DANGER LURKS

By Scott Daniels, Esq., NFL Draft Bible

With the 2008 NFL Draft officially in the books, fans across the country are anxiously awaiting the start of college football. It's been quite an offseason in the football world and although the gridiron battles are still months away, the legal drama in football is only beginning to heat up.

An optimist would tell you that college football couldn't be in a better place right now. Ratings are up and schools are raking in millions of dollars as a direct result. But it's not all smiles at the collegiate level.

How about the NFL? The most successful professional sport in America. The NFL is in great shape, right? Think again.

A dark cloud is looming over college and professional football and only the so-called football gods can predict the future. While rumors and speculation continue to run rampant, here's an update on some of the hottest - and potentially dangerous - stories that could be highly detrimental to college and professional football.

A Broken System
The BCS is a mess. The revolution has begun to implement some kind of playoff system in college football, but due to contractual obligations and stubborn school officials, the BCS will remain in college football through 2013 (includes Bowl games in 2014).

A recent proposal from Mike Slive, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, was immediately shot down by just about every major conference commissioner. The proposal called for a "Plus One" scenario where the top four teams would play a semi-final game followed by a championship game the very next week.

LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE: It's a tragedy that college football will remain at the mercy of a flawed system for at least the next four years. What's even more disparaging is knowing that the BCS will remain because of contractual obligations with the Rose Bowl and major television networks.

Bottom line is, contracts can legally be modified. Problem is, a change in the current system will lead to a decrease in profits for those currently under contract with the BCS. It is apparent that those in opposition to a playoff system are skeptical of changing a system that breaks revenue records year after year.

The Never Ending Conspiracy
Spygate is the story that just won't go away. It began immediately following week one of last year's NFL season and Roger Goodell has been trying to dispose of this matter ever since - no pun intended.

A potential bombshell may explode on May 13th when Matt Walsh, a former video assistant for the Patriots, will meet with Roger Goodell to divulge any information he may have regarding his role in "spying" on other teams.

LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE: Matt Walsh's meeting with the NFL is now long overdue. The NFL insists Spygate is a thing of the past and the Patriots organization have vehemently denied any further wrongdoing. If Walsh has any direct evidence, such as an actual video tape, Goodell will have to take swift action against Bill Belichick and the Patriots organization. Belichick and the team's owner, Robert Kraft, will most certainly argue that Walsh acted as a rogue employee and was not directed to tape such activity. However, from a legal standpoint, if Walsh is found to have acted within the scope of his employment responsibilities, the Patriot organization should certainly be held accountable for his wrongful actions.

Regardless of what ensues, Walsh has obtained a bullet-proof indemnification agreement from the NFL. He is fully protected from a civil suit and will be able to speak freely without the worry of being named as a defendant in a lawsuit. Walsh may however be called as a witness in other lawsuits should they occur after he speaks with Roger Goodell.

If Walsh only has verbal information to provide, Spygate will quickly disappear. Walsh's credibility is already in question and without any direct evidence of taping another team in violation of league rules, he will have very little ground to stand on.

A playoff system seems to be inevitable, but not in the very near future.

The End of a Dynasty?
The National Football League has catapaulted itself as the most successful league in American professional sports. Attendence is up. Ratings are up. The Superbowl remains to be by far the most watched sporting event in America each year. While it appears that the NFL will continue it's dominance for years to come, a quiet storm is brewing.

The wealth and prosperity that players and owners have enjoyed over the last ten years may come to a screeching halt in 2011. The current collective bargaining agreement will expire then and the owners can choose to opt out of the current agreement in November of this year. If that happens, the NFL could be facing a lockout in 2011.

LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE: The last time the NFL suffered a lockout was 1987 - under former commissioner Paul Tagliabue. With Roger Goodell as the new Sheriff in town, a lockout would almost seem unthinkable. The problem is, Goodell may not have any control on the situation. If the players and owners cannot come to an accord on revenue sharing, the owners will likely opt out of the current agreement.

End result? A work-stoppage in 2011 and the very real possibility of a cancelled NFL season.

BCS ATROCITY

By Scott Daniels, Esq., NFL Draft Bible

By now we have heard every argument on the planet that rationalizes the need for a playoff in college football. The BCS doesn't work. Nothing new. But after the BCS draw was announced last week, the formula should be illegal.

I'm not going to discuss Ohio State allegedly backing into the National Championship with a weak schedule. Nor will I discuss LSU getting a National Championship bid with two losses. The major atrocity with the BCS involves Missouri.

Missouri was number two in the BCS going into their showdown with Kansas a few weeks ago. Following their victory, Missouri found themselves number one in the BCS. While Missouri was headed to the Big 12 title game against Oklahoma, Kansas's regular season ended with a disappointing loss.

Missouri entered the Big 12 Title game knowing that a win would solidify their bid to play in the BCS National Championship. What ensued was downright disastrous.

