Purdue Spent $515,000 to Lobby for BCS

The Bowl Championship Series is gearing up its lobbying efforts against Washington lawmakers who want to change the way big-time college football goes about selecting its teams for the most lucrative bowls, and now some member schools are getting into the act.

Politico reports that Purdue and Michigan have spent $515,000 and $415,000 respectively, to lobby this year against a bill that aims to cut federal money for colleges that participate in a Division I-A season without a playoff.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has spent $250,000 lobbying on the issue.

One would think that universities, many of which have laid off faculty and cut classes, would have better uses for the money.

Comments

[Will]

Has Purdue ever participated in a BCS game?

[The Wiz]

Yes, the 2001 Rose Bowl.

[Will]

Oh, of course. It was so long ago that I couldn't think of that off the top of my head.

[PNG1983]

One would think Congress would have better uses for their time than worrying about which group of 20-year olds gets to claim they're the best.

[J.Pike]

Am I reading it wrong, or is this bill literally going to cut funding to Universities if there is no college football playoff?

If that is the way the bill is worded, there should be a lot of schools campaigning against this bill because that money is generally used for academic purposes. The fact that Congress is going to penalize academics because of an opinion about the best way to determine a college sport's national champion shows how misguided this bill is. If there was ever an example of misplaced priorities, this is it.

[Jeff]

I interpret it the same way as J.Pike. I imagine Purdue and Michigan get tens of millions of dollars (if not much more) of federal funding. Spending half a million dollars to make sure that does not get cut off is a no-brainer decision on their end.

The people who should be answering questions are the ones who sponsored this horrible idea of a bill.