BCS Bowls Pay $0 to Players, but Lobbyist J.C. Watts Gets $620,000

The hypocrisy of the NCAA's celebration of "amateur" athletics is hardest to stomach when we're reminded just how much money is paid to everyone other than the players. The latest example? Former Congressman (and Oklahoma quarterback) J.C. Watts was paid $620,000 to work as a lobbyist in Washington on behalf of the BCS.

The Politico quotes Watts explaining what he does to earn that kind of cash:

"My responsibilities are just to try to help the BCS navigate through this," Watts says. ...

"I'm a paid consultant," he says. "I'm in government affairs for [the BCS], no question, but if I wasn't, I'd like to think I would be responsible enough and equitable enough to say, 'OK, what works if this system wasn't in place?'"

Obviously, the only reason the BCS is willing to spend a whole lot of money to protect the current system of crowning a college football champion is that the people who run the BCS are making a whole lot of money under the current system. I personally prefer a playoff, but if we're stuck with the BCS, I wish the folks who run it could just be honest about that, and stop pretending they care about things like how a playoff schedule would affect final exams. The BCS fight is a fight over money, and Watts is just one of the many players who's getting a slice of the pie.

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