College Football Playoff Act of 2011

College Football Playoff Act of 2011 - Prohibits promoting, marketing, or advertising a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) game as a championship or national championship game (or any merchandise that refers to the game as a championship or national championship game) unless such 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.

Treats a violation as an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Makes this Act applicable to any game that occurs after January 31, 2013.

[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3696 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3696

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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 16, 2011

     Mr. Barton of Texas (for himself, Mr. Cohen, and Mr. Simpson) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``College Football Playoff Act of 
2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) college football games, including post-season football 
        games, depend upon competition between college and university 
        teams traveling in interstate commerce;
            (2) the competitions involve and affect interstate commerce 
        and are therefore within Congress's constitutional authority to 
        regulate;
            (3) the total economic impact in the host cities from the 5 
        Bowl Championship Series (BCS) games in January 2008 was 
        estimated at more than $1.2 billion;
            (4) collegiate athletic conferences whose teams participate 
        in each BCS bowl game share $17.5 million in revenue;
            (5) the BCS system recognizes the important economic impact 
        to a city hosting the BCS championship game and therefore 
        rotates it among cities; and
            (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.
    (b) Merchandising.--It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, 
market, or advertise any merchandise related to a post-season NCAA 
Division I FBS football game that refers to the 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.
    (b) Regulations.--The Federal Trade Commission may promulgate 
regulations or issue interpretative guidelines as necessary to 
implement and carry out 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, 2013.
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