This past weekend, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) released its selections for this season's football bowl games. The decision to create a LSU-Alabama rematch in the title game has garnered the most controversy from the national media. However, I see the inclusion of Michigan and Virginia Tech in bowl games as the most perilous development.
The BCS devised a formula that aggregates computer statistics with various national polls to determine the rankings.
The top two teams play in the championship game, and then the conference champions of the six major conferences and two at-large teams populate the four other elite BCS bowls (although let's be real Big East, you don't deserve a slot).
Considering that the BCS created a method to determine who is most deserving of the at-large bids, it is troublesome that it did not select the currently highest-ranked teams.
While Arkansas and Boise State were ranked No. 6 and No. 7 respectively, Virginia Tech and Michigan—respective rankings of No. 11 and No. 13—received bowl bids. Evidently, those numbers (and any sense of fairness) don't matter much to the BCS.
Dollars are what seem to matter to the BCS, which is quite in opposition to its status as a nonprofit organization.
The New York Times conducted a study estimating fan base size for every major NCAA football program, which ranked Michigan No. 2 with an estimated 2.9 million fans, and Virginia Tech No. 13 with 1.3 million fans. Both of those schools tower above No. 26 Arkansas with 990,859 fans and lowly No. 57 Boise State with 483,489 fans.
Contrasting these rankings with the BCS rankings, it is clear that actual rankings are not as important as being financially profitable.
Each of the games (the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, Rose, and Championship) are legally run as charities, yet, for the most part, they do not act like them.
Admittedly, they occasionally give money to local communities (the Rose Bowl especially), but any good is far overshadowed by what they tend to spend their money on.
Executives of the bowls receive inordinate salaries—Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan made $645,386 for staging a single football game. There have also been scandals within the BCS: the Orange Bowl treated its executive staff and various athletic directors to a Royal Caribbean cruise.
Additionally, the Fiesta Bowl has given gifts to various politicians, and its CEO, John Junker, ran up a $1,241 tab at a gentleman's club using the bowl's money.
Not only is the BCS compromising fairness in terms of team selection, but it is also spending that money in unethical ways—actions certainly incongruent with its charity status.
The disheartening thing is that there are other monopolistic sports governing bodies that exhibit similar behavior.
The foremost example is FIFA, soccer's ruling agency, which also operates as a nonprofit.
Despite this, FIFA made a $196 million surplus in 2009, and generated $3 billion off the 2010 World Cup.
Yes, FIFA reinvests some back into participating nations—building 20 Football For Hope centers in Africa, for instance.
Estimates put this project at a cost of $9 million, which is absolutely trivial compared to its profits off the tournament.
One can only wonder where the rest of this supposed nonprofit organization's money goes.
On top of that, there have been numerous reports of corruption and bribery stemming from the recent selection of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts.
Russia and Qatar won, respectively, and, notably, they were the two highest ranked of all bidders in the United Nations's Corruption Index.
More than a few on the 24-member voting committee were allegedly paid off.
For example, a Sunday Times exposé reported that two committee members were given $1.5 million by Qatar in return for their votes.
Furthermore, there was a leaked email sent from FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke indicating that Qatar bought its host status. There has been enough scandal to convince anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International to sever all ties with FIFA this year.
It is very difficult to find the right way to initiate reform: both of these institutions exist with rather unchecked authority.
The only real way to force complete change is if all participating universities or countries banded together in some sort of strike.
This is unlikely, though, because people love their sports too much to risk putting their status in doubt, and potentially have games cancelled. Something must be done, though, at any cost.
The officials of FIFA and the BCS are immorally and illegally taking advantage of people's passion, and that is too egregious a crime to let continue.
Ted Romney is a member of the Class of 2015.