Hatch said he pushed for the hearing just before BCS contracts are extended to show that "the BCS is fundamentally unfair. I don't think there's any real fan of college football who would dispute that. And my biggest concern with the BCS is that it creates inherent disadvantages for those conferences that don't receive automatic bids."

Under the current system, champions from six conferences that are traditional football powers receive automatic BCS bowl bids and the nation's top two ranked teams play in a championship game. Teams from outside conferences could obtain one of a few at-large bids if they are ranked high enough.

But Hatch said BCS ranking systems prevent them from playing for the championship. "As we in Utah know, the BCS system makes it virtually impossible for a team from one of the outside conferences to get into the so-called national championship game."

He said that last season, "The University of Utah had as many impressive wins as any team in the country. ... They finished the season undefeated, but it was a foregone conclusion from the beginning of the season that no matter how well they did they would not be invited to play for the national championship."

Hatch also complained, "80 percent of BCS revenue goes to the privileged conferences, and around 12 percent to non-privileged conferences. Now tell me that isn't a violation of the antitrust law."

He added, "Our antitrust laws are designed to prevent people from acting in agreement and coordination to reduce competition. To me, it's plain as the nose on your face that's precisely what's been going on with the BCS."

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