The threat to take the matter to the legislature borders on the absurd, and is worrying at the same time. This could be done in two separate ways. If someone at the legislature wanted to get involved, especially if they were on the JBC, they could make implied or outright threats to attack general funding for CU i unless CU agrees to a series, which is my understanding about what happened last time when CU was forced to resume the series with CSU. This is the most likely way someone at the Capitol would go. The other way would be for a member to sponsor a bill specifically requiring CU and CSU to play every year, which is possibly in the legislature's power, and possibly not.
Under the first option, I don't think that it would be as easy to do this as it was the last time around, which was not only in the pre-social media era but in what amounted to the pre-internet era (my memory was that it happened when CompuServe offered a non-graphical interface for home online use, which had no access outside of the closed CompuServe network). While the DP and the RMN covered the shenanigans, I think that it was a lot easier to engage in such shenanigans in a bygone era. In this day and age, if someone tried to pull such shenanigans, groups like the good folks here on AllBuffs, the Rivals Board, and even (shudder) Netbuffs could easily organize the kind of resistance that could have a good chance to kill such an effort. It is pretty easy these days to inundate legislators with all kinds of communications aimed at killing such an effort. Also, it would be pretty easy to organize a platoon of Buff fans to speak at numerous committee hearings where these issues come up. One thing about Colorado legislative committee hearings, is everyone gets an opportunity to speak--everyone. You just put your name on a list and you get to talk (I have done it many times). A little bit of visible opposition to an effort like this can go a long, long way.
The second option--a specific bill to force the game, would be almost impossible. First, I think it would be subject to a possibly successful constitutional challenge if passed. The University of Colorado is subject to specific provisions in the state Constitution (so is CSU, for that matter, but not as many). One of the interesting provisions seems to me to take decisions about things like scheduling football games outside of the legislature's jurisdiction. For instance, there is this language, for instance Article VIII, Sec 5(a):
(2) The governing boards of the state institutions of higher education, whether established by this constitution or by law, shall have the general supervision of their respective institutions and the exclusive control and direction of all funds of and appropriations to their respective institutions, unless otherwise provided by law.
The language "unless otherwise provided by law" could, and probably would, be read as giving the legislature the authority to somehow limit the supervisory powers, but I think only to a limited extent, based on another provision of the state constitution. The office of CU Regent, unlike the boards of other universities, is specifically created by the State Constitution, as is the position of University President, in Article IX, Sections 12 and 13:
Section 12. Regents of university. There shall be nine regents of the university of Colorado who shall be elected in the manner prescribed by law for terms of six years each. Said regents shall constitute a body corporate to be known by the name and style of "The Regents of the University of Colorado". The board of regents shall select from among its members a chairman who shall conduct the meetings of the board and a vice-chairman who shall assume the duties of the chairman in case of his absence.
Section 13. President of university. The regents of the university shall elect a president of the university who shall hold his office until removed by the board of regents. He shall be the principal executive officer of the university, a member of the faculty thereof, and shall carry out the policies and programs established by the board of regents.
I would argue that these two provisions, read in concert, give the Regents
exclusive constitutional authority to set "policy" for the university, which I think would cover things like how to schedule football games, and that the President (and his underlings, like the Chancellor and Athletic Director) has exclusive constitutional authority to carry out those policies. I think that there is a good argument that the legislature thus has no authority to usurp the Regents in their setting the "policies" of the University. Were I University Counsel (and I am most certainly not), I would be totally comfortable advising the President and the Regents to file a lawsuit to hold any specific statute discussing scheduling football games to be unconstitutional. Would it be a guaranteed winner? Absolutely not, but I think that it would have a better chance than the Buffs would in winning 8 games this coming season.
Even without the possibility of a lawsuit, it is hard to imagine what a football scheduling statute in this case would look like. It would almost have to dictate contractual terms to work, or to create some kind of state commission which would dictate the contractual terms--and creating such a commission would seem to conflict with the constitutional provisions I have already quoted.
So, if an effort is made, it will be made by people on the JBC (joint budget committee) who have the juice to say "unless you sign a contract, we will hurt you when your funding bill comes to our committee." In this day and age, we should have a chance of putting together a group of people to really fight such legislative extortion. This is especially so since so many in the fan base actively hate this game, so we would have at least a few people interested enough to put up a public fight (and legislators hate public fights on this kind of issue--they want to do their extortion in back rooms and in private). Last time they tried this, nobody really cared that much about whether this game was scheduled every year.
