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2 U.S. Lawmakers: Take 'Championship' Out Of BCS

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By TED JACKOVICS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 7, 2009

Here's good news for all those universities of Southern California, Utah and Texas football fans and players unhappy with not being selected to compete for the college national football championship this season.

A pair of U. S. congressmen co-sponsored a bill in December that would prohibit any person to "promote, market or advertise" a postseason game as a national championship unless it is the final game of a postseason playoff system.

U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, introduced the bill in December, and it has been sent to committee.

The bill also would make it unlawful for anyone to sell, market or advertise merchandise related to a national championship game winner unless the title is decided through a playoff.

Fans, players and coaches who might prefer a playoff rather than the current Bowl Championship Series arrangement -- selecting two teams to play in the title game through a combination of rankings by panelists and computer programs -- would have to wait until Feb. 1, 2011, for the law to take effect if passed.

President-elect Barack Obama also chimed in on the BCS issue in November when he told an interviewer on CBS' "60 Minutes" he'd favor a college football playoff.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817 or tjackovics@tampatrib.com.

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