Republican Joe Barton's College Football Playoff Act of 2009

There is an expected vote this week in the House or Representatives on H. R. 390 which is a bill to implement a college football playoff.  The bill is sponsored by Joe Barton a Republican from the state of Texas and was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce January 9, 2009.

Not sure if the bill will force a playoff since Harvey Pearlman who is the Chairman of the BCS said it is the BCS or they will go back to the old system of October back room deals with little or no conference affiliations in the big money games.

Below is an excerpt of the bill and important talking points after the jump:

To prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, the promotion, marketing, and advertising of any post-season NCAA Division I football game as a national championship game unless such game is the culmination of a fair and equitable playoff system.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

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  (6) 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.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITED ACT.

(a) Promotion of Game- It shall be unlawful for any person to promote, market, or advertise a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football game as a championship or national championship 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.

SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.

(a) Enforcement Authority- A violation of section 3 shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). The Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the same manner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction as though all applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act were incorporated into and made a part of this Act.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The prohibition in section 3 shall apply to any post-season NCAA Division I FBS football game that occurs after January 31, 2011.

The bill is fairly short and does not offer solution other then a single elimination tournament which is quite obvious.  Also, who knows if Congress will have to create a playoff or will it have to go back to either the NCAA or the school Presidents which could produce a meager plus one that would not have solved anything this year with five undefeated teams.  If a college football playoff is run by the NCAA then every league must be involved and a 16 team playoff that includes all 11 conference champs and five at-large berths.