Washington » Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wants to take on the Bowl Championship Series, the controversial college football system. But he doesn't want to do it alone.
In Washington for a conference with attorneys generals from throughout the nation, Shurtleff tried to drum up support for an antitrust lawsuit against the big six conferences who control the part-computer, part-human polling system that ranks the college football teams.
He got mixed results.
But he plans to be back in June when the attorneys general meet again, this time in Denver, armed with the results of a whole series of subpoenas his office is issuing to gain access to BCS contracts.
Shurtleff, who advocates for a college football playoff, wants to share costs of the investigation with other states, and maybe even the Obama administration. In a meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder, Shurtleff brought up his BCS investigation and Holder joked that when President Barack Obama hears about it, it would be the No. 1 issue in the next Cabinet meeting.
Afterward, Shurtleff said Holder expressed interest in discussing the potential lawsuit when he was able to round out his staff more.
Shurtleff's interest in fighting the BCS grew out of the University of Utah's unbeaten 2008 campaign. Because the U. is not a BCS school it did not get as much consideration for the national championship game. While the U. was the nation's only unbeaten team, it finished 2nd behind Florida.
