Utes finally scoop out a sizable slice of BCS pie

Utah is about to slice into one of the most stacked decks in sports.

All but assured a berth in college football’s Bowl Championship Series, the unbeaten, sixth-ranked Utes will crash a consortium that has funneled 93 percent of its $592 million in payouts the past six years to its six founding conferences.

Include Notre Dame, another founder, and the BCS establishment’s share goes to 95 percent. On average, each individual school in the Big Six conferences more than doubled the revenue allotted entire lower-rung leagues.

With a projected payout of $14.4 million for landing in the BCS this season, Utah will more than triple the Mountain West’s previous five-year BCS take. The league started play in 1999, the BCS’ second season of operation.

The SEC pocketed $97.3 million from the BCS from 1998-2003, the Big Ten and Big 12 more than $95 million each. The Western Athletic led the mid-level conferences with a little less than $6 million. The Mountain West came in at $4.4 million.

The average in the Big East was almost $11 million a school. In the ACC, it was close to $10 million. Those dwarf averages of $568,000 in the WAC and $545,000 in the Mountain West.