National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

January 19, 1998

NCAA CONVENTION -- Division III shows preference for 24-team football bracket

BY KIMBERLY A. DICKSON
STAFF WRITER, THE NCAA NEWS

ATLANTA -- Division III members overwhelmingly indicated in a straw vote during their business session at the 1998 Convention that they prefer extending the current four-week football championship schedule to five weeks.

Delegates expressed their preference for that option over two options presented by the Division III Football Committee.

The vote came during the first of two discussion forums relating to championships issues, in which Division III members demonstrated that increasing postseason opportunities for student-athletes continues to be a strong priority.

The football championship forum featured a lengthy discussion of two options presented to the membership before the Convention relating to expansion of postseason opportunities in football.

The Division III Football Committee developed the options in response to a directive that it review ways to expand postseason participation in football from 16 to 24 teams.

Both committee options would maintain the 16-team national-championship bracket, but would vary in the treatment of the eight additional teams. The first option would involve the eight additional teams playing in a national invitational format. The second option would include the eight additional teams in four separate bowl games.

However, discussion turned to a third option, which would expand the championship bracket to five weeks and allow all 24 teams to compete for the national championship.

In straw voting, members indicated a preference for that option. In a separate ballot focusing only on the Division II Football Committee's two four-week championship options, institutions casting a vote also expressed a preference for the bowl-game concept.

The Division III Presidents Council has indicated that it will not support extending postseason competition in football beyond four weeks. The Presidents Council approved the four-week limit as a championships principle as part of the process to restructure Division III. Its primary rationale is that extending the season would negatively impact the athletics and academic experience of Division III student-athletes.

Governance committees are in the final phase of a two-year commitment to increase participation for team sports with sponsorship of at least 200 member institutions. Football is the only Division III sport that was not addressed as part of the team sport enhancements implemented during the 1997-98 academic year.

The issue will be forwarded to the Division III Football Committee for further consideration. Recommendations ultimately must be approved by the Division III Championships Committee, Management Council and Presidents Council prior to implementation.

Automatic qualification

The second discussion forum dealt with automatic-qualification principles for Division III championships. A draft of Division III automatic-qualification principles was presented and reviewed by the membership at the Convention.

Two primary changes in automatic-qualification requirements under review include an increase from six to seven in the required number of conference members sponsoring an eligible sport and a change in the sponsorship rule that would allow conferences with 14 or more members to receive an additional automatic berth.

The membership will continue to have an opportunity to review automatic-qualification principles and is being encouraged to submit revisions until July 1998. A final review and clarification of revisions to Bylaw 31 is planned for the 1999 NCAA Convention.

Automatic-qualification principles are scheduled to be implemented in September 1999.

Financial aid policies

In a third educational forum, current financial aid policies were discussed. This session featured a review by members of the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee of the history of Division III financial aid and the application of current regulations.

Three types of aid permitted without consideration of need were discussed, along with educational strategies and future planning issues.

Financial Aid and Awards Committee members discussed plans for Division III financial aid policies. They stressed that increasing communication and education in the membership and encouraging institutional input during the next two years would be imperative to the development of less cumbersome legislation.

A fourth forum featured a panel discussion of the status of Title IX and gender equity in Division III. Specific issues related to participation, including the three-part test, fund-raising, and Division III results from the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act and gender-equity report, were discussed.

Legislative actions

In other actions at the Convention, the Division III membership:

  • Amended Bylaw 10.3 (Proposal No. 20) regarding gambling to extend its provisions to staff members of member conferences.

  • Defeated an amendment to legislation (Proposal No. 22) that would have allowed member institutions in the sport of women's lacrosse to engage in 17 dates of competition during the traditional season and five additional dates of competition during the nontraditional segment.

  • Adopted legislation (Proposal No. 23) to permit individuals to receive actual and necessary expenses to participate in Olympic tours/exhibitions involving Olympic team members and members of the national team, provided that if the individual is a student-athlete, he or she misses no class time and the exhibition does not conflict with dates of institutional competition.

  • Adopted an amendment (Proposal No. 24) to Bylaw 13, effective immediately, to specify circumstances in which an institution does not have to declare ineligible and seek restoration on behalf of a prospective or enrolled student-athlete who received an improper benefit while a prospect, provided the individual repays the value of the improper benefit.

  • Amended Bylaw 13 (Proposal No. 25), effective immediately, specifying instances in which a de minimus violation will not render a prospective or enrolled student-athlete ineligible while retaining the fact that such a violation shall be considered an institutional violation.

  • Adopted (Proposal No. 26) revised criteria for institutions that wish to reclassify into Division III by extending the reclassification period from two to three years and permitting a financial aid exception only during the first year of compliance, and requiring an institutional self-study during the first year of the three-year compliance period.

    Division III
    business sessionFollowing are legislative actions taken by delegates attending the Division III business session at the 92nd NCAA Convention in Atlanta.

    Actions on proposals are listed in the order that the proposals appeared in the Official Notice of the Convention.

    A full member-by-member listing of all roll-call votes will appear in a future issue of the News.

    No. 20 (gambling activities): Adopted, 273-9-2.

    No. 21 (preseason practice -- basketball): Withdrawn.

    No. 22 (maximum dates of competition -- women's lacrosse): Defeated, 62-162-43.

    No. 23 (expenses for participation in Olympic exhibitions): Adopted.

    No. 24 (restitution for receipt of improper benefit): Adopted (effective immediately).

    No. 25 (de minimus violations -- prospective and enrolled student-athletes): Adopted (effective immediately).

    No. 26 (membership reclassification): Adopted.