Missouri was beaten convincingly by a determined Oklahoma Sooner squad. Unfortunately for Missouri, that wasn't the disastrous part. The next day, the BCS Bowl games were announced on national television.

Kansas - the team that was beaten by Missouri and denied a shot at the Big 12 Title - received a bid to the Orange Bowl. The Missouri Tigers - the team that beat Kansas two weeks earlier - was robbed of their BCS hopes. Missouri was essentially punished by the BCS gods for beating Kansas and losing in the Big 12 Title.

Missouri was a victim of first degree robbery. They were penalized for reaching the Big 12 title game. How could Kansas, a team that is third at best in the Big 12 conference, reach a BCS Bowl game over Missouri?

WANTED FOR CRIMES IN SEVERAL STATES: BCS Formula. It has robbed several colleges and universities of bowl bid appearances, committed fraud on each school's fan base and is alleged to be armed with horrific logic. If you have any information on this highly dangerous criminal, please contact your local authorities.

THE "PLUS-ONE" PHENOMENON - WHEN WILL COLLEGE FOOTBALL IMPLEMENT A PLUS-ONE SCENARIO?

By Scott Daniels, Esq., NFL Draft Bible

Every year around this time, college football enthusiasts unite to discuss why the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is arguably the most flawed system since Major League Baseball's Drug Testing Policy. The BCS formula was instituted in 1998 and was supposed to dispose of all controversy surrounding an undisputed national champion in college football. Unfortunately, it has generated a swell of criticism and each year numerous teams voice their disgust over the BCS ranking system.

The BCS uses three components in figuring a team's ranking: (1) the USA Today Coaches Poll; (2) the Harris Interactive College Football Poll; and (3) an average of six computer rankings (Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsly, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin and Peter Wolfe) - a list virtually unknown to the average college football fan.

The problem that continues to arise at the end of each season is that there are usually more than two teams that feel they deserve a shot at the National Championship. College football has been unable to truly solve this problem and the debate over whether or not a playoff system should be implemented pops up every year.

Regardless of whether or not a playoff scenario is the answer, there is a misconception that colleges and universities have too much money to lose if a playoff system replaces the current 100 year old bowl system. This is completely inaccurate.

College football would only increase revenue with a potential playoff system. In fact, following the 2004 regular season, undefeated Auburn was left out of the National Championship and the BCS was heavily criticized. Bodog.com, a sports gambling website, offered 50 million dollars to sponsor a "real" National Championship game. This offer was rejected but left many corporate giants seeing dollar signs.

First of all, a playoff system comparable to college basketball will never happen. The so-called sixteen-team-playoff scenario is unrealistic and regular season games would lose importance. College football has the most exciting regular season in sports because every game matters. A sixteen-team-playoff would diminish the regular season because teams will still have a shot at the national title with sub par seasons.

The "Plus-One" scenario is much more likely to occur. Under this system, two of the four major bowl games (Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta) would operate as semi-final games where the two winners would move on to face each other in a National Championship. But before it does, there are few legal barriers preventing this type of playoff from happening.

The BCS is not an individual entity. It's a combination of the four major bowls plus the recently added fifth bowl game, also known as the National Championship, which is played at the same site as one of four major bowl games (It rotates every year). There are several contracts in play at the current moment that essentially dictate who plays in the major bowl games. Most notably, the Rose Bowl's 300 million dollar contract with ABC, serves as the biggest hurdle in moving towards a "Plus-One" scenario.

The Rose Bowl's contract with ABC runs through 2014 and allows the Rose Bowl to retain their longstanding Big Ten Pac Ten matchup. Significantly, the Rose Bowl will host the National Championship in 2010. Therefore, the Rose Bowl committee has no interest in having a potential playoff - or "Plus-One" scenario - until after the 2010 National Championship. Additionally, the Rose Bowl would have to ease off it's preference to continuously invite only Big Ten and Pac Ten teams.

The BCS also has an exclusive four-year deal with Fox Sports. Under this contract, Fox retains all broadcasting rights to the four major bowl games through 2010 and the National Championship game through 2009.

As a result of these contracts, the BCS is in no position to change their current format. They would have to break their contracts with ABC and FOX or, at the least, restructure them in a way so that the National Championship game would be played by the two teams who were victorious in the previous semi-final game the week before.

What sounds like an extremely complicated mess, a "Plus-One" scenario would leave less controversy over who the number one team is. With over 100 Division 1-A teams in college football, a perfect system is virtually impossible. However, a team outside of the top four will have little or no argument for a chance at the title.

We've seen just about everything this season in college football and the battle to play in this year's National Championship is far from over. Following Ohio State's collapse last week, there are several teams that have a real shot at glory. Unfortunately, only two teams - as opposed to four in a "Plus-One" scenario - will get that shot.

In the end, breaking a legal binding contract of this nature would cost millions. A "Plus-One" scenario, while likely to happen at some point, cannot occur before 2010 - and may not happen until a few years after that. Until then, college football teams are at the hands of formula that may or may not be fair, but certainly not perfect.