Political Action Committee Takes on BCS

We've had BCS outrage across the land, two anti-trust hearings in Congress, and enough fan anger to power a trip to Mars (if spaceships ran on rage). None of it has changed the BCS. At least, not yet. Now there's a new front in the fan war against college football's broken system. Meet the Playoff PAC, a political action committee, that is raising money to fight the powers-that-be in the BCS. Their goal? Donate money to candidates who also support a college football playoff until they've remade Congress in their pro-playoff image.

Don't believe me? Read their mission statement including this stirring finale "To that end, Playoff PAC helps elect pro-reform political candidates, mobilizes public support, and provides a centralized source of pro-reform news, thought and scholarship." Already the PAC has received the commendation of three elected officials in Congress, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Representatives Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii and Joe Barton of Texas.

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According to Matt Sanderson, a Washington attorney who was a campaign finance counsel for McCain-Palin 2008 and is one of the PAC's six founders, the action committee is non-partisan and focused on ending the BCS.

Launched Monday to coincide with the first BCS rankings of the year, which came out Sunday afternoon, the site is already raising money online.

"We agreed from the start that we'd give evenly to both parties. The goal is to create a more favorable political atmosphere for Congress. We want to be a one-stop shop for staffers who are researching this issue. Right now they can find the BCS information easily on their Web site, but finding the anti-BCS arguments are so much more difficult."

The goal is to utilize social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to spread the PAC's message. To accomplish this, the PAC has a board made up of six volunteers, among them two attorneys and several others with Capitol Hill experience. In many ways, the six are reflective of what could be the BCS' most difficult combatants, intelligent and engaged fans who are better experienced with the tools of new media than the BCS itself.

And to me that's the most interesting part of the new Playoff PAC, the degree to which the fan movement against the BCS is moving beyond message board and talk radio grumblings. The BCS believes their foe is disorganized and unintelligent, I think the reality is much different. Many people from all walks of life are beginning to operate the utilize the instruments of governance to draw attention to the current situation.

To that end, Playoff PAC intends to commission polls, for instance, to use to show Congressmen how fervent the anti-BCS fervor is amid their constituency. All of that doesn't mean Sanderson and his PAC have an easy task ahead of them. Asked whether a PAC is really needed to combat the BCS, Sanderson calls it "absolutely necessary."

He also dispells criticism from those who would question whether Congress needs to get involved in this issue.

"The fact is, it's a wrong. We're not saying it's more important than a war, far from it, just that it's something that can be fixed. We expect our Congressmen to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, the reality is they can be focused on fixing a lot of things that are wrong with our country. This is one of them."