The Hill News

A bipartisan group of four lawmakers wants the Internal Revenue Service to review the tax exempt status of four major college bowl games after a group filed complaint urging an investigation.

The members of Congress wrote a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman Tuesday asking the agency to review the complaint against the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl "and carefully scrutinize these BCS bowls' records to ascertain if any violations occurred."

PlayoffPAC, a political group that wants the Bowl Championship Series abolished in favor of a playoff system, filed a complaint with the IRS late last month. It alleged that the three bowls viola! ted their tax-exempt status as non-profits by paying their executives lavish salaries and offering them special perks such as first-class airfare and private club dues.

Lawmakers in Congress have pushed for mandating reforms of Bowl Championship Series for some time. They argue that the system is unfair to smaller schools because the BCS's human and computer ranking system that selected the competitors in the national championship games is unfairly weighted toward large, big-revenue schools. 

In the early days of his presidency, President Obama said he prefers a playoff system, but did not say whether he supported congressional intervention to force the issue.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton (R-Texas), Reps. Gene Green (D-Texas), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) all signed the letter. All of them represent districts that include or are near so-called "mid-major" college football programs.

Barton helped usher anti-BCS legislation through an energy and commerce subcommittee last winter but the bill was not taken up by the full committee. 

The BCS has argued that Congress should not involve itself in college sports and that its system upholds the tradition of college football bowls while providing a decisive national championship game.

A spokesman for the Fiesta Bowl declined to comment.