National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - News and FeaturesFebruary 9, 1998 Panel seeks to end 'geographic-proximity' policy Division II Championships Committee recommends change for 1999-2000 The Division II Championships Committee is recommending that the division's "geographic-proximity" policy be eliminated, thus permitting a No. 1-seeded team that meets other criteria to serve as a championship host regardless of the location of its campus. The policy would be eliminated before the 1999-2000 championships year if the committee's recommendation is approved in April by the Division II Management Council and Presidents Council. The policy was a major focus of discussion during a Division II championships forum at the 1998 Convention in Atlanta. Convention delegates who debated the policy weighed the desirability of permitting top-seeded teams in championships to play at home against the financial ramifications of sending teams to a geographically remote campus for competition. A "straw vote" on the issue indicated a clear preference among Division II members that the current restriction on competition at remote sites be eliminated. The Division II Championships Committee, meeting January 27-30 in Palm Springs, California, cited that vote in making its recommendation. The committee prefers to wait until 1999-2000 to change the policy, rather than make the change effective next year. It believes time is needed to make budgetary adjustments to support the action and it also wants to give sports committees time to establish criteria that ensure championship sites will continue to have adequate, available facilities and sufficient revenue potential. The current policy has been controversial in recent years. Division II sports committees currently are required to select sites that are in closest proximity to participating institutions, regardless of the participants' rankings. The only exceptions occur in football, in which first-round pairings are based on seeding, and men's and women's basketball, in which committees can select either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed as a regional host. Much of the dissatisfaction with the policy has resulted from recent site selection in basketball. Last year, No. 1-seeded teams in both men's and women's basketball were required under the policy to play in regionals on the home courts of more centrally located No. 2-seeded teams. A recent study indicated that the geographical-proximity policy has saved between $33,000 and $86,000 annually in Division II transportation costs during the last five years. But opponents of the policy argued at the Convention that it is more important to reward teams for success in competition and that Division II can afford the extra cost of permitting top seeds to play at home. Other championship issues The Division II Championships Committee also addressed other issues regarding selection of championship participants and sites:
The current policy sometimes results in a conference's best team being excluded from championship competition after it is upset in a league tournament. The straw vote on the question in Atlanta was close.
The committee cited a nearly unanimous straw vote at the Convention in favor of including that requirement in championships selection criteria.
Other highlights
Division II Championships Committee
The committee also began consideration of establishing new criteria for determining field sizes for team/individual championships. It asked sports committees to evaluate current championships field sizes and provide information with the objective of ensuring that individual student-athletes have equitable access to championships competition from sport to sport. The Division II Championships Committee anticipates scheduling a meeting of sports committee chairs this fall for the purpose of discussing criteria for determining field sizes in team/individual championships.
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