National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

January 27, 1997

Olympic-sport championships preserved

NASHVILLE -- The Association voted to protect championships in Olympic sports from discontinuation in one of several significant actions on the final day of the 1997 Convention.

The membership agreed January 14 to protect any National Collegiate or division championship in an Olympic sport that otherwise might be subject to discontinuation under legislation requiring minimal sponsorship of a sport by NCAA schools.

A similar proposal was defeated at the 1996 Convention.

This year's action ensures continuation of several championships that either do not meet minimum-sponsorship-percentage requirements in Bylaw 18 or are perilously close to failing to meet the requirements.

Those championships include National Collegiate championships in men's gymnastics and men's water polo.

The men's gymnastics championships currently lack sufficient sponsorship under Bylaw 18 requirements, but were temporarily protected by a moratorium on the discontinuation of National Collegiate and division championships that was enacted in 1995 and renewed last year through the 1998-99 academic year.

The sponsors of this year's successful effort to preserve Olympic sport championships argued that the NCAA is an important contributor to the United States' success in international athletics competition, and the discontinuation of championships in Olympic sports would adversely affect American prospects for years to come.

Proponents also noted a recent joint initiative of the NCAA and United States Olympic Committee to boost Olympic sports at the collegiate level.

Perhaps the most influential argument during debate of the proposal came from Charles M. Neinas, executive director of the College Football Association. Neinas noted that the Association recently announced a $19 million surplus in its annual budget, and said that the championships facing discontinuation require a comparatively small amount of financial support.

With adoption of 1997 Convention Proposal No. 137, championships in Olympic sports will continue regardless of sponsorship levels until the membership takes action to discontinue a specific championship.

Other actions

The membership also took the following actions during division and general business sessions on the last day of the Convention:

  • Defeated an effort to repeal legislation that would prevent a basketball student-athlete from entering a professional draft without losing eligibility to play, then voted to modify the legislation to state that a student-athlete who enters a draft can retain eligibility unless he or she actually is drafted.

  • Adopted a proposal authorizing Association drug testing of student-athletes who have tested positive for banned substances in "athletics organizations" other than the NCAA.

    The NCAA Council originally sponsored the measure but withdrew its sponsorship citing "ethical, legal and procedural" concerns. However, G. Dennis Wilson, chair of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, moved for adoption of the proposal.

  • Adopted a proposal identifying more de minimus violations that will not render a prospective or enrolled student-athlete ineligible (see legislative assistance column on page 24).

  • Divisions I and II adopted a proposal permitting the use of individual core courses graded on a pass/fail basis for purposes of satisfying initial-eligibility requirements, with the understanding that a high school's lowest passing grade will be assigned to that course.

  • Division I-A members approved a measure permitting one telephone call to a football prospect or his relatives in the month of May during that prospect's junior year in high school, but Divisions I-AA and II rejected the proposal.

  • Divisions I-A, I-AA and II members agreed to continue to study a proposal that would cut the number of spring football practices involving contact in half and prohibit use of shoulder pads during noncontact practice sessions. Divisions I-A and
    I-AA referred the issue to the new Division I Championships/ Competition Cabinet and Division II members referred the matter to the new Division II Management Council.

  • Voted to refer several other issues for further study by various groups in the new governance structure, including a resolution seeking creation of an ad hoc committee to study moving the start of the Division I baseball and softball season to late- instead of mid-winter and moving championships in those sports to late June.

    A summary of all voting actions taken by the membership during the 1997 Convention begins on page 8 of this issue of The NCAA News.