Tulane president: BCS opponents unlikely to settle antitrust claim in court

The pressure to reform college football's Bowl Championship Series was turned up another notch in New Orleans last week with Congress watching from the sidelines.

Tulane University President Scott Cowen and four other presidents from non-BCS schools met Sunday with six chancellors and presidents from BCS schools and Myles Brand, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The group discussed and debated options for reaching an agreement to provide better access to the major bowl games for non-BCS schools.

Despite the strong desire to modify the BCS system, Cowen and other non-BCS schools are confident the issue won't become a court battle.

There are very substantive issues about whether (the BCS) in fact violates any antitrust laws. That has not been tested yet in court and quite frankly we do not want to see the issue wind up in court or in Congress, Cowen said. We are on a path, and I think a very productive path, to resolve these collegially amongst ourselves as university presidents.