Opinion: Bowl-Game Changes Preserve Tax-Free Status Quo

Proposals being considered by college football leaders for an annual playoff to crown the national champion won’t change the “most dangerous” aspect of the bowl-game structure—the contests’ charitable status and generous tax breaks, writes liberal Web site ThinkProgress.

The article notes that the five Bowl Championship Series games—the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and Rose bowls and the national championship game—receive millions of dollars in tax breaks and taxpayer-funded subsidies, pay their executives salaries that rank among the highest for comparable nonprofits, and give back a fraction of their revenues to their communities.

The switch from a single championship game to a playoff system, long sought by many football fans, appears increasingly likely as Bowl Championship Series leaders meet this month with officials from the six major football conferences. Bill Hancock, the group’s executive director, told the Associated Press that the “status quo is not on the table.”

“College football may change the status quo on the field, but until it steps away from the BCS structure, it won’t ever have a chance to change the status quo of bilking taxpayers to fund its biggest games,” ThinkProgress writes.