House committee to mark up college football bill

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled a markup for Wednesday on its bill encouraging major college football to create a playoff system to replace the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). 

The College Football Playoff Act of 2009 would ban promoting, marketing or advertising a "national championship game" unless the game is part of a single-elimination playoff tournament like the National Football League playoffs, lest college football's governing body be held in violation of Federal Trade Commission truth-in-advertising provisions.

Currently, the BCS selects two teams to play in the national championship game after the regular season based on both human and computer rankings.

The bill would apply to National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision teams, the top rung of college football. Lowers levels of the sport already have playoff tournaments. The mark-up is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), who introduced the measure in January has said that President Barack Obama told him directly that he would sign the bill if it passes Congress.

Several lawmakers, including Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Barton, argue that the BCS is unfair to smaller school's teams because it often selects teams from large conference to play in the national championship game.

Hatch's home state Utah Utes had an undefeated season in 2008 but were not selected to play in the championship. The Utes play in the small Mountain West Conference (MWC). Barton represents a district near Fort Worth, Texas where Texas Chrisitian University, which has the nation's third-ranked team, is located.

TCU, which also plays in the MWC, was undefeated this season but was not selected to play for the national championship.

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