The NCAA News - News and Features

June 2, 1997

First I cabinet sessions focus on orientation

The first Division I cabinet meetings produced more orientation than action.

The Business/Finance Cabinet was the first to meet, with a May 19-20 gathering in Dallas. It was followed by the Championships/Competition Cabinet, which met May 23 in Chicago.

One topic of discussion -- the promotion of Division I basketball -- was identified at the Business/Finance Cabinet meeting. That issue will be discussed in greater detail at the cabinet's next meeting in September.

At its May 6-8 meeting, the NCAA Executive Committee endorsed the concept of allocating funds specifically to promote men's and women's college basketball and recommended that the appropriate bodies develop a plan.

The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee had sought an allocation of funds "to protect the significant investment that the Association has made in the sport and its contribution to the general operating budget."

The basketball promotion plan will be administered in the NCAA's new membership structure through the Business/Finance Cabinet. One model would use a subcommittee that would contain Business/Finance Cabinet members and representatives from appropriate constituent groups (for example, the NCAA basketball committees and coaches' associations).

In other business, the Business/Finance Cabinet reviewed the Association's five-year budget projection and the preliminary 1997-98 NCAA budget, both of which have been developed through the NCAA's current structure.

The group also agreed to approach its work through the formation of an administrative committee and two subcommittees, one for finance and the other for marketing.

The administrative committee will include cabinet chair Gary A. Cunningham, University of California, Santa Barbara (Division I-A); Kathy DeBoer, University of Kentucky (I-A); Irv Cross, University of Idaho (I-AA); and Darlene Bailey, Wichita State University (I-AAA).

The eight-person finance subcommittee will be chaired by DeBoer. Bailey will chair the 16-person marketing committee, which will have responsibility for basketball promotion, promotion of women's and Olympic sports, and international marketing.

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The Championships/Competition Cabinet also agreed to form subcommittees to examine the issues that will be coming its way.

Cabinet subcommittees will focus on football bowl certification, exempted contests, and playing and practice seasons. The cabinet also agreed to form an administrative committee to conduct work between meetings. Members were not designated for either the subcommittees or the administrative committee.

The Championships/Competition Cabinet also established three future meeting dates: June 19, 1997; September 23-25, 1997; and February 3-5, 1998.