National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

October 6, 1997

Survey underway on baseball, softball dates

The NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet has approved a survey designed to determine the membership's interest in changing dates for the Division I baseball and softball championships.

The action is related to 1997 Convention Proposal No. 129, which was a resolution from the Big Ten Conference that would have mandated creation of a special committee to study moving the dates of both championships later by about three weeks. The resolution maintained that the change is necessary because institutions from the Northern half of the country are adversely affected in a number of ways by inclement weather in the early part of the season.

Rather than voting yes or no on the resolution, Division I delegates instead referred the matter to the new governance structure. The Championships/Competition Cabinet examined the issue at its September 23-25 meeting in Dallas.

The Division I Management Council has requested that the survey be sent to the chief executive officer at each Division I member for the purpose of determining each institution's official position on the matter. Conference commissioners, athletics directors, senior woman administrators, and baseball and softball coaches also will receive the survey for informational purposes. Institutions are to return only one response.

The survey contains questions about when institutions began their 1997 season, how many baseball and softball contests were postponed or canceled in 1997, the number of games that were played under less-than-ideal conditions, and the cost of any spring trip that contained six or more games. Among other things, the survey also features questions about finances and how the change might impact student-athletes.

Members should receive the survey in early October. The return date is November 1.

The Championships/Competition Cabinet will review the results of the survey at its February 1998 meeting.

In another matter that was referred from the 1997 Convention, the cabinet approved the recommendations of the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports regarding spring football practice.

The cabinet asked the Division I Management Council to develop legislation for its January meeting to specify the following (with an immediate effective date):

  • Three days of noncontact practices (helmets only), with at least two occurring initially.

  • Four days of contact practices (full pads optional), with no tackling (taking to the ground).

  • Eight days of contact practices (full pads with tackling).

  • No more than three of the eight contact/tackling practices devoted primarily (greater than 50 percent of practice time) to 11-on-11 scrimmages, including any spring game.

    The recommendations were developed in cooperation with the American Football Coaches Association and the Collegiate Commissioners Association, with input from the National Athletic Trainers' Association, the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

    Current legislation allows for 15 days of spring practice, 10 of which are designated as contact in full pads and five of which are designated as noncontact with full pads except on the knee and thigh.

    Individual institutions have had the discretion to determine the practice activities that may occur during noncontact sessions, and in many cases, that interpretation has resulted in more than 10 practices involving significant player contact.

    The cabinet also considered a report from the Division I Men's and Women's Golf Committee relating to Sunday competition. The cabinet took no action but agreed to review the matter at its February meeting.

    The cabinet also approved several dates and sites for future Division I championships:

  • Men's tennis. Future site: 1999 and 2000 -- University of Georgia.

  • Women's basketball. Future sites: 2001 -- Kiel Center, St. Louis, March 30 and April 1. 2002 -- Alamodome, San Antonio, March 29 and 31. Future dates (adjusted to provide the necessary number of weeks from the start of the season to the beginning of the championship, in order to allow conferences to complete their regular-season competition): 2003 -- from March 28 and 30 to April 4 and 6; 2004 -- from March 26 and 28 to April 2 and 4; 2008 -- from March 28 and 30 to April 4 and 6; 2009 -- from March 27 and 29 to April 3 and 5; 2010 -- from March 26 and 28 to April 2 and 4.

  • Women's golf. Future sites: 1999 -- Tulsa Country Club (University of Tulsa), May 19-22. 2000 -- Sun River Country Club (Oregon State University), May 24-27.

  • Men's gymnastics. 1998 site: Pennsylvania State University, April 16-18. Future date: 2000 -- April 13-15.

  • Women's softball. Future sites and dates (all at the Amateur Softball Association's Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City): 1999 -- May 27-31; 2000 -- May 25-29; 2001 -- May 24-28.

    The cabinet also voted to increase the size of the National Collegiate Women's Lacrosse Championship bracket from eight to 12 teams, effective with the 1998 championship, as previously recommended by the Division I Management Council (and funded by action of the Division I Board of Directors in August).