[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3096 Introduced in House (IH)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 3096

To mandate the use of instant replay in the event of conflicting calls 
   in a professional sports league game played in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 14, 1996

   Mr. Jacobs (for himself and Mr. Burton of Indiana) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To mandate the use of instant replay in the event of conflicting calls 
   in a professional sports league game played in the United States.

    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 What-Really-Happened Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. MANDATORY INSTANT REPLAY.

    (a) In General.--In a professional sports league game played in the 
United States, the head referee, or another referee designated by the 
league, shall--
            (1) in the event of conflicting calls, review instant 
        replay to determine the correct call; and
            (2) enforce the call determined to be correct under 
        paragraph (1).
    (b) League Duty.--It shall be the duty of a professional sports 
league to make instant replay available to the head referee or the 
designate.

SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Federal Trade Commission.--The Federal Trade Commission shall 
have the power to examine and investigate a professional sports league 
to determine whether such league has been or is engaged in any act or 
practice prohibited by this Act.
    (b) Relief.--If the Federal Trade Commission determines a 
professional sports league has been or is engaged in any act or 
practice prohibited by this Act, the Commission may take action against 
such league by the issuance of a cease and desist order as if the 
league was in violation of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission 
Act.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``conflicting calls'' means an occasion when 2 
        or more referees make different calls regarding a given action 
        of a player;
            (2) the term ``call'' means a decision, made during a game 
        by a referee, concerning the permissibility of a player's 
        action under the rules of the professional sports league;
            (3) the term ``instant replay'' means a video record which 
        may be viewed immediately after the event which gave rise to 
        the conflicting calls;
            (4) the term ``referee'' means an official appointed to 
        decide, to rule on plays, or to supervise the conduct of a 
        professional sports game;
            (5) the term ``head referee'' means a referee who has the 
        final authority as referee;
            (6) the term ``professional sports league'' means an 
        association--
                    (A) whose teams compete in football, basketball, 
                baseball, or hockey;
                    (B) whose teams have been engaged in competition in 
                such sports for more than 7 years;
                    (C) which is composed of 20 or more professional 
                sports teams;
                    (D) which has adopted, accepted, or put into effect 
                rules for the conduct of the professional sports teams 
                which are members of that association and for the 
                regulation of contests and exhibitions in which such 
                teams engage; and
                    (E) which earns annual gross revenues exceeding 
                $500,000,000 (adjusted annually for inflation); and
            (7) the term ``professional sports team'' means any group 
        of professional athletes organized to play a sport in a 
        professional sports league.
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