Department of Justice and BCS to meet this summer

Could the end of the BCS be at hand?

According to an email many of us media folk received Wednesday, the Department of Justice has requested a meeting with the BCS and executive director Bill Hancock seems pretty geeked about it.

There is no specific date for the meeting, just that it will take place this summer.

"Late last week staff attorneys at the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) contacted me to request a voluntary background briefing on how the BCS operates," Hancock said in the email. "I told them I would be happy to provide it."

The Justice Department originally raised concerns with the NCAA about why there wasn't a playoff system in place. It also questioned whether the current system violated antitrust laws, something Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has been shouting about for years.

NCAA president Mark Emmert directed the Justice Department to the BCS, which is what prompted the gubernatorial branch to request a meeting.

But Hancock, as he's done many times before, seemed to shake off any concern that the BCS could fall victim to government sanctions.

"The BCS was carefully created with antitrust laws in mind, and I am confident that it is fully compliant with those laws.�It has improved competition by delivering a national championship game between the two top-ranked teams, which only rarely existed before the BCS. It has also dramatically increased access to top-tier bowl games for schools from non-AQ conferences.

"I look forward to a conversation with the attorneys at the Justice Department."

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