Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff: BCS Violating Law?

Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, is investigating as to whether the BCS is violating antitrust laws.

Why?

Florida is the 2009 BCS National Champion, not the Utah Utes.  And the later team might very well be.  After all, it was the Utah Utes who went undefeated this season, not Florida. 

"This isn't just about bragging rights to say we're number one truly. It's about money," said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

That's because the BCS showers successful top market schools with money year after year as a result of their performance.  Utah is treated like the red headed step child in that regard, as if Idaho for that matter.  The Idaho Broncos were another successful "under the radar" school that was even more successful in 2006 when the chatter really started full force about the fairness of the BCS system.

Shurtleff is the first attorney general to step forward, but not the first elected official to claim that the Bowl Championship Series could potentially be violating the Sherman Anti-trust Act which requires fairness, according to a KTVB report.

"But what they have fundamentally and absolutely proven now by University of Utah from before that first kick-off they've excluded every athlete at the University of Utah and every other non-BCS school from ever having a chance to compete in a national championship game," Shurtleff said.

In December, Idaho Representative Mike Simpson joined congressmen from Hawaii and Utah in sending a letter to President-elect Barack Obama asking him to have his Department of Justice also investigate the BCS system.

Obama said this week Utah has a pretty good claim at being the best in the land, but so do other schools.

"I think a football playoff makes sense. I've spoken about this quite a bit, and I think if you look at knowledgeable sports fans, they agree with me. But you know, I've got to pick and choose my battles. I probably am going to be spending more time focusing on creating three million more jobs," said Obama.

From an oddsmaking perspective, Shurtleff's vocal opposition to the current system may be reason to pause. 

Sportsbook.com typically released odds on championship games a full year in advance and Utah this year fell under the "field" option since nobody at that betting firm (or anywhere else for that matter) believed the Utes could win a BCS Championship this past season - even as an undefeated team.

"Now we have a situation where - if Mr. Shurtleff gets his way - Utah could very well get into the championship," expressed Gambling911.com Senior Reporter, Carrie Stroup.

Others say "Not so fast".

Commentators on CNN Saturday made mention of the possibility that if Utah played in a tougher division, there's a good chance the Utes would not have even been considered for a Bowl game.

Those same commentators might have overlooked Utah's manhandling of a very good Alabama team that Florida struggled against.

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher