Colorado Springs, CO (My Sportsbook) - The Mountain West Conference begrudgingly executed the Bowl Championship Series agreement and the attendant rights agreement with ESPN on Wednesday.
"The Mountain West believes it has no choice at this time but to sign the agreements," MWC board of directors chairman and University of Utah president Michael Young said. "If a conference wishes to compete at the highest levels of college football, and the only postseason system in place for that is the BCS, no one conference can afford to drop out and penalize its football programs and student-athletes."
The conference was the last to sign the agreement, which ends after the 2013 season, but will not cease trying to amend the controversial system.
"The Mountain West will continue its efforts for change, including a request for dialogue with representatives of the BCS," Young added. "Our goal is to ensure the eventual outcome of these endeavors is what our universities and student-athletes need, what the vast majority of American sports fans want, and what is long overdue: an equitable system."
The occasion comes a day after Utah senator Orrin Hatch spelled out the hierarchical disparity of the Bowl Championship Series during a jam-packed subcommittee meeting, telling members of the committee on antitrust oversight that a Justice department investigation into the system is warranted.
Hatch pointed at last season's BCS mess, which included Boise State and the standard bearer of his own home state, Utah. The Utes went undefeated, won the Mountain West and weren't even under consideration for the national championship game, a point driven home by Hatch's comments and preceding testimony from Barry Brett, a lawyer for the Mountain West Conference.
There are 11 Division I conferences within football and under the BCS format, and six of those -- the ACC, SEC, Big East, Big 12, Big 10, and Pac-10 -- are guaranteed $18 million each to distribute among their schools. The other five conferences -- the Sun Belt, WAC, MAC, Conference USA, and the Mountain West -- only get $9.5 million combined whereas Notre Dame, an independent, receives $1.3 million.
This marked the second BCS hearing this calendar year, coming on the heels of one in the House several months ago.
