National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

February 24, 1997

USOC adopts plan to boost college sports

BY STEPHEN R. HAGWELL
Staff Writer

When the NCAA and United States Olympic Committee came together in February 1995 to create the NCAA/USOC Task Force, they did so with the objective of strengthening the relationship between the two governing bodies.

Two years after the formation of the task force, the USOC and the Association attained that objective with the USOC board of directors' approval February 15 of a pilot grant program to bolster emerging and Olympic sports threatened with elimination at universities and colleges.

The USOC board of directors, which includes representatives from Olympic sports' national governing bodies (NGBs), unanimously approved a conference-grant program that will benefit NCAA member conferences and institutions.

The pilot program, which will be administered by a committee comprising USOC, NGB and NCAA representatives, will provide funding of $2 million per year over a four-year period. The USOC Executive Committee allocated $8 million for the plan in October 1996 as part of its budget for the current quadrennium (1997-2000).

Modeled after the conference-grant plan proposed by the task force, the pilot program awards grants to all Olympic sports for the purpose of increasing participation opportunities. Efforts will be made, however, to direct funds toward the preservation of endangered sports such as men's gymnastics, men's water polo and wrestling, and the development of women's emerging sports such as ice hockey, rowing, synchronized swimming, team handball and water polo. Grants also may be awarded to support a pilot project for sports among the NCAA's three division classifications.

Objectives of the program are:

Provide incentives for schools and conferences to add, elevate or enhance Olympic sports.

Increase participation numbers, collegiate programs and championships.

Assist schools in meeting gender-equity requirements.

Encourage continued sponsorship of endangered sports.

Assist NGBs in achieving their goals for Olympic sports on the collegiate level.

"We're very pleased with the unanimous support of the USOC board of directors for the conference-grant program," NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey said. "It is another example of the continuing growth of the relationship between the USOC and the Association.

"This pilot program offers a great opportunity for the development of collegiate programs, and for increased benefits and opportunities for student-athletes."

USOC Executive Director Richard D. Schultz also praised the action.

"I was very pleased with the final approval of the USOC/ NCAA program," Schultz said. "I think that (it) is really a watershed event. When you go back prior to the Amateur Sports Act and everything that was taking place between the NCAA, the AAU and USOC and all of the entities, and now to think that we have a strategic partnership with the NCAA, it shows you how far that has come."

Follows NCAA action

The approval of the grant program came one month after the NCAA membership adopted legislation at the 1997 NCAA Convention that exempts a National Collegiate championship or division championship in any Olympic sport from the minimum-sponsorship percentage requirements of Bylaw 18.2.3 or 18.2.4, effective August 1.

The amendment to Bylaw 18.2.10 instead requires the membership to adopt specific legislation to discontinue a championship in an Olympic sport.

Championships with fewer than the minimum sponsorship requirement of 40 institutions set forth in Bylaw 18.2.3 or 18.2.4 currently are operating only because of a moratorium on the discontinuation of National Collegiate championships that was enacted in 1995.

The moratorium, which was renewed at the 1996 Convention, was scheduled to end during the 1998-99 academic year.

"The NCAA has demonstrated its willingness to cooperate with the USOC by adopting more than 40 pieces of legislation in the last seven years that accommodate Olympic interests," Dempsey said. "Obviously, the most significant were those passed at this last Convention."

Under the plan, conferences and NGBs soon will be able to apply for grants, which will be awarded on a competitive basis. Deadline for submission of proposals is June 1, with notification of awards and the release of funds to conferences scheduled for August and September, respectively.

Grant requirements

To be considered for a grant, proposals must be submitted jointly by a conference and NGB and meet several requirements, including sponsorship of new or preservation/enhancement of existing Olympic sports and conference championships; sponsorship of the sport by a majority of schools within a conference; presentation of a plan to augment USOC funding with resources from the conference, institutions and the NGB; and creation of a budget for the grant period, including apportionment of funds.

Other considerations can include the number of years a conference agrees to conduct a championship; demonstrated interest on the part of the NGB; and whether the proposal contains a plan for promoting the sport and other Olympic sports during the grant period.

Meeting the proposal criteria does not necessarily guarantee that a conference and NGB will be awarded a grant. Given the number of sports eligible for the program and the varying degree of financial requirements within each sport, it is likely that only a percentage of proposals will be approved.

"You've really got to develop a consensus within a conference," said Dan Sharadin, men's water polo coach at Villanova University and director of collegiate and senior programs at U.S. Water Polo, Inc. "You have to get them to sign off on it, then the conference and the NGB have to develop exactly what they want out of the grant model. Then they've got to get the committee to say yes.

"If the NGBs aren't well organized, they don't have a prayer."

Expectations of recipients

Once selected as a grant recipient, conferences and institutions are expected to provide the USOC and NGBs with priority access to athletics facilities; maintain sponsorship of all Olympic sports currently sponsored at the varsity level during the funding period; and commit to a minimum four-year sponsorship of the championship.

In addition, funds may be used only for the benefit of domestic student-athletes; the support, creation, preservation or enhancement of the sport, including program administration at institutional and conference levels; and scholarships, equipment, uniforms, travel and other costs associated with conducting championships.

"This addressed a very important part of what we do," Schultz said. "We can have all of the wonderful programs for the young people, but if we have a hole right in the middle of the pipeline, then everything we've done has been wasted."

Sharadin concurs, stating that the adoption of the pilot program is something that everyone within the collegiate and Olympic community should celebrate. He contends that regardless of the outcome of the grant application process, the pilot program will create a ripple effect that will benefit all Olympic sports.

"This is really going to help sports that haven't had the opportunity to expand on the collegiate level, which in turn will directly impact the international level," Sharadin said. "It's going to help in the sense that the USOC is now looking for avenues to help collegiate sports.

"This program is a great thing because minor sports are going to be more visible in the public eye and in the NCAA eye, and that's only going to help the group as a whole."