme of things, the BCS issue isn’t that important. Write your congressman? Make voting decisions based on a politician’s stance regarding the BCS? Talk about misplaced priorities. The BCS is not one of the “issues of our time.” Personally, if a politician decides to spend a significant amount of time focused on the BCS they deserve to get voted out of office for wasting time. The BCS is insignificant politically.

“No one wants to see Congress get involved here, including me. But if this response [Hancock's response to the Hatch/Baucus letter] is any indication, there may not be any other option.” Nonsense. Hatch as well as the Utah AG only care about this because they live in Utah. All this is nothing more than “bread and circuses” to get stupid voters to vote for them.