IV 
119TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1011 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the structure 
and governance of the Football Bowl Subdivision postseason should 
prioritize broad-based athletic opportunity, financial sustainability for 
college athletics, and competitive balance, and that innovative proposals 
to expand broad based postseason participation—such as proposals ad-
vanced by Coach Mike Leach—warrant serious consideration to mitigate 
anticompetitive effects in top-division college football. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 20, 2026 
Mr. BAUMGARTNER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Education and Workforce 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the structure and governance of the Football Bowl Sub-
division postseason should prioritize broad-based athletic 
opportunity, financial sustainability for college athletics, 
and competitive balance, and that innovative proposals 
to expand broad based postseason participation—such 
as proposals advanced by Coach Mike Leach—warrant 
serious consideration to mitigate anticompetitive effects 
in top-division college football. 
Whereas Coach Mike Leach repeatedly advanced an innova-
tive proposal to expand top-division college football’s 
postseason to a broad, bracketed format—arguing that 
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•HRES 1011 IH 
the sport could accommodate a 16-, 32-, or 64-team 
bracket and determine a champion on the field, rather 
than relying on a narrow, highly selective postseason 
gate; 
Whereas Coach Leach specifically argued that an inclusive 
bracket could be calendar-feasible if paired with respon-
sible season design—including a shorter regular season— 
and that the resulting structure would give more teams 
a meaningful late-season path while preserving competi-
tive balance; 
Whereas Coach Leach’s proposal drew explicit parallels to 
other levels of football that routinely use bracketed 
postseason formats to produce champions and sustain 
broad-based competitive engagement; 
Whereas multiple levels of NCAA football already operate 
broad-access postseason tournaments as the standard 
method of determining championships, including: (1) the 
NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision 
(FCS), which uses a bracket with automatic qualifiers 
and at-large bids; (2) NCAA Division II, which has ex-
panded to a 32-team championship bracket; and (3) 
NCAA Division III, which has expanded to a 40-team 
bracket, further demonstrating that larger playoff fields 
can be administered in a student-athlete and academic 
environment when structured around principles of equal 
opportunity, competitive balance, and financial sustain-
ability; 
Whereas by contrast, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)— 
a national collective of 136 programs—operates a com-
paratively narrow postseason championship pathway 
through the College Football Playoff (CFP), which cur-
rently selects a 12-team championship field (meaning 
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