Sponsor: Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)
Co-Sponsors: Reps. John Carter R-(TX), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Gary Miller (R-CA), and Bobby Rush (D-IL).
Text (PDF provided by the United States Government Printing Office)
Summary and Status (provided by The Library of Congress): H.R. 390 was introduced on January 9, 2009 and referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Stating that “[t]his year’s BCS failure proves once again that it’s time for college football to come up with a fair way to determine its champion,” Congressman Joe Barton introduced the College Football Playoff Act of 2009 (“CFPA”) on January 9, 2009. Congressman Barton’s goal in introducing this legislation is “to make sure college football’s national champion is determined on the field, by players.” [1]
The CFPA targets the promotion of the BCS National Championship Game by prohibiting, “as an unfair and deceptive act or practice,” the marketing of any “post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football game,” or “any merchandise related to such game,” unless the game is “the final game of a single elimination post-season playoff system for which all NCAA Division I FBS conferences and unaffiliated Division I FBS teams are eligible.”
Congressman Barton’s bill also directs the Federal Trade Commission to treat a violation of the CFPA as “an unfair or deceptive act or practice.” In addition, the CFPA makes the following findings:
- College football games, as competitions that involve and affect interstate commerce, are within Congress’s constitutional authority to regulate; and
- The “colleges and universities whose teams participate in the post-season football bowls experience significant financial windfall including increased applications for enrollment, recruiting advantages, increased alumni donations, and increased corporate sponsorship that provides a competitive advantage over universities whose teams are ineligible or statistically at a disadvantage from the BCS bowl competitions because of their conference affiliation.”
If passed by both the U.S. House and Senate and signed by the President of the United States, the CFPA (H. R. 390), as a House Bill, would have the force of law.