A day after University of Utah president Michael K. Young, Sen. Orrin Hatch and others argued in Washington on behalf of the Mountain West Conference that the Bowl Championship Series was unfair, the MWC begrudgingly agreed to be a part of the system going forward.

The MWC announced Wednesday that it would sign the contract between the BCS and ESPN that will be be in place through the end of the 2013 season.

Failing to sign the agreement would have meant MWC teams wouldn't have been eligible for BCS bowls, which could have cost the conference millions of dollars in revenue.

Hatch argued before a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday that the Justice Department should investigate whether the BCS violates federal antitrust laws while Young testified that "championships should be decided by competition, not conspiracy."

However, faced with the prospect of being shut out of the BCS altogether, the MWC relented Wednesday and agreed to be a part of the system it has openly fought to change.

"The Mountain West believes it has no choice at this time but to sign the agreements," Young said in a statement released by the MWC. "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 Western Athletic Conference announced it would sign

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the agreement earlier in the day.

Young said in the statement the MWC would continue to push for change.

"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," he said.