The Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors voted unanimously yesterday to sign the new Bowl Championship Series agreement with ESPN while also expressing its reservations about the present football championship format.

WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said the conference will be submitting a letter voicing its "concerns about the current structure (of the BCS)."

The WAC and Mountain West were the last two of the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) conferences and Notre Dame to commit to the new agreement that will run from January 2011 through January 2014. The MWC has been pushing Congress to look into postseason inequities, and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch held a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the subject Tuesday in Washington D.C.

Benson said, "We believe that interest being shown by Sen. Hatch is valid and that we would hope that there will be continued scrutiny about the current BCS structure."

Jim Donovan, UH athletic director, said, "The (Manoa) chancellor voted to sign the agreement but we also believe that the concerns that the WAC has, as a group, should be shared with ESPN and the BCS."

The matter had been before the WAC's board — composed of presidents and chancellors of the nine member schools — for about a month before yesterday's vote. The Mountain West later in the day announced its adoption of the agreement.

Today was listed as the deadline by which conferences were to be on board or risk losing out on BCS participation and payouts. The six automatic qualifier conferences each receive approximately $18 million each year while the five non-qualifiers divide up $9.5 million among 51 members. There is an additional $9.5 million if one of their members qualifies for inclusion.

UH received approximately $4,385,555 from its appearance in the Jan. 1, 2008 Sugar Bowl and $400,000 from Boise State's Jan. 1, 2007 showing in the Fiesta Bowl.

The new contract would give the five non-automatic qualifying conferences $14 million to divide up plus an addition $14 million provided one of their members is selected for a BCS game.