The NCAA News - News and Features

May 4, 1998

I-AA governance panel deals with Bylaw 30 amendments

The Division I-AA Football Governance Committee voted to adopt and forward to the Division I Board of Directors two legislative amendments to Bylaw 30 and discussed items related to marketing and promoting the sport during its April 13 meeting in Orlando, Florida.

The committee adopted for Division I-AA Proposal No. 98-28, which requires the sponsoring organization of an exempted football contest to be an active or affiliated member of the Association. The proposal also would require that for exempted events in Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico, the sponsoring agency must be an active NCAA member located in that state or territory.

The committee also adopted Proposal 98-31, which adds the month of September to the current fall evaluation period in which nine evaluation days may be used.

The Division I-A members of the Division I Management Council subsequently approved both proposals for Division I-A and forwarded them to the Board for adoption.

The committee also asked the Division I Management Council to clarify to the Championships/Competition Cabinet that it would be necessary to amend the legislation to require that a Division I-A institution designate a Division I-AA game before the season in order for a victory in the game to be counted as one of the six wins required to be eligible for postseason competition.

The Division I-AA committee does not support such a change. The Management Council subsequently agreed with the committee's request.

In a related issue, the committee discussed a proposal that would have required Division I-AA schools to average 58 financial aid equivalencies (rather than the 60 presently in the legislation) during the previous three years in order to count toward a Division I-A school's six wins. The Management Council subsequently defeated that proposal, but supported a certification process to ensure that the Division I-AA institution has averaged at least 60 financial aid equivalencies during the previous three years.

The committee tabled Proposal No. 98-39, which would permit simultaneous telecasting or cablecasting of regular-season Division I-AA football games on Friday nights. The proposal will be discussed again at the committee's July meeting.

Marketing and promotions

In other actions, the committee discussed the marketing study for Division I-AA football and requested that the Budget/Finance Cabinet include in the 1998-99 budget an examination of the conduct, enhancement, marketing and promotion of the Division I-AA Football Championship. The request also includes exploration of the potential for regional and/or national regular-season television coverage. The committee forwarded these issues as they relate to the Division I-AA Football Championship to the Championships/Competition Cabinet for review.

The committee also reviewed the results of the Division I-AA football survey, which indicated that 70.5 percent of those responding were not interested in low (15 or less) or nonscholarship football and that 25 percent have some interest. The committee requested that the results be further analyzed to indicate the interest level according to the number of scholarships an institution awarded, and the committee will review the issue again at its July meeting.

The committee also requested that representatives from Host Communications Inc. attend the committee's July meeting to discuss the progress made to promote Division I-AA football, including the identification of various markets and the potential to promote the championship.