About a half hour ago, the Mountain West announced that its fight to change the BCS is on hold for the next four years.
The conference signed the agreement between the BCS and ESPN that will run through the 2013 season. The news ends nearly six months of fighting to change a system that unfairly gives priority to the teams in the six BCS conferences over those without automatic bids.
Here's the entire statement:
Today, the Mountain West Conference has executed the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) agreement and the attendant rights agreement with ESPN. While the Mountain West has expressed serious concerns with the various fundamental flaws in the current BCS system, our various good faith initiatives to generate reform have thus far not been accepted.
Therefore, the Mountain West believes it has no choice at this time but to sign the agreements. 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 Mountain West will continue its efforts for change, including a request for dialogue with representatives of the BCS. 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.
I have to admit that I was a little surprised the Mountain West acted when it did. It had until the end of the day tomorrow to make a decision (I love suspense) and even if it didn't sign on Thursday, it still would have been allowed to join the agreement as long as it signed before the start of the 2010 season.
So what does this mean for the past six months?
Well, I think the statement says it all. The BCS is the only system in place right now for teams in the Mountain West to compete on the highest level. There was no way the conference could have denied its member schools the money and exposure that the BCS brings. And recruiting would have suffered greatly and likely would have hampered the Mountain West chances at becoming competitive for quite some time.
Still, this stings a bit. After all the campaigning and lawyers and lobbying firms, nothing has changed. The BCS will still crown a team from the Big Six the national champion in each of the next four years, and there still will be unhappy teams from coast-to-coast believing they're not getting a fair shot.
I'm not saying the Mountain West should have sacrificed competition to prove a point. That would not have been the right decision. But the conference also can't complain about a system that it agreed to especially after the big to-do that preceded it.
But here's my thinking... This gives the Mountain West, WAC, or whoever, a chance to strengthen its case even further. If those teams continue to break into the BCS and win BCS bowl games then come 2014 there's going to be no choice but change the system.
One of the biggest arguments about the Mountain West's original proposal was that it seemed hastily put together. Now it, and the other four non-automatic qualifying conferences, have four years to really put their heads together and come up with a proposal that puts money in everyone's pockets and levels the playing field.
That's what I'd like to see come 2014.