Congressman introduces College Football Playoff Bill

I was at Sobelman’s this afternoon when I caught this story:

Taking aim at a BCS system he said “consistently misfires,” a member of Congress planned to introduce legislation Wednesday that would force college football to adopt a playoff to determine the national champion.
Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, didn’t specify what sort of playoff he wants — only that the BCS should go.

So let’s get this right: We have an economy in a nosedive, a $700 billion bailout plan for the Big 3, a Wisconsin Congressman (one of many) that has forgotten what team he’s playing for and we have congressman legislating against a college football system that, in my opinion isn’t broken. Though my point of this post is not that the BCS should be changed, I take issue with Congress meddling in this.

Two other Reps sponsored the bill, Bobby Rush an Illinois Democrat and Michael McCaul another Texas Republican. I don’t suspect this is at all a partisan issue. I may suspect that McCal and Barton are Longhorns fans that are a little upset that they were a tie-break away from making it to the game to have a chance to play in the BCS Championship.

Barton cited Southern California in 2003 and undefeated Auburn in 2004 as examples of worthy teams left out of the BCS national championship game.

“This year, we again have two teams with one loss each playing for the ‘championship,’ while two undefeated teams and four additional teams with only one loss will play in bowl games, but none can become ‘champion,” he said.

When an Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing about the BCS in 2005, lawmakers said they weren’t going to pursue legislation.

I’m not certain that Congress is allowed to get involved in this issue. Since they aren’t professional sports they don’t need/have exemptions to anti-trust laws. Perhaps because Congress allocates a lot of money to colleges? But that argument doesn’t hold a lot of water. I think this just comes down to a few congressmen being upset that their teams didn’t make it to the Championship game and they are feeling slighted. But polls show that fans don’t want Congress to get involved. The one I saw that was featured on Outside the Lines had an overwhelming number of people, and a majority of people in all 50 says saying congress staying out of it, though 85% of people surveyed favor a playoff system. (Sorry I can’t find the online link to this poll)

Oh but the BCS can’t be changed since the rights for the BCS was just extended through 2014.

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